It Is Finished – But It Wasn’t The End.
I was once involved in a coffee bus ministry. I was very young in the faith and very zealous to try and get involved in God’s work in whichever capacity I could find a place to be. I enjoyed my time there. But it eventually came for my time to move on and return back to normal christian life again.
But even though I moved away from that particular ministry, the ministry itself still wasn’t finished. Under the oversight of its capable leadership team the ministry grew and developed into something bigger and more effective. And in later years as I look back over these various projects I have come to realise that although there have been several projects that came and went, there have always been even more tasks that still needed done.
These various projects, if they are of God, always continued and grew. Sometimes they grew into something else entirely. Ie, The coffee bus ministry would become a homeless shelter, or a care ministry for needy people. On the other side of the coin a church concert venue foundered and faded out because it refused to grow and move.
Sometimes these projects come to a stop simply because the leadership team have outgrown the project and they have moved on to different roles in their own lives. But God is still always in control of His people. He has to be.
Remember when Moses was living in the wilderness tending the sheep? Exodus chapter 2 tells us of the events that led Moses to hiding in the wilderness. In chapter 3 v1 we find Moses working as a shepherd in the far side of the wilderness. He is now married and working for his father-in-law.
But, unknown to Moses, this was not the end of the matter. For while Moses was busy doing stuff, God was busy preparing stuff.
And so it happened, on a certain day, that Moses noticed something very peculiar there. A bush had caught fire. There was nothing extraordinary about that. Bushes caught fire many times due to the dryness and the heat. But this one was different. This one appeared to be on fire but it wasn’t being burned….
Exodus ch3(3) So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up."
The book of Numbers describes fire in a slightly different way. It reads…
Numbers ch9 (15) On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. (16) That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. (Remember that phrase – “looked like fire”. I’ll come back to it.
And it was this strange fire that caught Moses’ attention. Until……
Moses heard a voice. It called his name from inside the flames. Moses did not yet know it but God had been preparing him for something very special. And there was no way that Moses could know the next sequence of events that God had prepared for him. God had been busy preparing stuff. Moses was then to go on and confront Pharaoh, lead the Children of Israel across the Red Sea and through the Sinai Desert.
But this act of God’s preparation is not an isolated one. God has continually been preparing stuff for His people all through the old testament, the new testament, and beyond.
Remember when God had prepared a young shepherd boy in the wilderness by teaching him to kill wild animals and endure hardships? It was as a shepherd in the wilderness that young David would learn to write his Psalms. Later, he would go on to become King over Israel.
Remember when the Children of Israel were taken into slavery for the second time? This time to Babylon in Persia? God had already prepared for this time by having Queen Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, set in place. Esther was to end up marrying the Babylonian King, Xerxes, so that she could soften the king’s heart and get ready to let the children of Israel return to Jerusalem. Queen Esther, the little Hebrew slave girl who married a great King. There’s another gospel message right there.
And so it went on, through the passage of time. God’s - The Ancient Of Days’ (Daniel ch7 v13) - great story of people doing stuff and Him preparing stuff.
And all these old testament events were in preparation for one great event. The birth of Jesus!!!
And so the accounts of Jesus’ life unfolded. His teachings, His friendships, His miracles all preparing for more great events. His crucifixion and resurrection. And even these were still only a preparation for something else. The spiritual body of Christ. The Church.
We move along now to the Upper Room when the disciples were gathered together when there was the sound of a rushing wind…
Acts Of The Apostles ch2 (2) Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. (3) They saw what seemed to be tongues like as of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. (There’s that phrase again – “like as of fire”.)
And so the history of the church and God’s people goes on. The disciples were doing stuff and God was preparing stuff. Jesus has done His bit and now stands before the throne of the Ancient of Days making intercession for His people. And we must carry on doing our bit. Praising and worshipping Him. And seeking every opportunity we can to tell others about His love, forgiveness and mercy.
For someday, while you’re busy doing something, someone will come along and ask you to help them with something. And then you will realise that God has been busy preparing something more for you all along.
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.
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