Peter Misselbrook's Blog
21/07/2023 - The Year of Jubilee has come. Charles Wesley

Blow ye the trumpet, blow!
The gladly solemn sound
let all the nations know,
to earth's remotest bound:
    The year of jubilee is come!
    The year of jubilee is come!
    Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.

Jesus, our great high priest,
hath full atonement made;
ye weary spirits, rest;
ye mournful souls, be glad:
    The year of jubilee is come!...

Extol the Lamb of God,
the all atoning Lamb;
redemption in his blood
throughout the world proclaim.
    The year of jubilee is come!...

Ye slaves of sin and hell,
your liberty receive,
and safe in Jesus dwell,
and blest in Jesus live:
    The year of jubilee is come!...

Ye who have sold for nought
your heritage above
shall have it back unbought,
the gift of Jesus' love:
    The year of jubilee is come!...

The gospel trumpet hear,
the news of heavenly grace;
and saved from earth, appear
before your Savior's face:
    The year of jubilee is come!...

Charles Wesley

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22/05/2021 - I asked the Lord that I might grow

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love, and ev'ry grace,
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

'Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer,
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favoured hour
At once He'd answer my request
And, by His love's constraining pow'r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry pow'rs of hell
Assault my soul, in ev'ry part.

Yea, more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Humbled my heart, and laid me low.

"Lord, why is this," I trembling cried;
"Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?"
"Tis in this way," the Lord replied,
"I answer prayer for grace and faith."

"These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou may'st find thy all in me.

John Newton 1779

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26/01/2021 - Wrestling Jacob by Charles Wesley

Come, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable Name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

'Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love.

'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy mercies move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

The Sun of Righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in His wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from Thee
My soul its life and succour brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life's short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o'ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

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31/12/2020 - Revelation 22:1-21– The beginning and the end

Today we come to the end of the Book of Revelation, to the end of the New Testament as it is conventionally arranged, and so to the end of the Bible. And what a wonderful ending it is. Here, all that was written before and promised before reaches its conclusion.

The Bible begins with a picture of the perfect world God created for our blessing and enjoyment. It is pictured as a garden full of delights – a garden in which God walked and talked with a man and a woman whom he had created in his own image and to whom he had entrusted all that he had made. And in the middle of the garden was the tree of life, symbolising the life God had given to them and to all creation. But humankind was banished from the garden and from these blessings because of rebellion against God; banished to live in a world marked by God's absence; banished to live out a limited lifespan under the increasing shadow of death.

And now the Bible ends with a vision of a garden city, filled and ever refreshed with life that flows from the presence of God. There is no longer one tree of life, there are many such trees, providing nourishment and healing – healing for all that is past; healing for all the hurts of our present world. There is no longer any curse. There is healing for the nations (what sermons there are in this wonderful phrase). The inhabitants of the garden city will see God's face and live in the brightness of his presence (Revelation 22:1-5).

If this wonderful picture fills us with joy and with longing, what shall the reality be like?

One of the hymns we sang when I was a child began like this:

God has given us
a book full of stories,
which was made for
his people of old,
it begins with the tale of a garden,
and ends with the city of gold.

But the Bible is more than a book full of stories; it tells the one great story which is both God's story and our story. It is the story of human folly and of divine faithfulness. It is a love story. It is a story that centres in Jesus who, along with the Father is "the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (22:13).

In him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.

The Lord Jesus has centre place in this story because it is in his death that God has passed judgment on a world in rebellion against him; in his death its death is announced. And it is through his resurrection that the new creation has begun in the realm of the Spirit and will be fully manifest when he appears. He is the hope for the healing of a broken world – “by his stripes, we are healed.”

We need to be careful how we tell this story; not adding anything extraneous to it nor leaving out any part of it (22:18-19). We need to tell the world the story. We need to live the story in the power of him who is our beginning and shall be our end.

Father God, help me by your Spirit to show and tell your story more faithfully and fully day by day. Help us to live the story and show the world something of the promise of the age to come. May this story bring healing to the nations, life to the world and eternal glory and praise to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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30/12/2020 - Revelation 21:1-27 – A new heaven and a new earth

In Revelation 20 we read of one seated on a great white throne, prepared for judgment. Heaven and earth fled from his presence and there was no more place for them (20:11). Now we read of a new heaven and a new earth (21:1). And this is not just a repetition of the old; it is radically new, radically different. "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (21:4).

The terms "heaven" and "earth" are often used in the Bible to signify the whole of creation (e.g. Genesis 1:1). But they are also used to mark the radical separation between God and humankind, e.g., "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:2). We live in a world which, in a very real and deep sense, is marked by separation from God. Not so of this new creation. John sees "the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes'" (21:2-4). Eden is restored as God dwells with us in the midst of his creation.

There is both continuity and discontinuity between our present world and the world to come. The present creation is not abandoned; it is made new. We are not snatched up from earth to dwell with God in heaven; the New Jerusalem descends to earth so that God may live with us and we with him in the renewed creation. Nevertheless, it is a new creation; "the old order of things has passed away."

We need to retain this difficult balance. We must not treat this present world as if it were disposable, due for demolition. We are called to care for God's world and to seek to make it now, more like it shall be in that last day. We are called to pray and labour for the coming of his kingdom, that his will might be done here on earth even as it is in heaven. We must never give up on God's great kingdom project of seeking to build a world of justice, peace, truth, righteousness, compassion and love. We need to believe that our labour is not in vain in the Lord.

"God's plan of restoration includes not only our reconciliation to God and to each other, but in some way the liberation of the groaning creation as well. We can certainly affirm that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth (e.g. 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1), for this is an essential part of our hope for the perfect future that awaits us at the end of time. But meanwhile the whole creation is groaning, experiencing the birth pains of the new creation (Romans 8:18-23). How much of the earth's ultimate destiny can be experienced now is a matter for debate. But we can surely say that just as our understanding of the final destiny of our resurrection bodies should affect how we think of and treat the bodies we have at present, so our knowledge of the new heaven and earth should affect and increase the respect with which we treat it now." (John Stott, The Radical Disciple)

At the same time, we need to know that our efforts, even though they are motivated and empowered by the Spirit of the age to come, cannot ultimately bring in the kingdom. We cannot abolish death. We can crush but we cannot kill the serpent. However, the day is coming when Christ, our Saviour and our hope, shall appear. He will accomplish the desire of our hearts and complete the work of our hands; he will make all things new.

Living God, may this hope flood my soul and animate my life. May I continually turn from the old and embrace the new – embrace and live the life of the coming kingdom.

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29/12/2020 - Revelation 20:1-15 – Death thou shalt die

“Death be not proud…
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.”

Revelation 20 is the only passage in the Bible that speaks about the "millennium". This admittedly difficult passage in a difficult book has become the ground of much controversy among Christians. It is not my intention to comment on these controversies here. Here, I want rather to pick up a picture from the end of the chapter.

In 19:19-20 we read of the beast and the false prophet being thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulphur. The picture, taken from the bowl of a volcano, is used here as a picture of complete and utter destruction. Now in 20:14 we read, "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." Death and the place of the dead are utterly destroyed; they have no further place in God's creation.

Death was defeated through Jesus resurrection from the dead yet it continues to ravage our world and to affect believers and unbelievers alike. Some are slaughtered in war; some die from painful diseases; some die of hunger and of thirst; some die in tragedy and disaster. And if you manage to avoid all of these things and live on to a ripe old age, still you will die. It is one of the few certainties in life. But the day is coming when death will not only be defeated, it will be destroyed – it will be no more; it shall die.

The music of The Messiah has run through my mind as I have read many sections of the book of Revelation. Let me close by quoting another passage that is forever associated with Handel's great work:

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.  (1 Corinthians 15:51-58)

This also is the message of Revelation. Stand firm, strengthened in the truths of the gospel and faithful to a victorious Saviour. Always joyful and full of hope, keep on working for the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom will come. It is not death but the risen Christ who will have the last word.

Lord Jesus Christ, we give you thanks and praise that you have broken the power of death and shall destroy it utterly at your coming. Help us always to give ourselves fully and gladly to the work of your kingdom, knowing that our labour is not in vain, for you are risen and alive and you are Lord over all creation. Have mercy upon this world despoiled by death and help us to hold out before it the word and promise of life.

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28/12/2020 - Revelation 19:1-21 – The wedding supper of the Lamb

In Revelation 19, the Hallelujah chorus celebrates three things: God’s judgment upon “the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries” (19:2); the unrivalled reign of “our Lord God Almighty” (19:6); the wedding of the Lamb to the bride that has been prepared for him (19:7).

These three are closely connected. God establishes his reign over all the earth by destroying all rival claims to power – all those who have sought to establish their own kingdom in the earth. God created humankind to bear his image and to rule over creation in his name and for his glory. The tragedy of human history is not that people have sought to rule over the earth but that they have sought to do so by their own power and for their own ends. They have sought to make gods of themselves. God will bring all rival claims to power to an end – good news for Christians suffering under the crushing power of Rome. God will at last answer the cry of his people in 6:19, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”, for here we read, “He has avenged on her the blood of his servants” (19:2).

With the destruction of all who have sought to build a kingdom for themselves, the scene is now set for the kingdom of God to be established in unrivalled glory. The prophecy of 11:15 has now been fulfilled, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” But Christ, the Messiah, will not reign alone. He has a bride who will share in his reign. The time has now come for him to take his bride, for him to be united with his people for all eternity (see the beautiful picture of Revelation 21).

Most of us like to receive a wedding invitation; we are pleased to share something of the joy of the couple being married. In 19:9 John is told, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” Who are those who are invited to the celebration? The answer is given in the closing verses of Revelation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” It’s an open invitation. No one need be left out. All are welcome. The Spirit echoes the call of Christ to all who are thirsty to come to him and drink (John 7:37). The bride – those who know Christ – join in inviting all to come. Those who receive the invitation not only respond to it themselves but also pass it on to others. In the words of a tract by John Bunyan, “Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.”

Make sure that you don’t miss out on the greatest royal wedding in all of history. Be sure to be there.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your great love for us that brought you from glory to live among us. Thank you for your love that took you to the cross to die for us. Thank you that because of your love for us you want us to be with you for all eternity and to share in your reign over the world to come. Lord, we look with longing for the day of your coming – for our wedding day. Help us by your Spirit to busy ourselves with handing out invitations to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

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27/12/2020 - Revelation 18:1-24 – Evil Empire

Revelation 18 paints a vivid portrait of God’s judgment upon the evil empire which was Rome. But it provides us also with a salutary portrait of the evil nature of human empire as such.

The power of empire is used to sustain the riches and luxury of those in power at the expense of those whom they exploit. It is the merchants (a word from which we get our word “Empire” – hence “emporium’) who stand appalled at the destruction of Babylon the Great. The merchants and the owners of the ships which carried the luxurious cargoes mourn and wail at the loss of their business. These cargos include slaves, “the souls of men” (Revelation 18:13). The wealth of empire was built with the bodies and souls of slaves.

The power of empire was also maintained by military might. Some of the references to purple and scarlet may reflect the splendour of the uniforms of Roman soldiers.

Modern empires have generally displayed the same attributes. The creation of wealth demands that those in power and those who hold a monopoly in the trade of goods and capital are rewarded with unimaginable riches while others are forced to labour for a pittance. Slavery continues to be the foundation of modern empire, though it is often invisible because the slaves are “hidden” in far flung corners of the globe where they and their children may work in dangerous conditions: over 1,000 people died in the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh in July 2013, others have died in factory fires. The insatiable desires of empire continue to be satisfied by exploitation and safeguarded through military power.

Modern empire also seeks to maintain its riches and splendour not only through the exploitation of other people (slavery), but also through the ravaging of the earth. The seas are emptied of fish; forests are torn down; the earth is scarred and poisoned; the atmosphere is polluted; the very fabric of the created world groans and cries out for relief.

It is difficult to avoid complicity in the evil acts of empire. When we fill our vehicles with fuel, when we insist on cheap food, cheap clothing and imported goods from around the world, we provide support to the machinery of empire.

God’s judgment upon empire is a reflection of his concern for freedom and justice. The gospel is concerned not merely with a message of spiritual blessings; it concerns the transformation of the world. God’s judgment is proclaimed upon greed, exploitation, injustice, poverty, inequity and the maintenance of such evils through the (ab)use of power – the military-economic machine.

In what ways could we be at work now for the transformation of our world? In what ways could we seek to build a more just and sustainable economic system? These are questions that we should be seeking to address as those who belong to a different kingdom. The call is for us to “Come out of her, my people” (18:4), but it will not do simply to cut ourselves off from a world that has been corrupted by greed – to walk on by on the other side; we are to long for, pray for, look for and work towards its healing.

A new year will soon be upon us. How can we use this new year to stand against the culture of our age and bear witness to a better kingdom?

Lord Jesus, we look for and long for the day of your coming when the deep hurts of our world shall at last be healed. Give us the wisdom to live now as those who belong to a better kingdom. Teach us how to withstand the subtle pressures to become conformed to the patterns of this world and to graciously bear witness to the transforming and healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to bring healing to our world rather than increase its hurts.

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Peter Misselbrook