It Is Done!

2 January 2011

Dear Phyllis,

As we say in Japan “Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu” (congratulations, it is opened) – the Japanese equivalent of Happy New Year. I hope to shout, “congratulation – IT IS OPENED!” Not the new year but the NEW LIFE. Oh my goodness, it can’t get any more wonderful!

Recently I have been consumed working on restructuring my shop, and time has just become blurred. I am not interested in the date – only the day. I worked all day on Christmas day and worked all day on New Years day. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

I went to bed early New Years Eve and got a good nights sleep. New Years morning I went out on my balcony to meet with Jesus and the word came to me, “Behold I make all things new”. I thought I knew where that was and looked at Revelation 21. At first I was surprised that I didn’t see it. I read, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away… And I John saw the Holy City…coming down from God out of heaven…And I heard a great voice saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself will be their God…”. Then I came to verse 5 and saw, “And He that sat on the Throne said, ‘BEHOLD I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW’. And He said to me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful’. And He said unto me, ‘IT IS DONE’…”

 I wasn’t surprised that the Lord told John, “these things are true and faithful”. I know the Bible is true and faithful. I know the book of Revelations is true and faithful. But then it came to me, the special emphasis the Lord gave to this when He told John. “Write it down!” This is a fact! I want people to understand that what I say is true! This is real!

I could understand all of that, but I was confused when He said, “It is done”. That part didn’t make sense. It is generally accepted that most of the book of Revelation is future tense. It is hard to believe that the Seven Seals have been opened. I can’t imagine that the Seven Trumpets have sounded. Certainly Armageddon hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know anyone who would suggest that we are living in a new heaven and a new earth. There is little doubt that all of this is future tense. How can He say, “It is done.”? But then I read, “I am Alpha and Omega (the first and last letter in the Greek alphabet), the beginning and the end.” That made sense. I know that Jesus is the beginning and I know that He is the end.

I know that God ordained that His Son was to be the creator. Paul told us that “All things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). The first thing that John ever wrote was, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by Him.” (Jn. 1:1, 3). There was a time when Jesus created all things. He was the beginning.

 Then everything went haywire. The devil stepped in and highjacked humanity. The earth became his. Creation went into a state of rebellion against God. By Adams failure all creation went upside down. To correct this something had to be done to undo Adam’s failure. This could only be done by two things. Someone had to come to earth and live the perfect life that Adam was supposed to live. Someone had to face temptation and say “NO” to the devil. Someone had to live a life of perfect obedience and harmony to do the will of God. And the second thing was, someone had to pay the price of death to undo the damage caused by Adam. There was a period of time when all that was future tense. Two thousand years ago Jesus came to the earth to be that Man and bring creation back to the Father. When all had been perfectly accomplished, Jesus could triumphantly cry from the Cross, “It is finished!”. That is why Jesus could say to John in Revelation, “Write all of these things down. It is done.” Jesus is the beginning and He is also the end. His work is all accomplished. It is done – not the future events coming to this earth – but the finished work of the restoration of creation. He is the culmination of all things.

Theologically all this is interesting, but the thing that made it such an enormous blessing was my personal experience in this truth. Right after Jesus told John, “It is done”, the next thing He said was, “I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely”. When I read that, my mind went back John 7, when Jesus stood and cried, “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink” (Jn. 7:37). Oh, how that verse has spoken to me so many times over the years! There is no question, Jesus is the fountain of the water of life. He never could have made that invitation in John 7 if that was not true. Millions have come to Him to drink and found that what He said is true. Praise God, I too have come and found that He is the fountain of the water of life. Oh my goodness that water is good!

But in both cases – the invitation in John 7:37 and the promise in Rev. 21:6 – the only limitation placed on this blessing was thirst.  In John 7:37 Jesus stood and cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” Why is it that so few have come to Him to drink? No thirst. This is the only restriction placed on our relationship with Christ – our thirst. The problem is our abysmal lack of thirst for Jesus. Why is it we find it so hard to have morning devotions? Why is it we find it more interesting to watch TV than read the Bible? Lack of thirst. We thirst the most for the thing we enjoy the most. On hot days when I am working outside, pouring sweat; when I take a break, a glass of cold water tastes like the most exotic wine. When my thirst is the most intense the water tastes the best. I believe the greatest blessing God can give us is an intense thirst for Himself.

 In personal work the most important qualification for someone seeking salvation is their thirst for God. Anyone can find God if they are thirsty enough. In the Christian life, the thing that will determine how far a person goes on with God is his thirst for God. It can be honestly said that anyone has as much of Christ as they are thirsty for.

But, realistically, how is it Jesus meets our thirst? How does He satisfy? The answer is the Holy Spirit. John explained Jesus’ invitation in John 7:37 about coming to Him and drinking by adding, “This He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.” (Jn. 7:39). At the time when Jesus made that wonderful invitation, the promise was still future tense – “For the Holy Spirit not yet given: because Jesus was not yet glorified”. It was some months later that Jesus could declare, “It is finished!”; and it was still another 53 days after that that the Holy Spirit was poured out to dwell among us.

The reason I was so enormously blessed New Years morning was because I could look back 54 years to the moment I first came to Jesus and know from personal experience exactly what He was talking about. I have come to Him and drunk. I know by a changed life that He has given me His Spirit to live in my heart. I know that I am born-again of His Spirit. I know I am a new man. Little did I realize what was involved that night when I first said yes to Jesus. It was liked an arranged marriage to a stranger. Little did I realize Who it was Who came to live in my heart. Since then I have been increasingly overwhelmed with the realization that the very Spirit of Christ Himself has come to live in me.

There is so much in that marvelous declaration, “Behold I make all things new.” In those subsequent verses we see all three tense joined in one. We see past, present and future tense. We see all three tenses in Jesus. He is the beginning and the end. And He is everything in between, right now. He began everything in creation and He finished the job in restoring humanity back to the Father. He was right when He said it is done – past tense. There is future tense in what He has promised when He said, “I will give to him that athirst of the fountain of life freely”. And there is present tense in that He has given us His Spirit to live in us today as we drink from Him everyday.

 And how do we drink? By believing. This is explained with a double emphasis in that wonderful invitation in John 7:37-39. Immediately after Jesus said “Come and drink” He said, “He that believeth on Me…”. And John repeats this by saying, “that they that believe on Him should receive the Holy Spirit”.  We receive the Holy Spirit and we are filled with the Holy Spirit simply by believing. We drink by believing.

I have come to a place in life where I am not the least bit interested in the blessings of God. At New Years it is universal that all people hope for a good new year. That is, they want the blessings of God. They want health, wealth and happiness. They want good health, financial success, and all the good things that come in life. I’m not interested. More than the blessings I want the Blessor. Rhea F. Miller and George Beverly Shea got that one right when they wrote I’d Rather Have Jesus – than anything this world provides today. They hit that one square. Oh my goodness, Jesus satisfies! And in His Inverted Kingdom many of the darkest things are His greatest blessings.

Dear Phyllis, do you see why I got so blessed New Years morning? I have believed and am saved. I do believe and enjoy Jesus immensely. I will believe that what He has promised – “Behold I make all things new” – is true. This is the guarantee for an incredible New Year. Have a good one. Praise God!

                                                                                             bill