Dear Phyllis,
I have some bad news. In my letter last week I mentioned that I had been to an eye doctor who told me that I had a tumor in my left eye, which in all probability, would require the removal
of that eye. I said, “If that is the case I don't need to see any more doctors . I can get to heaven without the assistance of any doctor. and it won't cost a cent.” Before I could say “Don't do it”, a brother in the states sent me money to see another doctor.
With that designated fund, that meant I had to go the next step to see another eye doctor. This past week I had more joy than I have had in a long time. The thought that I might be at the goal line and could get off this planet to see many of my old buddies,
and be with Jesus was the most wonderful thing I could imagine. It can't get any better than that. Last Friday night we went to the eye clinic recommended by the previous doctor. Unfortunately
he said he saw no evidence of a tumor at all. He had a machine that took a picture of my eye and showed it on a large computer screen enhanced 20 or 30 times. It was a mess. It showed an ugly mass of an eye lid hanging down over half the
iris of my eye. I asked the doctor, “What is the problem?” He said, “Mae cau jai” - which in Japanese means wakaranai, which means in English
“I don't know”. He said it was non-typical, but was pretty clear, there was no lump. He suggested they could take a biopsy of the eye lid, but I said, “What is the point of taking a piece of flesh?”. If there actually is no tumor,
that means this is not boarding time, and I get slid back to the end of the line again.
The doctor said it looked liked scar tissue from a previous injury or surgery. I replied, “Apart from a lot of saw dust and three years of infection in that eye, I have never had a thing done
to either eye.” He said it might be because of the three year of infection, which makes some sense. But that doesn't say anything about why the eye lid is hanging down so bad and I can't open it all the way. Back to square one.
On a different subject, the other day I asked Singha, “What did you read last night?” He said, “Zachariah”. I replied, “Praise the Lord! I'm glad you are reading something other than John,
Revelation, or Daniel”. Of course Zachariah is difficult. Zachariah is filled with a lot of indistinct prophecies, but, here and there, there are some real jewels. I told him, “One of the key words in Zachariah is
“In that day”. That phrase appears more often in Zachariah than in any other book in the Bible. Much of it is future tense, but some of it has already been fulfilled. I told him, Zach. 13:1 is one of the most wonderful verses in the OT -
“In that day there shall be a Fountain opened, to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
for sin and uncleaness”. He hadn't noticed the significance of that. This is one of my favorite messages.
I asked Singha, “What kind of a fountain is this? What is the purpose?”. We fished around that for a long time. I kept demanding, “What is the fountain for?!” At last he came up with the right
answer, “To wash away sin and uncleaness”. Why in the world does it take people so long to simply say what is written in the Bible? Then I asked, “What is this Fountain?” It didn't take Singha so long to come up with the right answer this time. At last
he suggested, “Is this the Blood of Jesus?”. “You've got it!”. “When was that Fountain opened?”. “When Jesus died and shed His Blood on the Cross.”
Oh thank God that is true! Thank God there is such a thing as a Fountain for sin and uncleaness. Thank God this is not future tense. Oh thank God we have access to it! I asked Singha, “Have
you ever been to that Fountain?” (This is where it got good.) He answered, “Yes, I have. I know exactly what you are talking about”. He couldn't make my joy any more real. What a miracle! To an unbeliever this verse doesn't mean a thing. There is no way you
can explain, to an unbeliever, what it is to be washed from sin and uncleaness. They have never experienced anything like that, and it is impossible for them to understand this reality. But for anyone who has truly met Jesus and experienced His cleansing,
they know inside exactly what it is. Then Singha began to ask me the mechanics of this of how you get to this Fountain and how do you wash? I had him answer his own question. We went over to 1 John 1:7-9 “The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin”.
I asked Singha, “Is that true?” “Yes it is.” “How do you know?” “I used to have a filth heart, but after I met Jesus now my heart is clean.” “You've got it” It's real! It's real! Praise God, it's real! This is what the Gospel is all about. This is the miracle
of the new-birth. This is the heritage of Christians. This is the mystery of the Kingdom of God. To non-Christians this is all unintelligible non-sense. But for those who belong to Jesus this is one of the greatest privileges of life.
Then I went on with Singha to explain, “”This Fountain is not open to just any one. This is restricted to a special class of people. … Who?” He didn't know. “Read it! What does it say?” “To
the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” “That's right. Who are the house of David?” He didn't know. I said, “Jesus was known as the Son of David. On several occasions in the gospels He is called the Son of David.
The house of David are those who belong to Jesus.” Okay, he got that. That makes sense. The only people in this world who have access to this Fountain are
those who belong to Jesus. The Lord made a very clear point of that in His prayer in John 17. Time and again Jesus said,
“Those whom Thou hast given Me. Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me” The whole prayer of John 17 was for those people, and there is a very very clear cleavage between Jesus' people and the world. They are the only ones who have access to this Fountain.
Then I asked Singha, “Who are the inhabitants of Jerusalem?”. Answer – those who live in Jerusalem. Is that difficult? But we had a problem here. I explained that, Jerusalem is known in the
Bible as the City of God - Heb. 12:22. There are many other places in the Bible that teach that, but this is the clearest. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are those who live in Jerusalem. Singha still didn't understand it. I told Singha, “It is possible to be
a citizen of heaven and still not live in Jerusalem.” To illustrate this I reminded Singha that the Prodigal son was still the son of the father even when he was in the far country. In order to be with the father he had to go home. Living at home and living
in the far country are two different locations. There is no fountain in the far country. If the boy wants to wash he has to go home. The Fountain is only available for those who are living there. There is no cleansing from sin when we are willfully living
in sin. Singha said, “That means I have to go to that Fountain several times a day.” That is right. Cleansing from sin is not a one time experience. This is something we have to deal with many times in our walk with Jesus. That is why it is a Fountain – not
a bath tub. It is always clean. John was very straight forward when he said, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ” (1 Jn. 1:8).
Man howdy, we had a good time. Zachariah was kind of a blank book for Singha, but he lit up when he saw what gems were buried in all those “in that day”. It was a tremendous joy to him to
realize that some of those days have already come, and he got goose bumps to realize the reality of how that applied directly to him.
There is a lot more in Zachariah. It talks clearly about how Jesus would get sold for 30 coins of silver (Zach. 11:12; Mt. 26:15). Jesus quoted Zech. 13:7 when He warned the disciples that
they would get scattered (Mt. 26:31). It talks about the Wounds of Jesus (13:6), the restoration of Israel, the return of Christ (14:4), and a whole lot more. Oh the Bible is rich! What a joy to know that so much of it applies to us. If I can't go to heaven
right now, at least it is a lot of fun to explain it to to others.
Thank you for your prayers,
bill
No comments:
Post a Comment