God the Son Continues to Work

God the Son Continues to Work.

[this article is in process, so it is not finished quite yet. Please don’t read until its completion].

“My Father is always working, and so am I.”  (John 5:17).

Like the Father, Jesus is always working even now. When He shouted out “It is finished!” with His dying breath on the Cross, He was referring to His earthly mission. And when His earthly work was completed, He moved right into His heavenly work at the right hand of the Father. Jesus still has His hands to the plow by Preparing and by Interceding…

(1.) PREPARING: “In my Father’s household, there are many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly, because I am going to prepare a place of rest for you. And if I go to make things ready for you, I will return and will receive you into Myself, that where I am, you may also be.” (John 14:2-3). Jesus is using the language of marriage in this passage. He is speaking to His disciples as a bridegroom to the bride, in the context of betrothal.

• Betrothal. The custom in Jewish marriages was first to arrange an official betrothal between the man and woman as they commit themselves to a future marriage. Betrothal was a very formal contract and not a mere engagement period that could be easily called off at any moment. Betrothal was a binding commitment to a covenant relationship. During the betrothal, it was the future husband’s responsibility to construct a permanent home on his father’s property, or perhaps build an addition to the father’s family home. On the day of the actual marriage, the bridegroom comes to the bride’s house with the wedding party, knocks on the door, and formally invites her to follow him and enter their new home together. Christ is using very intimate marital language when He tells His disciples that He will prepare their new home and “receive” them “into” Himself, joining together in their new resting place which He has prepared. In this passage in John 14:2-3, Jesus is speaking of building a new place of intimate fellowship, of personal companionship, of permanently welcoming them into the Father’s family. This betrothal relationship we have now with Jesus is a profound way to think about this in-between time while the Bridegroom is preparing the permanent dwelling place for our spiritual marriage with Him. When Christ became incarnate, lived out His life on earth, died, and then rose from the dead, He betrothed Himself to believers. Christ and His followers committed themselves to each other. We are now in a state of spiritual betrothal, a formal relationship of love that anticipates a marriage in the future. When Christ returns for His Bride, the Church, He will then consummate the relationship with the Wedding of the Lamb. When Christ comes to marry His Bride, the wedding will complete the betrothal, and the spousal love between the Bridegroom and the Bride will be forever. “Jesus is not just a king here on Palm Sunday; He is a betrothed king – an engaged king. And soon He will be a married king. His betrothed bride is the people of God – the people who trust Him, the Church. He came the first time 2,000 years ago to die for His bride – to pay a dowery, as it were, with His own blood. And He will come a second time to marry her and take us – His church – into the gardens and the chambers of His love and joy forever.” (from a sermon by John Piper).
• Building Materials. There is a heartfelt and fascinating old Gospel song in the African-American tradition entitled “Sending Up My Timber.” Here are the lyrics: “There’s a dream that I dream of my heavenly home. I know that I’m going there one day. May be morning, night or noon, I just don’t know how soon. That’s why I’m sending up my timber every day, every day. My mother and my father, they are waiting for me in our heavenly, heavenly home. I know that we all will meet again. May be morning, night or noon, I don’t know just how soon, But I’m sending up my timber every day, every day. O there’s a mansion somewhere in glory that the Lord has prepared for you and me. May be morning, night or noon, I just don’t know, just how soon. That’s why I’m sending up my timber every day, every day.”Sending Up My Timber 2003 College Hill Musical – YouTubeThe sense in this Gospel classic is that we have a hand in helping Jesus build our heavenly home. Jesus is indeed the builder of our future dwelling place, but we can send Him the materials with which to build our heavenly home. We send up the timber through our selfless acts of love and faith here on earth. Jesus has the plans, we send up the materials. We daily send up our timber when we earnestly pray, when we sing in praise, when we honor and extol God in word and worship. We send up our timber when we perform acts of kindness and mercy that go unnoticed and unappreciated. We send up timber when we love an enemy, when we forgive someone, when we serve someone. We send up our timber when we sit with the broken-hearted and mourn with them. When we encourage and build up someone, we are sending up our timber for our heavenly home. When we labor in the vineyard, providing a vibrant testimony and spreading the Good News, we are sending up our timber. Every good deed done in secret sends up a roof beam. Every loving act sends up a 2 x 4 stud. Every intimate conversation we have with God sends up a floorboard. Every time we share the truth, we send up a door post. Every thoughtful word of healing sends up clapboard for the siding. When we follow Jesus’ commands, when we please Him through word and action, we are sending up a truckload of timber for our ongoing construction project in glory land. Sending up our timber is a righteous way to invest in heavenly real estate. I’ve heard it said that our salvation breaks the ground for our heavenly home. It is then that Jesus begins to prepare our eternal dwelling place on the Father’s property, and we become a part of His construction plans. Sending up our timber now on earth will go far in determining what our heavenly home will look like. Sending up our timber reveals where our treasure is, where our heart is. Good deeds done to please God’s heart are heaven-bound, destined for a believer’s future dwelling.

  ARC Choir – Sending Up My Timber/Been To The Water (1994) – YouTube

• Unimaginable. The truth is, we can’t even begin to imagine what will greet us in heaven, no less what our heavenly home will look like. Jesus is keeping His building plans to Himself. “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

(2.) INTERCEDING. “Christ Jesus is the One who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34). As the heavenly high priest at the right hand of God, the primary task of Jesus seems to be advocating for us before the Father, pleading our case in the very presence of the King, appealing to God on His throne for our benefit. The victorious Christ is representing each of us in the eternal throne room.

• Divine Intervention. “Christ is able at all times to completely deliver those who draw near to God through Him, since He is alive forever and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf.” (Hebrew 7:25). The Greek word for “intercede” here means to plead for, to make an appeal for, to intervene for, to advocate for, to speak up for, to stick up for, to look after someone’s interests, to pray for someone’s s benefit, to mediate for before the face of God. So, can we imagine a better intercessor, someone to perpetually represent us in the presence of the Father? Could any of us find a wiser, more discerning, more understanding prayer warrior for our spiritual interests? The fact is, Jesus Christ can be trusted to remain constantly aware of what our true needs are and to intervene for us by lifting those needs into God’s divine line of sight.
• Jesus the Original Paraclete. “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” When Jesus was given the title of Advocate here in 1 John 2:1, the Greek word for “advocate” is actually “paraclete.” The paraclete was the name given to the Holy Spirit by Jesus in the John 14, 15 and 16, and it means someone who comes alongside someone else in a personal and helpful way, a productive and meaningful way. Paraclete is one of those rich Greek terms that has many shades of meaning, from advocate to comforter, from encourager to consoler, from teacher to exhorter, from counselor to reminder of the truth. In the context of that 1 John passage, most translations have used paraclete to mean advocate… like a defense attorney, an intercessor. Jesus, standing alongside someone who has sinned, appearing before the Father. Jesus is the Advocate because there exists a hostile Accuser, the evil one, the devil, who stands ready to accuse every believer before God. Here we see Jesus as someone who will represent a sinner in the presence of the Father. A friend of sinners, indeed. A paraclete.

“For Jesus Messiah has not entered into a sanctuary made with human hands which was only a copy of the true one, but He has entered into heaven itself to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God, standing face-to-face before the Father for us.” (Hebrews 9:24).