Christian Living

His Children's Tapestry

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
03/26/18
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"The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you." Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35:1-10)

In this chapter of Isaiah, I believe the prophet is giving us a vision of Heaven. Man once lived in heaven for a short period of time. Yes, it was in the Garden of Eden. After creation, God said it was very good. (Genesis 1:31) I am also sure the angels of the heavenly places were looking down at God’s handiwork nodding their heads in agreement. Lucifer may have been there. That archangel that could not rule heaven now wondering who would rule the world. Lucifer must have been exceedingly disappointed when God said this is my creation and it is very good. Lucifer must have in his self-pride fully rebelled and the archangel Michael cast him out of heaven. Lucifer fell to the world and now is here as the Prince of the Air.  Lucifer in the form of a serpent tempted man with the same temptations that he had fallen to. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, and man fell to the temptation that he too could be as God. Sin had entered the world by man’s disobedience to God’s Word and the heaven on earth was withdrawn. God out of His love for His creation began His plan for man's redemption.

God is the Creator and through Jesus God created all that there is. In the beginning, there was God and nothing else. There was only the triune God-Head of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus was there and through Him, all things were made. (John 1:1-3) Jesus was before the beginning and through Him, all things created hold together. (Colossians 1:17) Jesus is the Master Artisan and the universe is a portrait created by the Master Artisan. Even now Jesus is preparing a place in heaven for those that are His. It is not a community project but a personal project for each of His followers. Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2) Jesus did not say that I go to prepare a place for my sheep, He said I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus is preparing a place that fits perfectly with who we were created to be. Jesus is our personal Lord.

The Master artist would not paint His masterpiece on a dirty canvas. Therefore, we must be born again. From the fall we are creatures stained with the filth of sin in our lives. Therefore, before Jesus can paint the masterpiece of our lives on the canvas our spirits must be cleansed. We must be renewed in the spirit. (Romans 12:2) The flesh must die and through Jesus, we have died on the cross with Him. (Romans 6:8) Through Jesus, we have new life in the spirit and will be one day as He is. (1 John 3:2) The closer we walk with Jesus the move we will see of heaven in our vision.

Our vision of the world to come is as strings of yarn running across the Master’s embroidery in seemingly disarray. As we look upward towards it we see knots, lumps, and ridges that form a landscape of mountains and valleys and distort our vision of the heavenly place. As our walk with Jesus and come to a closer fellowship we gain a glimpse of the picture He is creating of our life. Perhaps that group of black yarn was the time when we were dead in our sins. Perhaps the red yarn that formed there was the blood of Jesus cleansing us from the sin in our lives? See how the red yarn flows from there constantly cleansing us from the times we have stumbled and gotten back up. I am sure that at the one end of the tapestry the bright gold yarn is where we will be called out or have departed to our home that Jesus has prepared for us. There the red yarn is no more seen as it is no longer needed as we will be as He is, glorified. In this our vision from here, we can get an idea but not see the full picture of what Jesus is doing in our lives. For now, we have to trust our Master that all things will work together for good to those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)

We all have gone through times when we may have cried out to God and asked why. Why have you God allowed these hard times of suffering to come into my life? You, Lord, are a God of love how can you let these things happen to a loved one? We so easily forget that we are still living in the world under the curse of sin and that we, as all, will face trials and tribulations along the way of our journey. For the children of God, these times can be used for good in that the winds that blow against us will strengthen the root of our faith in Him. The follower of Jesus will be led through these difficult times and in the end of it shall receive the victory that Jesus has already won for us. Going back we can see where His grace has been more than sufficient to bring us through the trials of our life. Going forward we should use the strength we have received from the past and place our trust in the Lord who leads us in the way we should go. In this life here we are going to be knocked down, people will try to tread on our path, and we will face opposition to the gospel message we share. The world put Jesus on the cross for His message of love and hope and it may do the same to us. Our adversary seeks to kill and destroy. (John 10:10) Our faith in Jesus is bigger than our fears and He can do all things (Matthew 19:26) and through Him, we can too. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

The reason that we do not have a full understanding of the strings and colors that we see is because we are on this side of the tapestry and cannot see the Master’s complete work that He is doing. One day, when we leave this world for the next, or when He comes to call us out, we will see the Master's tapestry of our life from the other side. Then His will shall be revealed to us and the masterpiece will be complete and finished. It is then that we will see the work He has done in our lives and understand the trials and tribulations that we have endured in His strength. The revealed work of Jesus in our life when seen by our own eyes will be humbling and wondrous. The mystery will no longer exist and we will know the complete truth of His work through in us and our love will abound all the more towards our Master.

The complete truth of understanding will come when we see the tapestry of our life in relationship to the plan and purpose of God’s will for mankind. Until that time by our trust and faith in His word, buy walking closer to Jesus each and every day, living in continual prayer, we will see by the revelation of His Spirit a larger glimpse of the portrait of our life in Him. “But just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, August 27, 2014