Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Memorials

 
(Genesis 9:15-16 NKJV) “and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
 
This time of the year, we go to cemeteries and decorate the graves of our loved ones who have passed from time into eternity.  We usually spend some time reminiscing about our loved ones.  And of course, we leave flowers.  We not only remember them, we visit their headstones or memorials that remind us of them.  Memorials are important.  We do not want to forget. 
 
Things we Do not want to Forget
1.  We do not want to forget those who have given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. Most of them we do not know but we can memorialize them with ceremonies and in many cases with monuments to their service.  
 
2.  We do not want to forget that God destroyed the population of the earth with the exception of eight people because of the wickedness that had developed in that society.   God said that the imagination of mankind’s heart was only evil continually.  But after the destruction, he left us a rainbow to remind us that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood.  As I understand it, however, the earth will be destroyed by fire and one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. 
 
Whenever I see a rainbow, I am reminded that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  He was a sinner just like the rest of us, but he and his family were the only ones out of all the earth that were true worshippers of Jehovah.  They believed God when He said judgment was coming and they prepared for it.  Kind of scary isn’t it?  Think of all those who say they are worshipping the Lord Jesus today but who seem to be reading a different Bible than I read when it comes to salvation and when it comes to pleasing the Lord after they are saved.  I wonder how many of them are really true worshipers?
 
3.  We do not want to forget the sacrifice that the Lord made on our behalf so that we could also find grace in the eyes of the Lord.  It is by grace that we are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8).  But we do not have a memorial stone with which to remember the Lord and the cross.   We have an empty tomb and a promise that the Lord will come again and receive believers unto Himself (John 14:1-3).  
 
The Lord’s Supper
But the Lord has left us a way to remember and memorialize Him.  It is called the Lord’s Supper and it is described in 1 Corinthians 11.  It is to be done by believers who are unified (not divided) and who are caring for one another (they are not to be eating in remembrance of the Lord while others at the supper are hungry).  As a matter of fact, Paul says it should be a simple memorial meal of bread that reminds us of the Lord’s body that was given for us and  wine that reminds us of His precious blood that was shed.  The bread speaks to us of His suffering and the wine is a reminder of his death.  But for those of us that weren’t there when the Lord was crucified, we have to take the word of those we trust as to what happened.  Peter says, “Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8).”  So we are memorializing that important sacrificial death by which we are saved when we trust in the truth that Christ died for us.  And we who love the Lord are going to do that (generation by generation) until His promise to come again is fulfilled.  .
 
Conclusion
They hymn writer has said:
O that Jesus thus should love us, Love us unto death and shame!
Let the dear remembrance move us, While we meet in His blest Name.
 
Bruce Collins
 
Meditation for the week of May 30, 2021

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