Title: Illusion and Reality (Psalm 127:1-2)
Contents
Illusion and Reality (Psalm 127:1-2)
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. He gives you sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2)
<If you look at the rice fields or fields in the countryside, you can see a scarecrow dressed in clothes, a hat, and standing with arms outstretched. The scarecrow is not a human being, but an illusion set up to scare away birds or wild animals to keep them from harming crops. Those of us who have believed in Jesus and have been saved must also discern well in our lives an illusion that has no substance and a reality that has reality. All the illusions of the world are false and vain, but the reality of faith is true and eternal.
1. The illusion and reality of our identity
1) The life I received from Adam is a past illusion - For those who believe, sin, the devil, worldly temptations, sickness, curses, and death are also illusions. If you believe in it, you become a servant of the illusion. (1 John 2:17, Ex 15:26, Gal 3:9)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
2) The new life we received through the saving grace of Christ is real - We have become righteous forgiving and sanctified by being filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is true that we were healed, became strong, freed from curses, received the blessing of Abraham, and obtained the resurrection and the eternal kingdom of heaven.
(Rom 3:23-24, John 14:1-3, 16, Gal 3:13)
“Surely he has borne our afflictions and carried our sorrows; but we thought that he was chastised, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).
3) New identity - I have to think, look, believe, and confess my new identity.
(Eph 3:20, Col 3:10)
2. The illusion and reality of our identity
1) A general status is an illusion that passes quickly - The family, academic background, success, achievement, status, and honor that people are proud of, such as status, all pass along with the wind over time. (James 4:14)
“Vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, all things are in vain,” said the evangelist. “What profit is a man to all his toil under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth endures forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4)
2) Eternal status in Christ is real - We are God's chosen people before the ages, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's own people. The eternal status that was granted through the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ and justification is a reality.
(1 Peter 1:2, Romans 5:17, Col 1:13, 1 John 5:19-20)
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the goodness of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
3. The illusion and reality of the last days
1) The utopia of the human world is an illusion - The claim that a paradise on earth can be created by human reason and scientific development under the influence of the Enlightenment Thought in the 18th century excited mankind. However, the most irrational and self-destructive World Wars I and II killed tens of millions of lives, destroyed civilizations, and made science an instrument of warfare.
Even now, what remains of confrontation, endless civil wars and strife is cynicism, not hope. (Jeremiah 17:9)
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. He gives you sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2)
2) The kingdom Jesus rules is real - When Jesus comes again, He will resurrect the redeemed saints and judge the Antichrist and his followers. After binding Satan and imprisoning him in the abyss, the millennium kingdom will be established on earth, and when the millennium is completed, Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire and all unbelievers will be judged. The saints will enter New Jerusalem, the holy city of Shincheonshinji, which has been prepared, and will reside forever and ever. (Rev 20:11-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
“And I saw new heavens and a new earth, and the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared by the bride for her husband. same” (Rev 21:1-2)
<Everything that exists in the world vanishes momentarily, and all that humans hold onto are false and vain illusions. Everything that God is not with is false and vain. But in Jesus there is an eternal reality that does not disappear or die. In Jesus we live forever and are only being renewed day by day.>