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Now that's something to think about,
isn't it?.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who holds
all things together in this universe. We believe in the one God who
has all things under His own control. He permits evil to run a
certain course, but has also provided a plan to rid all creation of
that evil, and to redeem all who have called on Him for help and
mercy.
God loved the people of earth enough to give up His own beloved Son,
so that anyone at all who believes in Him will have not perish but
will have life forever. God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn us but to save the world. Whoever believes in Him will not
be condemned, and whoever does not believe is already condemned
because they've not yet trusted in the name of Jesus Christ.
In fact there is absolutely no other name under heaven that has been
given to anyone whereby a human being may be saved.
To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who loves all
people, and to trust in the Judge who provides us with a way out of
judgment. Jesus Christ came down to us knowing full well that we
would soon reject Him and kill Him. He came down to us not to enjoy
the pleasures of this world, or the happiness of mortal existence as
a human being, but to become one of us in order to save us all —
whoever should trust in Him. And He was soon rejected, after only a
few years of public teaching and healing. We put Him to death, just
as He knew we would.
But He did not struggle against that death or fight to preserve His
own life. He laid down His perfect, sinless life, and endured the
shame, the mockery, the agony and the dying itself in order to pay
for our sin, to bear it away, and to make a way for everyone who
trusts in God. We may argue about theological details and the
meanings of words, but no one who trusts in God can argue away what
Jesus has done for us.
He suffered under the wrath of God for the sinners who populate this
weary planet. He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He died
a sacrificial death as an unblemished lamb provided by God in our
stead. And the death of Jesus Christ on the cross took away our sins
once and for all time. Whoever trusts in Him becomes eternally
blameless, above all reproach, for there is no more sin to be
imputed to them.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe that God has a plan,
a very great plan. We believe in the God who knows all things, and
who prepares all things, and makes all things work together for the
good of those who belong to Him. He has a plan for every human life
on this earth, and His plan unfolds each day without interruption.
We are either a part of God's plan for the damned, the condemned,
those who do not trust in Jesus Christ, or we're part of God's plan
for the redeemed, those who are blessed forever, those who will live
in the very Presence and joy of God for all eternity.
God has a plan for my life and for your life. If we trust in Jesus
Christ the plan of God is to one day perfect us in every way. We
will be perfectly blessed with joy, with perfect health, with
perfect knowledge and wisdom, with perfect hearts and minds forever.
We walk today learning how to be holy, but one day we will be
complete, made perfect in holiness. We learn obedience today by the
things we endure, and we learn faith by trusting God in every kind
of difficulty and testing. But one day we will awaken to a perfect
faith, knowing without any reservations that God is truly and
infinitely righteous, good, and fair.
Today we may have many questions hard to answer -- maybe impossible
to answer -- as pilgrims walking this earth. But one day we will
know as now we are known by the Lord. We will understand all things
then, and our strange pathway in this life will all make perfect
sense. That age will know and understand this age, but this age can
only look to that age with hope & expectation in faith. Someday that
which is perfect will overtake all that still lacks perfection
today.
God has been faithful in every age to do whatever He has promised to
do. He has unfolded His plan in wonderful ways, showing His love for
human beings, His great grace, and His unfailing mercies to everyone
who turns to Him in faith. The Lord rejects no one who dares to hope
in His mercy and goodness. The Lord delights to forgive, and to wash
clean, and to make right. And He will one day make all things right
forever.
In the same way that Jesus walked along, from town to town, making
right anyone who was willing to be touched by Him, so also God will
make all of heaven and earth right before Him forever. And there
will be no more sin, no more weakness, no more fear, no more
sickness, no more hunger or suffering of any kind. The children who
died unloved in this generation and in the evil generations before
us will rest in the very arms of God Himself, for He is a true
Father to the fatherless, and He is the Protector and Provider of
widows and orphans.
To believe in Jesus is to know the God who never forgets anything
except the sins that have been confessed to Him and rejected by the
sinner. Whoever loves their sin will partake of the fruit of that
sin, but whoever hates evil and loves God will be filled with
righteousness, sealed in mercy and kept forever by the God of our
salvation. The Lord will not remember their sins on the day when
they appear before Him, but He will reward them for the grace of God
that has worked in them and through them.
King David and a host of others in Scripture have rejoiced, saying,
"God is the Rock of my salvation!" And the Lord truly is the high
and solid rock of safety for all who trust in Jesus. The Lord keeps
all who are His, and provides for their every need. And whatever
they have lacked in this life is made up for, a thousand million
fold, in the life (that true and endless life) which is yet to come.
A day dawns soon. It is the day of eternity, the day without end,
the day that has no setting sun or scorching heat ever again.
Already the eastern sky grows brighter. Already I hear music that is
not of this world. Soon, my brothers and sisters, very soon we will
see the Light of God face to face. We will behold with our eyes —
our own eyes! — the perfect Lamb of God that has taken away the sins
of the world. In the dawning of that day we will finally walk on
streets made of a gold that we've only imagined before. At long last
we will understand angels, and heaven, and eternity, and all things.
We will behold the stars and galaxies — and every universe there is
anywhere — from a different vantage point.
To believe in Jesus Christ is to have a hold on a sure hope. And
that hope is a little different for each believer, for we tend to
shape our hopes according to the difficulties we endure right now.
All God's children have shoes. No more aches and pain. No more
separation from loved ones who've gone on before us. No more
suffering or evil.
But the one hope we all possess is the certainty of being with
Jesus. For He said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
Myself; so that where I am, there you may be also." (see John's
Gospel, chapter 14).
Wherever Jesus is today, at the right hand of the Father, and seated
with Him in the heavenlies, is where we will also be forever. The
Lord Jesus will return for us — for whoever has this hope in Him —
and He will takes us to the place that is prepared for us. And there
we will be with Him forever.
God has a rich and wonderful plan. Never forget that His plan is
much, much bigger than whatever we may face today. And He will bring
His plan to a perfect completion. As the Lord told Israel through
Moses, "If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under
heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there
He will bring you." (from Deuteronomy, chap 30)
David wrote this, "The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and
none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned." (from Psalm 34)
The many promises of God are recorded in Scripture -- in the Bible
-- and much of His great plan is revealed there also. As we read in
faith the pages of Holy Scripture our hearts are renewed in hope.
Whoever believes in Jesus has many wonderful treasures prepared for
them in the pages of the Bible. We do well to give it our full
attention.
As I look ahead and wonder about the future, I have no idea what to
expect. I have hopes and some plans of my own. I have some goals and
some deadlines to meet.
But in all things, I know this single truth: God Himself has a plan
for me. And in that perfect planning of God is my joy and my
ultimate victory. I know this because Jesus has already come down to
this earth, and has already died for me, and has already risen from
the dead. He has ascended back into heaven and is now at the
Father's right hand. And He sent a message by His servants to say
that He is coming again soon.
Everything is on track.
Who knows? This could be the dawning of that great day.
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