My brothers and sisters, despite the distressing times and seasons we are experiencing in the world right now, there is no reason to fear. According to the bible, Jesus has overcome the world and we have been given the mind of Christ! In Christ, we have an internal peace that is beyond our understanding, even in times of crisis – so long as we don’t look to the world for our source of wisdom, and so long as we maintain a soft heart willing to receive and walk in the ways of the Lord.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
John 16:32-33 (ESV)
“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave [M]e alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with [M]e. I have said these things to you, that in [M]e you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
1 Corinthians 2:16 (ESV)
“‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:19 (NLT)
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, ‘He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.'”
The really good news is that despite there being nothing you or I could ever do of ourselves to wash away our sin and to save our souls, Jesus came to the earth in human form to live a sinless life and to offer Himself as the propitiation for our sin (the once-and-for-all washing away of our sin). Praise God!
1 John 2:1-2 (NKJV)
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
In accordance with the Father’s will, Jesus willingly suffered and died a torturous death at the hands of the Romans. Being fully man, yet fully God, Jesus could have rejected the crucifixion, but God is love, and the Father loves us (you and me) just like He loves Jesus!
1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV)
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
John 17:20-23 (NKJV)
Jesus Prays to the Father
“I do not pray for these alone [the disciples], but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me [emphasis mine].”
The shed blood of Jesus washes away – not simply covers up – our sin and brings salvation to all who name Jesus as Lord and Savior. Salvation brings us the promise of eternal life in a perfected body, in the very presence of Almighty God! You see, when we are born again, we become the righteousness of God (through Christ) and there is nothing the evil one can throw at us that can’t be destroyed by the power in the name of Jesus and the blood of the Lamb!
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NKJV)
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Christ].”
Revelation 12:10-11 (NKJV)
Following John’s vision of Satan being cast down from heaven: “[t]hen I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘[n]ow salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren [Satan], who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.'”
As we consider the current events unfolding in Israel, instances of openly-expressed antisemitism becoming more common (even by some in the US Congress), and the recent comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations summit in New York regarding a plan to improve or normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia (and other Islamic nations) that is falling apart even as this article is being typed, the time is NOW to pray fervently for each other, the nations of the world, and most especially for those who don’t know Jesus as Savior. When the world says “peace and security” – look out for sudden destruction!
Philippians 4:6-8 (NKJV)
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God [emphasis mine], which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 (NKJV)
The Day of the Lord
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them [emphasis mine], as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”
We should pray that none, not even our enemies, would have to suffer eternally in hell. It is the will of God that all should be saved, but sadly, it will be too late for the multitudes who have chosen “the wide path” instead of acknowledging the truth that there is only ONE WAY to come unto the Father, and that is through Jesus.
John 14:6 (NKJV)
“Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”
John 3:16-17 (NKJV)
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
As this writer has said many times before, the Truth is a Person and His name is Jesus! And, the answer to all of the issues of our world, was, is and will always be the Answer – JESUS!
Praise Jesus forevermore!
