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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Lord, they came to You in their distress; when You
disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. As a pregnant woman about
to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in Your presence, Lord.
We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not
brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to
life.
But Your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let
those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—Your dew is like the dew
of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Isaiah 26:16-19
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There have been more than
a few occasions during my many years of ministry and bible teaching that I have
heard people lament about the world we’re living in. Those complaints might be
about the actual world itself or it could be more localized to the city or town
or community where they reside. They might even be more reduced at times to a
smaller group of people such as their families or even their church.
Despite the object of the
lamentations, the lamentation itself is nearly always the same as people
protest and object to the immorality and dysfunction they witness and experience.
Some people go as far as to say they think the days are near when Jesus will
return.
I have only one reply to
that.
It’s going to get a lot
worse. A lot.
I hate to be the bearer
of bad news but we are nowhere near the point where Jesus will return. It hasn’t
gotten nearly as bad as it’s going to be in our world. For there is a lot of
suffering and hardship ahead, particularly for those who have placed their
faith, hope, and belief in Jesus as Savior.
As we look at the lyrics
of the song that will be sung the day Jesus returns, we see evidence that the
people will have gone through a lot. Look again at these words which serve as
evidence of that:
Lord, they came to
You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they could barely whisper a
prayer. As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her
pain, so were we in Your presence, Lord. We were with child, we writhed in
labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and
the people of the world have not come to life.
But Your dead will
live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and
shout for joy—Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give
birth to her dead.
The judgment on the earth
is going to be suffocating, so much so that those incurring the wrath of the
Lord will be barely able to whisper a prayer underneath the weight of His
discipline. And the believers will not be immune to suffering either. They will
be as a pregnant woman is when she is about to give birth, writhing and crying
out under the pain and anguish they are experiencing as they try and give birth
to new life.
There’s just one problem.
We can’t produce new life from ourselves. No matter how fervently we may have
served the Lord and sought to fulfill His purposes, none of us will be able to
take credit for even one person coming to find everlasting life through Jesus.
In the end translation,
none of us are saviors. None of us.
There is only one Savior
and His name is Jesus. He and He alone provides the way to God, His Father and
ours. Anyone who plays a role in helping someone find their way to salvation is
a mere accomplice to the saving power that Jesus brings. This is why, as I
wrote yesterday, He and He alone deserves all the honor and glory and praise.
All of it.
So is there nothing but
bad news for us as we journey through life? Is it all gloom and doom?
Hardly.
For our passage for today
concludes with good news, good news of life springing forth from death. This is
affirmed in verse 19:
But Your dead will
live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and
shout for joy—Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give
birth to her dead.
As the earth and heavens
we’re so familiar with are destroyed, those who believed in Jesus as Savior,
those whose names are found in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15), will be
whisked away from that place of death to a place of life, rising with Jesus to
new life where there will be no more pain or suffering or affliction or sin.
Instead, there will be light and joy and peace and love forever in the new
earth and heaven that emerges.
Friends, no matter how
bad things get here on this earth, we need to always remember that we are
victorious people. Christ did not die and then become resurrected in vain but
rather to offer us the best day ever when He returns, a day when all Christians
can be glad and rejoice forever.
For there is nothing but
beauty and glory awaiting us at the finish line of life, a finish line all
Christians will cross when Jesus returns to set things straight for good.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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