2018-08-31
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As promised and commanded, I will continue this week to give examples of Scripture which supports the notions discussed in the book of Colossians. Metaphoric language and descriptive imagery is used to put forth important points in 2 COR 2: 14, “But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.” Parades we have all seen or read about are mentally pictured, the kind that celebrate an important victory. Believers are willing participants here, having had their lives changed by Christ to something better than without Him. What has changed us is God’s mystery now revealed and referred to in COL 2: 2-3. Remember, we have been drawn together in love and given assurance which comes from true understanding. Christ opens to us God’s hidden treasures which come from His wisdom and knowledge. Looking at EPH 1: 13, we see that “God has put His “stamp of ownership” on the believer, once we have professed genuine faith in Christ. This is meant to be the most wonderful blessing we can have bestowed upon us. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised-salvation, justification, and eternal forgiveness.
Another blessing is having the fear of death removed from us. HE 2: 14-15, “Since the children, as He calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus Himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through His death He might destroy the devil, who has the power over death.” The power of the evil one is to encourage us to sin. However, when we have accepted Christ as our Savior and obey God’s teaching, we no longer want to sin. It doesn’t mean we are perfect like Christ and never sin, but it means we no long want to sin. This means we are set free from sin’s power over us and now have the choice, not available to us before we had faith in Christ, not to sin. The fact that we are in “Christ’s victory procession” is a sign that we have a fullness of life in Christ that heretofore wasn’t available to us. As for fearing death, when we are “alive in Christ,” we understand that we are part of a believing community with God-driven ties to one another and a responsibility to spread the Gospel message to potential believers. In 1 COR 15: 51-54, the rapture is described, as it is in 1 THESS 4: 13-17. Please read these passages, if you are not familiar with them. 1 COR 15: 55-56, “The Scripture [IS 25: 8] will come true. “Death is destroyed, victory is complete!” This clearly refers to that one-way path to spiritual death, which is conscious and eternal torment from which there is no escape. Remember death gets its power from sin, and sin gets its power from the law. This latter phrase refers to being reminded of something we shouldn’t do and then being unable to resist doing it. The point is that because of our faith in the Lord Jesus, we have the power to resist. It is the Father, through His Son, and the Holy Spirit that we can choose to resist sinning. It is by His grace extended to us, not through anything we or other humans have done [EPH 2: 8-9]. As for what God promises, here are the encouraging words from IS 25: 8: “The Sovereign Lord will destroy death forever! He will wipe away the tears from everyone’s eyes and take away the disgrace the people have suffered throughout the world. The Lord Himself has spoken.” There will eventually be an end to evil, as prophesied in DN 9: 27, which mentions that the evil one “will meet the end which God has prepared for him.”
When we endure in faithful obedience to God, we are told, in COL 1: 21, that Christ is in heaven and rules above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; He is superior to them and to all on earth. Then in COL 3: 4, we are told we will “share in His glory.” Now, if we look at RO 8: 17, we are basically told that we will be joint-heirs with Him, to the Kingdom. “Since we shared in Christ’s suffering, we will also share in His glory.”
PRAYER: O Lord, since we have spent time thinking about the underlying reasons to be motivated to be faithfully obedient to the Father’s teaching, our prayer today must be one of praise and thanks to You. You have been merciful and fair; we need not worry that You won’t keep Your promises or refuse to lead us on that “hard path from the narrow gate that leads to eternal life” [MT 7: 13-14]. Our earthly lives are filled with challenges, losses, disappointments, and other forms of trouble. Yet, through You, we can endure them, choosing not to sin, and can anticipate an eternally blissful fellowship in heaven with You. The many blessings You shower on us are reason alone to offer You thanks and praise. You already know we are trying to be obedient, even though it is sometimes hard for us and we are imperfect. We are required to make difficult choices and to use the wisdom our Father has opened to us through You. PS 119: 171, “My lips overflow with praise, for You teach me Your decrees.” That victory procession will happen in celebration of the day evil is stopped forever. We want to be a part of that celebration and of the wedding feast of the Lamb, in which Christ and His church (the subset of all believers) become victors together [REV 19: 5-10]. You have given us such wonderful things to anticipate! We are grateful to You forever! PS 96: 1-3, “Sing a new song to the Lord and praise Him! Proclaim that He has saved us. Proclaim His glory to the nations, His mighty acts to all peoples. Praise to God!” Our words are inadequate in expressing the gratitude we have for all Your kindness, care, intervention, and blessings. We can picture the ancient Jews traveling up many hills and over long paths singing, PS 100: 1-4, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness, come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He Who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter the temple gates with thanksgiving; go into its courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise Him.” We join them in that song, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I have been led by the Holy Spirit to write next week on some comments relating to our “certificate of debt” as discussed in COL 1: 1-2: 15. We’ll see some of what He does for us and will view some supporting Scriptures. We can set a good example of godliness for others without being self-satisfied and with being humble. As a little girl, I read a child’s biography of the life of Abraham Lincoln. I don’t think it was an accident that he was named in honor of the very first person to be justified [GN 15: 6] by God. Our 16th president was so humble that he walked several miles to return extra change inadvertently given over what he was owed to the proprietor of the trading post that sold him some thread. That kind of humility stuck in my mind as an example of this man’s honesty and what God was doing in his young life at the time. Our own need to be Christlike can cause us to have to make some pretty hard decisions. As an older adult, I’m called upon to not to harm but to help others. This means that arrogance, excessive pride, insincerity, insensitivity to the feelings and needs of others, drunkenness, and other sins must be off the table. There are times when we may be tempted, but our loving Lord, through the Holy Spirit, has given us the power to avoid these sins and to stay the course with our faith. Of course, we must hold firmly to the message of the Gospel and our willingness to share it with all who will listen. Thanks and praise to the Lord, for making us alive in Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2018. All Rights Reserved.
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