Revealed !
When John saw the ascended Jesus in the magnificent glory of His power, authority and splendour, he did exactly what you and I would have done. He was so overwhelmed, overcome and transfixed with awe that he fell at His feet as if dead. Jesus said (Revelation 1:17) Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I couldn’t understand the connection between John’s fear and Jesus being the First and the Last. So, I asked the Holy Spirit to show me the meaning. Early the next morning He unfolded to me the riches of this Truth. Jesus was saying - - I am still the same Jesus Whom you knew before My death and My resurrection. But now I am going to reveal to you the marvelous greatness of all that I truly am and how I will exercise My Sovereign power and authority in the last days. I am assigning to you a position and a task as My scribe to write a Book in which to detail and describe all you see and hear.
Don’t fear your inability because you will be empowered by Me and will have no reason for any fear. How can this apply to you and me in these troubled times? First, we see that our inability is no problem for Jesus, in fact it is an asset because we need His power and not our own. Although we don’t have a job like John had to actually write holy Scripture, God has a pre-ordained plan and purpose for each one of us. If we are obediently fulfilling His purpose for us, for which the Lord created and redeemed us, we never have to fear anything or anyone. God will supply everything we need from first to last because He is the First and the Last.
He has declared (Isaiah 46:10) the end from the beginning. At the last of our time on earth, when we come (2 Corinthians 5:10) to the Judgment Seat, we will offer assigned tasks fully, partially or not completed. Our works will emerge from the fire as spiritual eternal jewels or will be burned up in the fire as destroyed garbage. Let us determine to invest wisely our remaining time on earth.
I shudder at the very thought of sinning, even in the smallest detail, because I realize that in order to sin, I will pervert the holy power of God (Who is the only Source of power) and use it to sin against Him. It is incredible that I would ever choose to so deeply hurt Jesus. God’s strength (2 Corinthians 12:9) is not made perfect in my weakness so that I can live it up and do whatever I feel like doing to indulge the flesh. But no matter how weak I am, the perfection of God’s strength will enable me to obey Him in anything and everything He requires of me. As long as I am obeying the Lord I am equipped and prepared for whatever comes - - always while I’m sheltered (Deuteronomy 33:27) in the loving arms of God my heavenly Father.
Jesus gave us (John 4:6, John 4:30) a telling example of how to discover treasures in the unpleasant difficulties of our everyday lives. Why was Jesus sitting by the well? Because He was tired. If He had not been tired, He probably would not have been sitting there. In that case He would not have met and impacted the Samaritan woman and all the people in her entire village. Wisdom for us is not to react against painful or whatever kind of circumstances but to respond with an expectant attitude to see how God can work in those very things for His glory.
Our daily life can be the “Samaria” which Jesus must needs go through. Whenever and wherever He has His way in and through us, the treasures of blessings always follow. We know that in many places of the world Christians are persecuted, jailed and tortured. The reason for this is that it is the only way in which the haters of Jesus Christ would ever hear the good news of the gospel. Through the suffering of Christians, God is transforming many a murderous Saul into a Paul who loves and serves Jesus Christ. Persecutors are joining the persecuted and some are now evangelists. Jesus is doing exactly what He said He would do (Matthew 16:18) by all means He is building His Church to completion. Pray that persecuted believers will be enabled to see it all from God’s viewpoint and to rejoice in the amazing results. The results are glorifying the Lord in the building of His Church and increasing the future population of heaven.
Amos uses as an example (Amos 5:19) a man who fled from a lion and then a bear met him. To escape death, he ran with all his human strength and finally made it home. He was so exhausted he leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him. In spite of all his human effort, death caught up with him and there was no escape.
Years ago I heard a man say that this was just a humorous story. NO! God does not use His Living Word to make jokes. I see something much deeper and far more dangerous in this account. I see this as a person trying to gain access to the eternal safety and joy of heaven by his own self-effort, self-righteous good works. God has already told us (Isaiah 64:6) that our best works are like filthy rags. How could anyone be so proudly arrogant and wickedly insulting as to present filthy rags to holy God as our prepaid ticket to heaven!!! If you ignore the Cross and the atoning death of Jesus, that serpent of eternal wrath and punishment will bite you. Lenin said – Communism will put a loaf of bread on every table. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived by the false voices of religion, atheism, culture or human reasoning and opinion. Only Jesus, He alone could say (John 6:33-35) I am the Bread from heaven, the Bread of life and whoever comes to Me will never hunger or thirst. Salvation is God’s free gift to all who will receive Jesus as their personal Saviour from sin. It is not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9) so there is no cause for boasting. Do not delude yourself that you are good enough for heaven. You are a condemned sinner and you will never be anything else unless you put your faith in Jesus, Who is the only One Who can save you. No person can live in the heavenly home of God who does not share the very life of God.
Never- ever – do not substitute churchianity or religion or so-called good works for a personal loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ which will never end.