There is an Old Testament scripture that has often given me comfort.
Jeremiah 17:14:
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be HEALED; save me, and I shall be SAVED: for thou art my praise.
You healed me O Lord, and I am healed.
My Savior unto Thee
[Sung to the tune of “My Country ‘tis of Thee”]
My Savior unto thee,
Give I my heart to free,
To thee I cling.
Lord who for me has died,
Pierced ‘twas his wounded side.
Ever in him abide.
Of thee I sing.
Out from the Darkness and into the Light
Have you a master who saves from each plight?
Come out from the darkness and into the light.
Do you have hope in the black of the night?
Come out from the darkness and into the light.
Are you encased in a deep, deadly fright?
Come out from the darkness and into the light.
Can you find answers to do what is right?
Come out from the darkness and into the light.
Fishers of Men
Not catching with hook and a spindle,
Nor netting with taught, woven twine.
But lighting a fire to kindle,
Deep love that will bring life divine.
I am able to live and write and think because God gave me a body and a mind. My parents had a lot to do with me being here. It is THROUGH their relationship with each other that I was conceived and born. When I got born AGAIN years later, it was THROUGH all that Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior did for me. Let’s look at what we have THROUGH CHRIST in some of the New Testament uses of this idea.
Most Christians agree that there are eternal rewards for the good deeds we do in this life. Jesus and his disciples clearly taught this. But some people think that believers can LOSE rewards because of their subsequent evil deeds. This is contrary to scripture, and has hurt the lives and ministries of Christians for centuries. Let’s go to God’s Word and see what it says about this.
What is THE END of “the world”? The letter “D.” But we CAN know about our future.
1 Corinthians 15:22,23:
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s AT HIS COMING.
Christ is risen from death unto eternal life in a new spiritual body. We will someday receive a new spiritual body “fashioned like unto his glorious body” [Philippians 3:21]. Until then, we live for the Lord the best we can in this soul-based earthly body. Now what about “the end”?
1 Corinthians 15:24-28:
Then cometh THE END, when he [THE LORD JESUS] shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he [THE LORD JESUS] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
For he [THE LORD JESUS] must reign, till he [THE LORD JESUS] hath put all enemies under his [THE LORD JESUS’] feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he [GOD, OUR FATHER] hath put all things under his [THE LORD JESUS’] feet. But when he [GOD, OUR FATHER] saith all things are put under him [THE LORD JESUS], it is manifest that he [GOD, OUR FATHER] is excepted, which did put all things under him [THE LORD JESUS].
And when all things shall be subdued unto him [THE LORD JESUS] , then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [GOD, OUR FATHER] that put all things under him [THE LORD JESUS], that God may be all in all.
There a many pronouns here that are clear in the context. Here is what we know about the end:
1. Our Lord Jesus will deliver the kingdom to God, his Father.
2. Jesus will, with the Father’s authority and power, put “all things” under his feet. Psalms 110:1 prophecies that “The LORD [Hebrew Jehovah, meaning God] said unto my Lord [Hebrew adon, meaning the Messiah], Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
3. Jesus will destroy death, the final enemy, bringing eternal life as a reality to those who accept him.
4. God has given Jesus FULL LORDSHIP OVER ALL, and put everything under His Son’s feet.
5. Of course, God is excepted. HE is the One Who put all under Christ’s feet.
6. Jesus will subdue all things under himself.
7. Jesus will subject himself to his Father, Who put all things under His beloved Son.
8. God will be all in all. Revelation 7:10 says: “And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to OUR GOD which sitteth upon the throne, and unto THE LAMB.” The Father is enthroned above all. And our Savior, the Lamb, sits upon the throne of rulership and power with him.
Amen. I love you.
I clearly remember 58 years ago today. It was a Thursday night and I was upstairs in my parents’ bedroom. Everyone else watched another TV show downstairs, and I was up watching my favorite “Ironside” with Raymond Burr, which started at 7 p.m. It was interrupted by a news bulletin. Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot in Memphis, Tennessee.
Today a friend asked me a good question. “Gene, do you believe that humans that do not have Jesus as Lord will suffer eternally in flames?” That is a common belief among some Christians.