Our heavenly Father wants us to have an abiding assurance of his love. Jesus settled our sin problem at Calvary and even though we sometimes fail, the Holy Spirit is constantly reminding us of the Father’s lovingkindness. When we become focused on our sin, we lose all sight of what God wants most: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people …To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life” (Luke 1:68, 74-75).
Heaven! The promise of heaven is at the very core of the gospel, yet we do not hear much on this joyful subject these days. In fact, the Bible does not say much about what heaven is like. Jesus did not sit down with the disciples and explain the glory and majesty of heaven. He did say to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” but he did not describe it (Luke 23:43).
John the Baptist was a man of the Word. He had spent his entire life studying the Scriptures in solitude and meditating on the law. He had pointed to Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). He had seen the Holy Spirit descend on Christ as a dove and heard the Father’s voice declare Jesus to be his own Son. Yet, John found himself in prison, his powerful, anointed ministry cut short by the wicked King Herod (see Luke 3:19-20). Now the crowds who had followed John were gone — the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” silenced.
King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden idol in Babylon and demanded that it be worshiped. Every official, leader and citizen in Babylon’s one hundred-plus provinces had to fall down before this god or face death — roasted alive in huge ovens. However, three devout young Jews in the kingdom refused to bow and the furious king had them thrown into the fiery furnace.
There is a cost to being completely sold out to God but there is also a great reward. When you are lukewarm, having a form of godliness without power — not overly sinful nor overly holy — you are accepted and your life is relatively quiet. You are no trouble to anyone, not even the devil.
“One of the Pharisees asked [Jesus] to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil” (Luke 7:36-38).
When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was being held in a Roman prison, his feet chained to a soldier on either side. The conditions were horrible and Paul suffered great indignities, with no time alone and no freedoms.
Think about it. Here was a man who had been very active, traveling the open road and high seas to meet and fellowship with God’s people. Paul drew his greatest joy from visiting the churches he had established throughout that region of the world. But now he was chained down, literally bound to the hardest, most profane men alive.
The Lord appeared to Abraham and gave him an incredible command: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
How amazing! Suddenly, God picked out a man and told him, “I want you to get up and go, leaving everything behind: your home, your relatives, even your country. I want to send you someplace and I will direct you how to get there along the way.”
Jesus tells us what we are to do when we begin to see upheaval in the world: “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:25-28).