Monday, March 16, 2015

The Truth: He is On Your Side

"35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4: 35-41)

Jesus did tell the disciples that they would cross over to the other side. Yet that calm assurance never gave them peace. When the storms raged, and water rolled into the boat, they got scared, and even questioned Jesus as they yelled at him: "Don't you care?"

 They were very afraid, too.

Yet when Jesus rebuked the storm, they were MORE afraid.

It is not enough for us to know the future. It is not enough for us to know where we are going.

We need to know that He is there with us and for us!

In other words, we need to know that He is no longer angry with us, and He is on our side.
To believe that He is on our side, look no further than the Cross:

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4: 9-10)

There is our testimony, that we can also be assured:

 "5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
"6So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13:5-6)
 
"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Could it be any clearer?

 Not our minds, but His death and resurrection, brings us the truth who sets us free!

Something else comes to mind: we do indeed know how everything is going to turn out:

"20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (Revelation 22: 20-21)
 
Even Romans 5:17 tells us what we are destined for:
 
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
 
It speaks of our future, in Christ Jesus -- we shall reign in life by One!
 
We do not reign in life, until we understand that He is our life (Colossians 3: 1-4), and we cannot receive His life if we do not understand His death, where we have eternal everlasting righteousness accorded to us (Daniel 9: 24), established (Isaiah 54: 14) through Jesus, our Great High Priest forever (Hebrews 7: 17).
 
When we understand that He is on our side, that He will never leave us nor forsake us, then we can take Him at His Word, and we have no reason to fear the future.
 

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