Corona virus. Antifa. Killer hornets. Covid-19. Must I go on? 2020 has been a year of great dismay. Add to the problems already stated, the nation, the world, and the church. What a mess. Why is it so? Must it be this way? It does. As the Lord freed Israel from Egypt, so He is in the process of liberating His people in these, the last days. This is a very trying time as well. While we are spiritual beings, we struggle with human experiences. Our existence in this temporal realm has dulled our spiritual senses, and causes us to lose our connection with the eternal world. This can be dangerous. Proverbs 29:18 tells us "where there is no vision, the people perish", and it's our ancient adversaries plan to inundate us with so many temporal distractions that we become attracted to this world, and distracted from our real home. So, where is our hope, the hope that each of us have? It lays not in money, or prestige, or government, or each other. Our hope centers in one person: Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul gives us this council to the Romans, chapter 5, verses 1-8: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope; And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." How interesting; tribulation brings patience, patience brings experience, and experience brings hope. How does this work? Simple; difficulties break our ties with the temporal, and reestablish our view to the spiritual. Consider this thought from Romans 8: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be named with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to tribulation not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it in hope; Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." We are subjected to tribulation; not willingly, but by the hope of Him who subjected us- God. And the result? Delivery from bondage. This is why such trials never come at convenient times; the more difficult choices seem to come in times of hardship, when our loyalty is put into question, and when it is much easier to serve ourselves.
But, suffering is not the end result the Lord truly seeks from us. It is our undivided allegiance that he seeks, and many times, this can only be accomplished through a refining fire. The Lord's goal is not just growing our faith, but causing it to reach its limits, and then end. What? For us to become dependent on Jesus, we must take our faith to the point where it can no longer exist, because where faith ends, knowledge begins. Let me explain. I know this passage of scripture is long, but please consider this story from John 11: "Now a certain man was sick, whose name was Lazarus, of the town of Bethany; And Mary, his sister, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, lived with her sister Martha, in whose house her brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And when Jesus heard he was sick, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. And Jesus tarried two days, after he heard that Lazarus was sick, in the same place where he was. After that he said unto his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. But his disciples said unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These things said he; and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him; for they feared lest the Jews should take Jesus and put him to death, for as yet they did not understand the power of God. And when Jesus came to Bethany, to Martha's house, Lazarus had already been in the grave four days. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off. And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him; but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as Mary heard that Jesus was come, she arose quickly, and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him, They say unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave- clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them. Loose him, and let him go." How beautiful. The Lord, in His compassion, raising His beloved friend from the dead, and restoring him to his beloved sisters. But there's more to this story than that which meets the eye.
In his book "All The Miracles of the Bible" author Herbert Lockyer notes how Jesus not only provided miracles of compassion, but also used the occasion to dispel old traditions that were not scriptural. One example of this is the story of the woman with an issue of blood. She touched the hem of Jesus' garment, and she was cured. The fable was that the hem of the garment of a High Priest was holy, and provided the spiritual blessing needed. Jesus, when addressing the woman told her "thy faith has made thee whole". Our story about Lazurus is another of those opportunities that Jesus used to teach truth. The idea, at the time of this story, was that the spirit hovered over the body of the deceased for three days; on the fourth day, the soul would return to God, thus making it unable to return to its living shell. This is why Jesus tarried. He had to resurrect Lazarus, but He needed to wait until He could show Himself as the giver of life. Mary and Martha had faith in Jesus, as is seen in the scripture, but their faith only took them so far; it ran out. This is what Jesus waited for. As their faith ended, he picked up that faith, and caused it to grow-in HIM. He then raised Lazarus from the dead, dispelled the old fable about the spirit lingering, and proved Himself to be the "resurrection and the life". And this is what He wants from us, to live our faith to its very end, so that He can pick it up and carry it to the mountain tops. Our life here is about overcoming the world, and this is only possible if we face this task in His strength and wisdom. And this takes submission. Not just to His will, but to every trial we face; embracing the pain to gain the victory. Even as Jesus died, so must we.
While each trial is, indeed, unique to each individual, the response we must give is the same: Hope in Christ. Not knowing each individual outcome is difficult, we do know that the end result is true-eternal life. This is the path we each must walk. But we will never be alone. Jesus promised " I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you". Jesus didn't die on the cross so that we wouldn't have to. He died to make the sacrifice of our lives possible. As He reigns victorious, so can we, so long as we don't let the trials of this life cause us to remove our eyes from He who is "mighty to save". Our hope is in Him; not to end the trial, but to see us through the trial, that we may be sanctified and found worthy to abide with Him. This is our hope. This is our ONLY hope. In this difficult time, the world needs hope. Be that light. God bless.
