TO SEE CHRIST’S GLORY IN HISTORY IS TO GAIN LIFE FOR ETERNITY
In a time when nations are in panic because our very life is threatened, how can any man in his right mind ever refuse Him to receive the promise of LIFE ETERNAL? That is the question. As governments grapple with a pandemic’s fallout, a disturbing issue is being contested. The CCP government is suspected of an astonishing cover up of the real situation at the onset of Covid19 contagion. So serious that some powerful regimes from the west are threatening to sue the Chinese government for trillions of dollars because of the resulting colossal number of deaths and economic damages. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) is being implicated. We keep on hearing the mantra: “When the Chinese government LIED, many people DIED.” Whether this accusation is valid isn’t a believer’s highest concern. But nevertheless, we agree with the axiom: “LIES AND DECEPTIONS INEVITABLY CAUSE HARM AND DESTRUCTION”. The Lord distinguishes Himself from the devil who is the ‘father of LIES’ when He said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and DESTROY. I came that they may have LIFE and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Jesus revealed why every human being must desperately COME TO HIM: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears MY WORD and believes Him who sent me HAS ETERNAL LIFE. He does not come into judgment, but has PASSED FROM DEATH TO LIFE.” (John 5:24). “Whoever believes in Him WILL NOT PERISH but will have EVERLASTING LIFE” (John 3:16). This makes the Lord Jesus SUPREMELY SIGNIFICANT and ABSOLUTELY CENTRAL in ALL THINGS. TO ALL MEN. ALL OF THE TIME.
In John 5, John the Baptist testified to this life-restoring TRUTH about Christ (v. 33-35). More than that, the very works of the Lord bear WITNESS to this POWERFUL REALITY (v. 36). But most significant is the Father’s own witness about the SON (v. 37-38). The very thing that you must adore is what the devil wants you to ignore. He knows how supremely important this is for all people.Everyone’s LIFE is at stake. Ultimately. For eternity. A masterful strategy of deception is to make you blind to REALITY by being enraptured at the appeal of FALLACY. Falsehood seems SO REAL that the relevance of TRUTH looks insignificant. We then LOSE INTEREST in what is TRUE. The IMPORTANT becomes irrelevant. We are dangerously distracted.
When the mind is filled with what’s insignificant, we fall in the wayside of confusion, despair, and misery. This is the Adversary’s goal. If Satan can overwhelm the world’s mindset with the terror of a contagious virus, or with trivial thrills from social media, or with anxieties about inadequate provisions, or with staggering despair of quarantine confinement and economic breakdown, then he can succeed in distracting humanity away from the more important issues about the reality of a LIFE that RESTORES COMPLETELY and OVERCOMES ALL.
We can be deceived in thinking and feeling that God is so distant, uncaring, and powerless. Or that Jesus is just a solution to a life-threatening disease. Or the Bible is essential only to inspire and uplift the anxious heart. But these are lies and deceptions. This is what makes us blind. Such assumptions are simply symptoms of UNBELIEF. Mindful only with personal plight, we become indifferent to the heavenly sight. We begin to feel that God is irrelevant.Without faith, there is no LIFE. That soul will die for a lie.
1 John 5:10-12
Whoever BELIEVES in the SON OF GOD has the TESTIMONY in himself. Whoever DOES NOT BELIEVE GOD has made him a liar, because he has NOT BELIEVED IN THE TESTIMONY that God has borne CONCERNING HIS SON. And this is the testimony, that GOD GAVE US ETERNAL LIFE, and THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON. Whoever has the SON has LIFE; whoever does not have the Son of God DOES NOT HAVE LIFE.
The GLORY of the SON OF GOD was REVEALED when a paralytic was miraculously made whole in Jerusalem (John 5:2-9), but the jews didn’t see this and only hated Jesus more because their utmost concern is their trivial rules of the Sabbath. Even the healed man didn’t see that glory but betrayed the Lord that restored him because he’s more concerned about his own safety and security. Even though he spent years near the Temple, built to unmask God’s glory, he never recognized God’s majesty because he only yearns for the healing.
If you believe in the reality of a Sovereign God, you must believe that He has perfect control over all events in human history. He is tremendously superior over all circumstances. Consequently, you will have to accept that His perfect wisdom and absolute authority ORDAINED every historical phenomenon to REVEAL HIS GLORY. The Lord Jesus Christ unveiled that divine glory. (John 5:19-23). Every phenomenon in history, whether tragic or euphoric, is designed to ultimately glorify the Name of Jesus and testify about His supremacy.
Let us keep ourselves from being spiritually disturbed and distracted. May we believe in the Sovereign Lord who continues to rule and reign over the universe and recognize that history is actually “HIS STORY”.