I Am the Lord
Ye are not your own.... Ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Cor. 6:19, 20
What comfort may be found in the words: "I am the Lord's." The Lord Jesus has redeemed us with His own precious blood. Having set such a value upon us, and having bought us for Himself, He will assuredly keep us. None shall pluck us out of His hand. Our life is safe beyond all contingencies, for it is "hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3. "Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Rom. 14:8.
We may be tossed about by ever-changing circumstances. To be entitled to say, "I am the Lord's," however, may well keep the soul in abiding peace. It is heaven begun below.
Come what will, painfulness or weariness, poverty or persecution, bonds or imprisonments, fire or flood, still the sweet words, "I am the Lord's," should enable us to say, "None of these things move me." Acts 20:24.
What strength will it impart if these little words, "I am the Lord's," become an abiding thought running perpetually through the heart! It will detach us from an evil world; it will keep us calm and patient amidst all its restlessness and striving, and its tumultuous commotions and disturbances. It will raise us above its empty pleasures, and protect us from its dangerous devices. We shall then be anxious about nothing, careful only to please our Father. For whatever troubles may threaten or assail, we can come with confidence, making our requests known unto God, and His own peace, according to His Word, "shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7.
Death itself is not the end to the believer; it is the entrance into life, unhindered by any of the obstructions that press us down here in this lower world. Not only will peace be our portion, but joy will be ever bubbling up, knowing that "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Heb. 10:37), and then we shall be forever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).
E. J. Checkley
Out of His Treasure
When the Lord came the first time, He took our sins away; when He comes the next time, He will take us away to scenes of rest and glory
There are only two souls in the gospels to whom the Lord told who He really was. In John 4 He reveals Himself to the outcast sinner, and in John 9 to the outcast saint.
Editorial
Jacob's Trouble
To begin with, the first and most important thing for each and every person is salvation. God offers eternal life to all through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. It is for Jew and Gentile; God is no respecter of persons.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Rom. 3:21-24.
With this before us, we take up some reasons for a Christian not to help Jews to return to Israel. It makes absolutely no difference where a Jew is living if he knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, because all believers will be caught up at the rapture before the tribulation period.
When we know that the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7), or great tribulation, will be centered in Judea (Matt. 24), and that it is fast approaching, how could we help any to go there?
We believe that the sentence was changed for the guilty nation that rejected and crucified Jesus their Messiah by the Lord's words from the cross. He said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. The charge against them now, during these 2000 years, is manslaughter instead of murder.
For these many years since the cross, cities of refuge (see Josh. 20) are provided for Jews. The man-slayer was not to return to the site of the crime until the death of the high priest.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came as a Prophet. He has ascended to heaven and now has the office of High Priest. When He returns, it will be as King of kings and Lord of lords. Until Jesus comes as King, and His main office of High Priest changes to being revealed as King, Jews ought not to return to the Jerusalem area, which will be the center of the tribulation. It is there that the avenger of blood will catch them. All the Jewish people said to Pilate, "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matt. 27:25. Some of the children are there; others want to go there. Do you want to help them?
Truly, the Jew and every person in the whole world needs Christ and salvation in order to escape the "wrath to come." 1 Thess. 1:10. It was to the Hebrews that God wrote: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him." Heb. 2:3. Ed.
Bible Challenger Clues
1. Acts; 2. Galatians; 3. Romans; 4. Acts; 5. Hebrews; 6. 1 Peter; 7. 2 Corinthians; 8. 2 Thessalonians; 9. Jude; 10. Hebrews.