Young People’s Blog

“Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name” (John 12:27-28).

Here we find the Lord Jesus just before He went to the cross, and when He thought of what that meant for Him, His soul was troubled. On the one hand, He could say, “Father, save Me from this hour.” On the other hand, He had come into the world in order to settle the whole matter of sin. That could be done only if He suffered for sin.

One thought answered the question—“Father, glorify Thy name.” The Father’s name would be glorified only if He went to the cross, and so He went forward to the suffering and shame of death on the cross.

We cannot follow the Lord Jesus into His suffering for sin, but if we wonder what to do sometimes, in a difficult situation, let us remember that phrase—“Father, glorify Thy name.” It would settle many questions in our lives if we simply asked ourselves, “What would glorify the Father’s name?”

“All the people came near…and said unto Jeremiah the prophet…pray for us unto the Lord thy God…that the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do” (Jeremiah 42:1-3).

“And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God…then spake…all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee” (Jeremiah 43:1-2).

After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had conquered Judah, those that were left in the land came to Jeremiah, asking Him to pray to the Lord, and to tell them what the Lord wanted them to do. Jeremiah readily told them the mind of the Lord, and that they should not go down into Egypt.

However, the people had already made up their minds to go to Egypt, and were of course hoping that Jeremiah would tell them the same thing. But when he told them that the Lord had said not to go, they simply said that Jeremiah was speaking falsely, and that what he had told them was not the Lord’s will. Then they proceeded to go to Egypt.

It is very sad when we set our own will against God, and are determined to have our own way. It never works out for blessing in our lives.

“If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine [teaching]” (John 7:17).

I have heard many believers complain that it is hard to know the Lord’s will for their lives, yet this verse clearly says that God is willing to make His will known. But notice that it does NOT say, “If any man will KNOW His will:” rather it says, “If any man will DO His will.” I have some close friends, and if I asked one of them to do me a favor, he would immediately say, “Of course; just tell me what it is.” I have other friends, and if I asked them to do something for me, they would cautiously ask, “What is it?” They want to know what I want them to do before deciding whether to do it or not.

The Lord wants us to be like the first type of friend, who are willing to do His will, whatever it is. He does not reveal His will to those who want to know what He wants, and then reserve the right to say yes or no. He wants to have the first place in our lives, and if we give Him that first place, He will readily show us His will for our lives.

Tomorrow we will see an example of those who wanted to hear the will of the Lord, but then would not do it.

“And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him” (Luke 22:14).

In this chapter, the Lord Jesus told Peter and John where to prepare the Passover, but after they had eaten the Passover, the Lord Jesus instituted the remembrance of the Lord. No longer was there any need to keep the Passover, for the Lord Jesus, who was the true Passover, was giving His life for us, as the Lamb of God.

Here we read that when the time came for them to eat the Passover, the twelve apostles were there, with the Lord Jesus. When we read this verse, we are impressed with the fact that they were all on time. The Lord Jesus did not have to wait because someone was late.

Are you and I careful to be at meetings on time? Do we specially consider the remembrance of the Lord important enough to be there in plenty of time? Yes, sometimes we cannot avoid being late, if something suddenly delays us over which we have no control. It is better to be late than not to go at all. But all too often, believers are late simply because they have not gotten up early enough to get ready and get to the meeting on time. Let us remember that the Lord is there, and that we are going to meet Him. Let us not be late!

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53).

“And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And He touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:50-51).

When Judas and the servants of the high priest came to arrest the Lord Jesus, Peter took a sword and tried to defend Him. But the Lord Jesus reminded Peter that He could ask the Father for twelve legions (many thousands) of angels to defend Him, if necessary. But the Lord Jesus did not do this, for He willingly submitted to the Father’s will, and that will was that He should go to the cross.

However, the Lord Jesus used His power in a different way. Rather than defend Himself, He chose to heal the ear of the high priest’s servant. Peter had used his sword to cut off the ear of the servant, and the Lord healed him. What a wonderful way to use His divine power under such circumstances! We do not hear about this servant anymore, although we are told in John’s gospel that his name was Malchus. But Malchus must have remembered this all his life. The One whom they had come to arrest had actually healed him! It was a powerful testimony as to who the Lord Jesus was.

“The Son of Man [the Lord Jesus] came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

The Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, and He was the rightful King of Israel. Yet He was not received as a king, and in His life down here, He was a servant. He did not come to be treated like royalty, but rather to go about in grace, serving others, and then at the end to go to the cross and give His life so that many could be saved.

In this way, the Lord Jesus has given us an example to follow. Of course, we could never follow Him into His sufferings for sin, but we can be ready to use our time, energy, and money to be a help to others, and to encourage other believers. The Lord Jesus always did what pleased His Father, and for the blessing of man; He never did anything to please Himself.

Another has said, “Self likes to be served, and thinks itself great; love serves, and is great.”

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

More than 13 million people travel by train every day in India, and as I write this in June, 2023, a large number of people boarded several trains yesterday on the main north/south line on the east side of the country. Probably none of them thought about what might happen, but a terrible wreck occurred, involving three trains. Nearly 300 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured. I know those trains well, for I have often ridden on those exact trains, on that exact line, many times when I have visited India.

Our verse today reminds us that we never know what a day may bring forth. No doubt many got on those trains yesterday, expecting to visit friends or relatives, or perhaps to go somewhere for work-related reasons. None of them got to their destination that day, and many are now in eternity. All this emphasizes the importance of knowing Christ as our Savior, and being ready if the Lord should allow us suddenly to be taken into eternity. I did not, of course, know anyone who was on those trains, but I trust that at least some of those who died knew the Lord Jesus.

“Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4).

As we saw yesterday, today many nations of the world are anxious for power and influence. Sometimes they wage war with one another using weapons, while at other times they use economic methods to force other nations to do what they want them to do. Certain commodities such as oil, wheat, coffee, uranium, lithium, etc. have all influenced relationships between various countries. As I write this in 2023, the present war between the Ukraine and Russia is having a strong influence on trade and commerce worldwide.

However, there is a day coming, in the millennium, when all this will come to an end. Nations will still exist during that time, but they will not go to war with one another. The Lord will reign from Jerusalem in righteousness, and there will be peace for the entire 1000 years. You and I, if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, will be in heaven with the Lord, but what a wonderful time it will be for this world!

“He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again” (Job 12:23).

I live in Canada, and today is Canada Day—the day Canada became a sovereign nation in the year 1967. There are many nations in the world today, far more than there were a few years ago. For example, in the year 1900, there were about 50 sovereign nations in the world. In the year 1962, the year I started university, there were about 121 nations in the world. Today there are at least 195 countries, and perhaps over 200 if you include some that are disputed. All of them are jostling with one another for influence and power.

However, as we see in our verse, it is God Himself who allows certain countries to rise to power, and then be destroyed. It is God who enlarges some countries, and then allows them to lose their influence. We must recognize this, and also recognize that if we belong to Christ, we have a citizenship that is higher than any nation in this world. Our heavenly home will never become “straitened,” nor will it ever by destroyed.

Yes, we must live and move as citizens of different nations now, but when we are with the Lord, our earthly nationality will not matter any more. We will all be part of that heavenly company!

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).

Yesterday we saw how God brought judgment upon the Jews for rejecting their Messiah, but this whole world will fall under judgment too. After the Lord has come and taken every true believer home to be with Him, it seems that the prosperity of the world will continue for a short while. People will go on with life and business as usual. Satan will certainly have some lie to explain the disappearance of so many people!

But then judgment will fall, just as it did when Lot went out of Sodom. What an awful thing this is, and it will happen, just as Sodom and Jerusalem were destroyed. How important it is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior now, so that we will not fall under this judgment!