Young People’s Blog

“Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Revelation 1:7).

Yesterday we saw that it will be only by judgment that this world will be straightened out, and that only by God’s judgment will men learn to act properly. Here in today’s verse we read how this will happen.

By the time this verse is carried out, all true Christians will have been taken home at the Lord’s coming. Those who are left behind will face God’s awful judgment, and when He appears, they will know what is coming. He will not come secretly, in “the twinkling of an eye,” as He will when He comes for us; no, He will come publicly, and everyone will see Him. They will know very well that He is coming in judgment.

Nearly 2000 years ago He was nailed to a cross; in that day of judgment this world will remember what they did to the Son of God. They will realize that God has not forgotten, and that He is going to judge those who have rejected His Son, and have not repented of it.

“When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9).

Perhaps you have heard people make the statement, “I want to make a difference: I want to make the world a better place.” It sounds very good, and as Christians, we should all strive to honor our Lord Jesus Christ by doing what is morally right in this world.

However, we must remember that the world is not going to be straightened out by our efforts. Nor will the world be made righteous even by the preaching of the gospel. Rather, God has told us that the condition of this world will gradually become worse and worse, and we are seeing that today.

It is only by God’s judgment that things will be straightened out in this world, and all who have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior will fall under that judgment. Then the Lord Jesus will bring in His glorious millennial kingdom, and the world will indeed be a better place.

However, we are not looking for an earthly kingdom; we are looking for a heavenly kingdom, and for the Lord to come and take us home.

“The hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19).

Many years ago, back in the 19th century, a woman named Priscilla Owens wrote the hymn,

“Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife,” etc.

Then the chorus goes,

“We have an anchor that keeps the soul,
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll.”

It has been an encouragement and a comfort to many.

The world of today is very troubled and uncertain, and people are afraid of what the future might hold. They might well be afraid, for God’s judgment is coming on the world. The moral condition of this world is getting worse and worse, and while men recognize it, they do not want to take God’s remedy. But you and I, as Christians, have an anchor that keeps us. It can never come loose, and can never fail. It is sure and steadfast, because God is behind it. Whether it is our eternal salvation or the storms of life, that anchor always holds, and keeps us steady.

“Wherefore God…confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation [encouragement], who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17-18).

We might be a little confused by these verses, as the Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, told the people, “Swear not at all” (Matthew 5:34), and that they were simply to say “yes” or “no” when speaking to others. Why then does God swear an oath?

The answer is that God wanted to prove conclusively to man that He would do what He said He would do. Thus He gave man two immutable things (things that cannot be changed) —His Word, and His oath. God could not lie, but because men use oaths in a courtroom, in order to emphasize the importance of telling the truth, God swore an oath, just so that man would realize that God would keep His Word.

God had promised to bless Abraham, and He even used an oath, to back up His Word. How gracious our God is!

“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).

In our verse for today, we find two of the reasons why even saved people can be “dull of hearing.” They may have new life in Christ, but the cares of this world, and also the deceitfulness of riches, take up all their time, and there is little or no interest in eternal things.

It is true that life is complicated today, and there are many more things that occupy our time and perhaps cause us to worry. Also, at least here in North America, we generally have more money than people did when our grandparents were growing up, and there are a lot of interesting things to do. With both of these things, it is easy to let Satan use up all of our time. What is the answer?

We need to set aside time for the Lord’s things, for they are important. They are the only things that will last for all eternity, and the only things that will make us truly happy. If we put the Lord first, we will find that He will help us to fit all the necessary things around them.

“We have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing” (Hebrews 5:11).

The inspired author of the book of Hebrews (probably the Apostle Paul) had many things that he would have liked to have told those Jewish Christians, for God had committed to Him the precious truth of the assembly. This included things that had not been revealed to anyone else; God gave them specially to Paul, so that he could pass them on to others. Sadly, he had to say to some of those saved Jews that they were not really interested in what he had to tell them. They had not progressed in the things of the Lord, and were like small children who did not know much.

It can be the same with us today. Perhaps there are older ones in our local assembly who know a great deal in spiritual things, and would love to tell them to us. But if we are not interested—if we are “dull of hearing,” like those Jews, then it is hard for them to tell us those things. If we have a new life in Christ, then we have a nature that wants to learn more of Christ. But sometimes our desires for the things of this world stand in the way.

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

When the Lord Jesus came into this world, He became a man, and thus took the position of a creature. He became the perfect dependent Man, and was fully obedient to God His Father. This had never happened before, so we could say, very reverently, that it was a totally new experience for Him.

But then, when He became a Man, He learned the cost of obedience. Sometimes we are ready to obey someone in authority over us, as long as what they ask does not go too far, in our estimation. But the Lord Jesus learned what it was to obey, and He became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Obedience to His Father’s will took Him all the way to Calvary’s cross, to go into death for us.

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Today is the Lord’s day, and it is fitting that we have the Lord Jesus as the good Shepherd—the One who gave His life for the sheep. In eastern countries, shepherds often encountered wild animals while they were looking after their sheep, and in order to protect the sheep, the shepherd often had to risk his life. Wild animals would see a flock of sheep, and think they could make an easy meal out of one of them. You will remember David, who looked after his father’s sheep, and how he had to kill both a lion and a bear at different times, in order to protect the sheep.

But the Lord Jesus not only risked His life to save us; He had to give His life for the sheep. He went to the cross, and there He gave His life for us, so that He could have His sheep. He loved us enough to die for us, so that He could save us from the power of Satan.

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever” (John 6:51).

When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He fed the hungry people several times by multiplying the small number of loaves of bread that were available. As you may imagine, the people readily followed Him, hoping for another free meal. However, the Lord Jesus had to remind them that natural food would satisfy them only for a short time; then they would want another meal. But if they believed on the Lord Jesus, He would give them that living bread, which was Himself. What does this mean?

It means that the Lord Jesus would go to the cross and suffer for sin, so that all who came to Him and ate of Him, spiritually speaking, would have eternal life. When we eat something, it is taken into our stomachs and digested; then it becomes part of us. In the same way, if we believe on the Lord Jesus, we accept Him as our Savior, and we make Him our own. We do not simply believe in who He is, but we accept Him in our hearts. Then we have eternal life, as our verse today says.

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

Here is another situation where the Lord Jesus uses the words “I am” to describe who He is, and what He was doing in this world. Here He is telling the people that He is the light of the world, and that those who follow Him will have light.

The Lord Jesus is not speaking here of natural light, for we know that the sun rises every day, and gives light to all who are in the world. No, the Lord is here speaking about moral light—the kind of light that tells us God’s thoughts about everything, including our own thoughts, and our behavior too.

It is true that in the Old Testament, the Jews had that part of the Bible, and it told them what God required of them. In that way they had light from God. But when the Lord Jesus came, He not only told them what God required of them, but also revealed God as a God of love and grace. Sadly, men did not want that light, and eventually crucified the Lord Jesus. But as long as He was in the world, the Lord Jesus was the light of the world.