Are You Safe? Part 2.

Continued from yesterday

Our personal safety is a separate matter. We can have an inner security that no earthly nation can offer. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36). The kingdoms of this world are in God’s hands and will not endure forever. Our personal relationship with God is of a different dimension. When we are in God’s kingdom, we are in a kingdom that is not subject to the success or failure of any earthly nation. His kingdom is much more secure than any superpower. There we are safe, regardless of what happens to any nation. Kingdoms rise and fall, but Jesus promised that no man is able to pluck His children out of His Father’s hand. (John 10:29)

According to Bible prophecy, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13). The future offers no security. The strife and turmoil around the world may grow worse as eternity approaches. There is a day coming in which God has determined “that there should be time no longer” (Rev.10:6). In 2 Peter 3:10 we read, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” The Holy Scriptures say that every knee shall bow, and that all men will be gathered before the throne of the almighty Judge. On that great Judgment Day, when “heaven and earth shall pass away” (Mat. 24:35), no earthly power will be able to give us safety. All people shall bow before the great King and be judged. No caves or fortresses will be able to protect those who seek refuge in them. All means of transportation will come to a halt. Manmade weapons will be useless. There will be no reassuring wail of sirens; no emergency or law-enforcement personnel rushing to our rescue. You and I will face the great Judge all alone. At that point, our only safety will be if our name is written in the Book of Life in heaven (Luke 10:20). Our names are written in this book when we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ. He then forgives us and we are cleansed through His precious blood, which was shed on the cross that the whole world could be saved. We are then accepted as children of God.

God’s children are not exempt from sickness or suffering. They may even lose their lives, but they need not fear because they are safe in the arms of Jesus. Regardless of what happens to them, they can trust that even suffering is for their good. (Rom. 8:28)

Do you long for security? Do you have deep inner yearnings that you cannot satisfy? Although the soul longs for God, the sinful nature of man reaches for fleshly desires. Without the peace of God, a sinner is “like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isa. 57:20). In this conflict, too many people follow the path of least resistance and make a decision by indecision. Finally, they slip from life into death and face a long eternity.

Real and lasting peace can only be found when we surrender mind, body, and spirit to the One who has made us and loves us. He is not only the Master of the world, but He knows our lives from the beginning to the end. He came into this world “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). He suffered and shed His precious blood so that we can have peace and security.

Do you feel the weight of sin in your heart? Do you worry about the future, or do you try to block it out of your mind? Are you burdened with more than you can bear? Do you desire to be safe and secure? Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Mat. 7:7). The Lord has a remedy for your sins. He is the great burden-bearer, and nothing is too difficult for Him. Acts 3:19 urges “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, promised, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end…And ye shall seek for me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:11, 13).