But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:28-31)
I have had a spiritual struggle, a battle of sorts in recent days. After hearing what has happened in the DRC recently, and the children who were murdered in cold blood and burned to death, I was filled with tears. Just thinking about it. I had 50% of my body burned. I know a bit what it might have felt like. Like many, I have struggled to find in God’s Word anything about just how He intends to make things right after something like that.
People have challenged me by asking:
“well where was your God when all those kids were butchered?”
When I am confronted with something like this, my auto-default is the cross. God was in the very same place He was when His own Son died on the cross. God was in the same place He was when I sustained burns to 50% of my body. God was in the same place he was when my late wife died in my arms. God was. God is. God will be:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)
Scripture tells us about others who have asked similar hard-hitting questions about “where was God?”
Repent or Perish
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5, ESV)
No. Jesus was not threatening people, saying “you must repent or I’ll kill you.” Jesus was simply warning them Jesus is simply warning us today. He wants us to know the results we will bring upon ourselves if we do not know Him as Savior and Lord. It is eternal life to know God and Whom He has sent.(John 17:3) God has also said:
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (Jer 31:3, NIV)
As evidenced by the cross; Jesus has shown us this “everlasting love”, through His “everlasting gospel.” (Rev 14:6-7)
God reaches toward his people with kindness motivated by deep and everlasting love. He is eager to do the best for them if they will only let him. After many words of warning about sin, this reminder of God’s magnificent love is a breath of fresh air. Rather than thinking of God with dread, look carefully and see him lovingly drawing us toward himself.
Whether a person is killed in a tragic accident or miraculously survives is not a measure of righteousness, or lack thereof. Everyone has to die once. (Heb 9:27) Jesus did not explain why some live and some die tragically; instead he pointed to everyone’s need for repentance, before their time comes. (Mat 4:17) We have some terrible forest fires in my area at the time of this writing. A young lady just 19 years old has just died while helping to fight the fires. Its such a sad thing.
No matter how or when it occurs, death is not the end. Jesus promises that those who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Wonderful Words of Life
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:16,21, NIV)
I don’t have all the answers, yet something did occur to me that I find helpful. Something with HOPE in it. I don’t really know what to say to people about this, my heart is breaking just thinking about the magnitude of the suffering in the Congo. The families that are left. I can sum up what I am thinking by just saying that if we know our identity in Christ, then at least these tough questions have an answer that makes some sense through the din of grief and pain. It gives me hope of something better.
As I thought of those children being burned alive; I recalled my own burns to 50% of my body. Why don’t I hate God after all that has happened to me? Through it all, Jesus has been there. Jesus has been real. Jesus is relevant. Jesus has been, is, and will be powerful. I know I am His adopted child, and He is my Heavenly Father. “I am the one Jesus loves.” And this gives me hope. Something to hang onto. A future hope. No more death, no more crying, no more tears.
Who really am I when all seems so dark and scary, and there is seemingly no hope?
“I am the one that Jesus loves.”
Its about the cross. The cross is the only thing that levels the playing field in a crises for us all. The cross is exactly how Jesus makes all things right.
“that He might be JUST and the JUSTIFIER of all who believe in Jesus” (Rom 3:26) PTL. This is what will apply also to all who wonder “where was/is God?” The cross closes up the distance. “all who are afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.” (Eph 2:13)
A nurse who looked after me years ago when I was burned kept saying “God just loves everyone so much.” And I had the evidence by her ministry to me in the sick bed. On what we all thought was my death bed. For us today, as then, the cross is the evidence.
Christ declares
“I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)
If the cross does not find an influence in its favor, it creates an influence. Through generation succeeding generation, the truth for this time is revealed as present truth. Christ on the cross was the medium whereby mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other. This is the means that is to move the world! {6BC 1113.5}
This is why the header photo for this web site is there. You see it at the top of each page here. I scratched that message in the sand this past summer during a dark period I was going through.
“I am the one Jesus loves.”
This is our identity in Christ. We are the one/s that Jesus loves. The cross is our proof. The cross is our doctrine. The cross is our warning. The cross is my hope in every situation. (Gal 6:14, Eph 2:13)
I asked a passing tourist to take the header picture for this web site after I scratched the message in the sand at Jasper National Park. He did not look at the message until after he took the picture. His mouth literally dropped open in surprise. Now he and his group of friends have gone back to India but I am sure they will tall many others about this. About the old hippy in dirty drywall clothes that actually thought
“I am the one who Jesus loves.”
Im sure they will never forget the moment. And I pray that God will bring justice to the Congo and shower the people there with Hope and Love that passes all human understanding or possibility. May they too know in their darkest hour:
“I am the one Jesus loves”
Light In The Clouds
Rain Bow Shows Righteousness of Christ, Mercy, and Justice
In the rainbow above the throne is an everlasting testimony that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. . . .” Whenever the law is presented before the people, let the teacher of truth point to the throne arched with the rainbow of promise, the righteousness of Christ. The glory of the law is Christ; He came to magnify the law, and to make it honorable. Make it appear distinct that mercy and peace have met together in Christ, and righteousness and truth have embraced each other.{5BC 1133.5}
As the bow in the cloud is formed by the union of the sunlight and the shower, so the rainbow encircling the throne represents the combined power of mercy and justice. It is not justice alone that is to be maintained; for this would eclipse the glory of the rainbow of promise above the throne; people could see only the penalty of the law. Were there no justice, no penalty, there would be no stability to the government of God. It is the mingling of judgment and mercy that makes salvation complete. It is the blending of the two that leads us, as we view the world’s Redeemer, and the law of Jehovah, to exclaim,
“Thy gentleness hath made me great” (2 Sam 32:6, Psalms 18:35) {5BC 1133.6}
If you desire to be one of God’s adopted children today you may take heart in this promise from Heaven:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12, KJV)
All who welcome Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives are reborn spiritually, receiving new life from God. Through faith in Christ, this new birth changes us from the inside out—rearranging our attitudes, desires, and motives. (2 Cor 5:17). Being born makes us physically alive and places us in our parents’ family (John 1:13). Being born of God makes you spiritually alive and puts you in God’s family (John 1:12). Have you asked Christ to make you a new person? This fresh start in life is available to all who believe in Christ. Just ask Jesus in your own words:
Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him. {CSA 26.3}
The phrase believe in His name occurs three times in the Gospel of John (John 1:12; John 2:23; John 3:18). Name does not refer to the term by which He is called, but to what His name stands for—the Lord is salvation (Exodus 3:14-15). In this context, the phrase means to believe that Jesus is the Word, the life, and the Light—that is, He is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31).
To them He gave the right refers to the legitimate entitlement to the position of children of God. None of us was naturally a child of God. We were by nature children of wrath and condemned apart from Christ. Imagine being poverty-stricken and then being given the right to inherit the riches of a king and the position of royalty. By believing, undeserving sinners can become full members of God’s family.
While he was in jail, Paul was treated in a very rough manner. But this is what he said:
Then Paul called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:29-31)
Remember that at one time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:12,13, NIV)
At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always at our right hand to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer. (The Desire of Ages,669,670).
YOU are the one that Jesus loves.