MORE ABOUT OUR LOVELY SAVIOR

I should like to come back to our reflections on Jesus our Savior. This next post is from the pen of my pastor, Reid Ferguson.

Walk in Wisdom – Gleanings from Scripture


Today’s Readings Feb. #15 : Matt. 16:13-28;
Acts 23:1-11; Psalm 37:23-40; Ex. 38-40


Peter’s great declaration in Matt. 16, is the very
foundation of all true Christianity: Jesus is the
Christ, God’s exclusive Messiah, God’s only
Son. He alone can ransom the lost, atone for sin,
die in the place of guilty sinners, bear the wrath
of God due us, and rise again that we might be
declared righteous. These things belong to Jesus
and Him alone. What a glorious Savior! Then
note Jesus’ words to Peter at the end of verse
18. Yes, this confession is indeed that Rock
upon which we are built – But He is not content
to leave us imagining that this is but a
temporary or a merely temporal - thing. Here,
knowing (as the next few verses reveal) that He
will soon be going to Jerusalem to ascend His
rough hewn Throne at Calvary – He wants to
make sure His disciples then and we today know
something of supreme importance. Of
transcendent importance in the very deepest
sense of that word. This Church, this assembly,
built upon this confession of Jesus the Messiah,
the Son of God, is of such a nature that even the
gates of Hell cannot prevail against it. In other
words, He wants us to know that His salvation,
His Kingdom, His Lordship, extends beyond the
grave. Not even death can impact it. Those who
are His in this life, are His in the next. What He
has wrought for us here, does not end here, but
goes on through all eternity. Every human
institution, every human accomplishment, every
human endeavor ends at the grave. Every last
one. But not the Kingdom of our Christ. His is a
Kingdom without end. Death not only cannot
thwart it, it can only become a gateway for us to
enter into it more fully. “If in this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most
to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:9) But it is not so. Our
hope extends beyond the grave and to all
eternity. Indeed, our weeping may endure for a
night – but JOY, eternal joy, everlasting joy,
unassailable joy – comes in the morning!