by Dr. Manfred Kober
It would not be difficult for the believer, as he observes national and world events around him, to be pessimistic about the near future. Informed individuals know that the world is beset by all sorts of problems: international conflicts, government corruption, moral corrosion, natural calamities, theological compromise, ecclesiastical confusion, and personal cares and concerns.
Despite these problems listed—and they could be extended almost ad infinitum—the believer not only has reasons to be hopeful about the future but can be joyful because of certain verities. God is very much in control of the nations, their governments, and each individual on this planet. Nothing takes Him off guard. Everything is part of His sovereign plan. The apostle Paul assures us that God “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). The discerning believer knows that whatever happens will ultimately result in God’s glory and for the Christian’s greatest good (Romans 8:28).
An entire volume could be written on the supernal blessings promised the believer now and in the near future. After all, we have been “blessed … with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). While it may be helpful to see God’s blessings and document them with a Scripture reference, it may be of greater benefit to contemplate the actual inspired words as we seek comfort, contentment, and courage in these volatile days of the twenty-first century. Let us enumerate a few delightful truths promised to us now and in the near future, based on the activity of our triune God on the believer’s behalf:
I. The Affection of God the Father
A. God’s love is eternal: “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). What is true of God’s loving concern for Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is equally true for every believer. When did God know us and love us? God has loved us from eternity past. Although difficult to grasp but glorious to contemplate, there never was a time when God did not know us and love us.
B. God’s love is presently active: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). The blessed truth is that God does not love us for what we are but for what we are becoming through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God loves us not because of our sinful character but because of our special connection to His Son.
C. God’s love is unending: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). If nothing will ever separate us from the love of God, which He bestowed upon us because of “Christ Jesus our Lord,” then we do not need to fear anyone or anything about the future. This statement by the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8 alone has given hope and courage to countless believers through the ages, many of them under severe persecution and distress. What more can the believer wish than to be forever an object of God’s love? And who is this God? He is the supreme ruler of the universe! He has loved us forever in the past, He showers us with His loving concern now, and we are promised His loving presence for all eternity. What more could a believer ask for?
II. The Activity of God the Son
A. The Savior prepares for us a glorious home: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know” (John 14:1-4). As the believer faces the vicissitudes of life, may he take courage from the fact that our Savior is departed to prepare our eternal home. It only took Him six literal days to create the entire universe. It appears that since His ascension, Christ has been working on our heavenly home. What a glorious place that must be! The apostle John gives us details about that home in Revelation 21:1-22:5.
B. The Savior presents us faultless before the Father: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). No matter how anxious we are to please the Savior, we always sense that we have not lived up to our and His expectations. And yet when we are in the presence of the Savior, all our shortcomings, sins, and faults have vanished.
Some time ago my wife and I attended a service where a pastor asked a rhetorical question, wondering what our personal feeling would be when we as sinners appeared in the glorious presence of the Savior. Would we be fearful, humiliated, saddened? After the service I approached the pastor, one of my former students, and showed him Jude 24. Persons with Christ and our heavenly Father will be characterized by exceeding joy. Our sins have been forgiven the moment we trusted in Christ as Savior. Unconfessed sins will have been removed before we ever entered heaven. We will have reached sinless perfection, a complete Christlikeness. As the apostle Jude speaks of our being faultless in the presence of God, similarly the apostle Paul speaks of our being presented without “spot, or wrinkle” (Ephesians 5:27).
C. The Savior prays on our behalf: The Word of God reveals the wonderful fact that our Savior is even now engaged in prayer on our behalf. He is praying for our infirmities and for our security.
- His prayer for our infirmities: There are two aspects of that prayer. For one, Christ prays that we might not sin. This would be intercession; and then He prays when we do sin, which we call advocacy. How wonderful it is to realize that our Savior, while absent from us, has very much His focus upon us. As He prayed for us on earth, so now in heaven He prays that we might not sin: “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). The believer, while on earth, still sins, and Satan accuses him before God (Revelation 12:10). Yet Jesus Christ pleads our case because His blood shed on the cross was to care for all our sins.
- He prays for our security: The way Jesus Christ prays is not just for our infirmities in His intercession and advocacy, but He also prays for our security. Christ prays that we might be eternally secure. In His high priestly prayer before His crucifixion, He indicates that He has kept us secure, He prays that the Father would keep us secure, and He prays that “none of them is lost.” “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:11-12).
For the believer, his salvation can never be in doubt because Christ’s prayer will never go unanswered. Additionally, Christ assures us that we are safe and secure in the Savior’s hand and in the Father’s hand: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).
III. The Assistance of God the Holy Spirit
A. The assurance that we are the children of God: “The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). Every genuine believer who trusts in God as Savior has the eternal witness of God the Holy Spirit, assuring him of his destiny being eternally secure in God. What a blessing it is to realize in this life that nothing in the future will ever cause us to lose our salvation and our standing as children of God.
B. The assurance that our prayers will be heard. One of the blessings that should thrill every believer is the fact that the Holy Spirit assists us in our own prayer life and then:
- He prays with us: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).
- He prays for us: “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27).
Sometimes we wonder whether we are praying according to God’s will, but we can be assured that if our prayer requests are not according to God’s will, the Holy Spirit will pray on our behalf that we might experience God’s perfect will.
C. The assurance that He aids us in whatever area we need help. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter, in the Greek paraklete, literally “one called alongside of to help.” This is the same word translated as “advocate” in 1 John 2:1.
- The Holy Spirit helps us without fail: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16).
- The Holy Spirit teaches spiritual truth: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).
- The Holy Spirit points to the Savior: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me” (John 15:26).
- The Holy Spirit informs us about the future: “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
Conclusion
The Holy Spirit tells the apostle John at the end of the first century to record Christ’s words that He would depart from the disciples and fashion our eternal home (John 14:1-6). Then, the Holy Spirit gives John the revelation with amazing detail of the appearance and nature of the saints’ everlasting home. It is a great city, the eternal home of the triune God, the saints of all the ages, and the holy angels (Revelation 21:1-22:5).
Any one of these blessings enumerated hopefully will thrill the believer as he realizes the blessings of the past, of the present, and of the future, all because of God’s eternal loving care and present help and future fellowship. May the enumerated blessings from the triune God encourage us in these difficult days as we await our Savior’s return for us at the glorious rapture.
— This article, reproduced from Foundation magazine, is one of Dr. Manfred Kober’s “Prophecy Essays” which has been featured in Foundation magazine for several years. Dr. Kober served as a Bible college professor for thirty years and has led over forty Holy Land tours as well as many Reformation tours in Europe. He currently speaks at churches, Bible conferences, and Christian camps.
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