2 Corinthians 1:7-9, Amplified Version:

“And our hope for you [our joyful and confident expectation of good for you] is ever unwavering (assured and unshaken); for we know that just as you share and are partners in [our] sufferings and calamities, you also share and are partners in [our] comfort (consolation and encouragement). For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in [the province of] Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life [itself]. Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.”

If you’re feeling pressed upon from every angle; if you find that many of the options formerly available to you have been decimated; if almost all of the doors that used to be open in your life have been shut; if you are feeling imprisoned by circumstances; if the spotlight of the universe has suddenly centered upon your inability to cope and everything else is darkness, you are not alone.

I call it “The Narrowing.”

Paul wrote of his journey in Christ: “I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances… I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want” (Philippians 4:12). Our Savior said, “…[T]he gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it” (Matt. 7:14).

It is a predictable pattern for me that, when I start feeling comfortable in the catbird’s seat—fairly certain of my ability to appraise people and data—God puffs in my direction, knocking me out of the catbird’s high perch. I tumble to the ground, voicing no small degree of discomfort. Now turn that sharp wit and tongue upon yourself. I’m right here with you, son. Trust me and build others up. Being an ordained minister and pastor doesn’t change this dynamic for me—in fact, my way is straight through the kiln of heat that compacts for all time, just like anyone else’s path who is in Christ.

As Christian Post contributor Dan Delzell puts it: “The Holy Spirit is always working to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That is to say, God gives man what he needs in order to lead him to a place of repentance, faith, assurance, and humble submission to his Creator. This in turn produces plenty of good fruit in the life of a believer.” [1]

This process is most Scripturally seen as a manifestation of God’s mercy, not anger. The time for God’s anger to be unleashed on people in the world at large has not yet arrived; we live in the Age of Grace, and we must interpret His discipline—or at least His hand in constraining our “wiggle room”—as mercy.

An abundance of “grey space” is giving way to sharper definition: Grey areas are devolving into black-and-white spaces in every area of life, it seems, and very quickly.

This trend runs contrary to general thermodynamics, indicating that Someone beyond the created universe is very actively at work, everywhere, always patiently drawing us to Christ as the “Day of Christ” approaches.

Christians in particular must remain mindful of our Father’s work in our lives. God must be allowed to work in us before He moves through us (though at times He does work and speak through us in spite of our opposition to deeper influence).

Of all things, these times and circumstances that have come upon the entire world remind me of playground carousels. The old metal discs are turned by the biggest and strongest while the little children hang on for dear life. Those of us who can remember this staple of American childhood got perhaps our very first lesson in physics, in angular momentum and centrifugal force. Lean into the Lord and hang onto the “bars” of His Word in faith. While the world seems ablur, you’ll stay on the carousel. If you lean in, you can control the sense of that pull. Look deep into Christ the Center, and your dizziness will be relatively controlled. Look outward, and you’ll lose your lunch. Lean away from the Lord and don’t hang on—and you’ll move at speed onto the gravel!

The glorious Lamb of God speaks to believers in the ancient city of Philadelphia (Revelation 3, Amplified Bible):

“I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My name. Take note! I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and learn and acknowledge that I have loved you.”

This could be a message for Jeremiah—he faced overwhelming opposition. Nobody in Israel believed his warnings. They imprisoned him because he was faithful in communicating God’s words. For all of his travail and obedience, Jerusalem was overrun by Babylon following a ruinous siege.

“The Narrowing” Jeremiah had proclaimed for Israel had come upon them, like a hurricane, despite their refusal to acknowledge it. And it came upon Jeremiah, who suffered just as much as they did but righteously so; he remained faithful to God through the storm. This was both Jeremiah’s suffering and his joy. Thus, Jeremiah and the Apostle Paul had a great deal in common.

Doors were shut to both of them, but also doors were opened; God is keeping all the gates.

“The Narrowing” has come upon the whole world—for its good. Grey areas are divided into more distinct black and white so that individuals are personally accountable for where they take their stands. “The Narrowing” is especially difficult for Christians, but this too is a blessing.

The Narrowing is good.

It’s a giant sign of God’s love.

And it’s a sign of the times—specifically, indicating that these days are drawing swiftly to a close.

Believe—and keep on believing—that the Living Jesus is your King and that He will come for you any moment now.

Because He is, “you can face tomorrow”!

John 14:1-3, Amplified Bible:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me. In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you. And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Luke 21:28, Amplified Bible:

“Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near.”

Jeffrey C. Ady, Ph.D.

[1] https://www.christianpost.com/news/comforting-the-afflicted-and-afflicting-the-comfortable.html. Accessed August 11, 2020

 

There are numerous hymns and praise and worship songs that reference being “Redeemed.” One dictionary definition of redeem is: to buy back again; regain possession of, or exchange for money or goods; ransom a person from captivity by paying a stipulated price; or to redeem from sin by sacrifice. (dictionary.com – all emphasis mine)

Everyone has favorite hymns, and two that I like very much are a 1999 song by the Gospel group Legacy Five called, “I Stand Redeemed”; and also one written by Frances (Fanny) Crosby from 1882 called, “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It.” I submitted a message about Legacy’s song in 2018.

What I didn’t realize until going online for the lyrics to “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It” was that it was one of the many wonderful hymns written by Ms. Crosby. She blessed the world with more than 8,000 hymns that have been inspirational to numerous souls. Having lost her sight while still an infant, she did not take on the role of an invalid. She made it a goal to memorize much of the Bible and began to write poetry starting at age 8. Her wonderful words were put to music by various composers. She was admitted to the New York Institute for the Blind, and for 12 years was a student there. This was followed by 11 years as a teacher at that place of learning. She was a very special servant of the Lord.

By definition, our Lord and Savior “paid” for our redemption in just about every way that is defined. At the Garden of Eden, all humans were tainted by the sin of our original parents, Adam and Eve. Because of that fall from the Grace of the Father, every human became “mortal” and actually became “born to die.”

Even though our mortal bodies are now destined to “return to dust,” we all have an immortal soul that will spend eternity in one of two places: Heaven or Hell. Anyone who does absolutely nothing to receive redemption belongs to Satan and ultimately will spend eternity with him in the lake of fire. Each person entering eternity will receive a new body designed to last forever, wherever we end up: one for eternal punishment in Hell, or one designed to be forever in Heaven with our Lord and Savior in pure joy and happiness.

Our God could exert His divine authority and force everyone, including Satan and his demons, to perform exactly as He wished and make everyone react completely to His will. However, that would not be a true, loving God and goes against everything He is about. Our God loves us so much (John 3:16) that He provided a pathway for everyone to be able to be redeemed. There is a time when every knee will bow and proclaim Jesus as Lord, and that will be at the final judgment (Philippians 2:10-11). Meanwhile, the choice to accept or reject Him is completely up to each individual.

Our “ransom” was paid through a “stipulated price,” which was the precious shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus. He came to the earth as a human, and as stated in Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Him, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of [human] death, so that by the Grace of God, He might taste death for everyone.”

We have a God that can honestly say He totally understands what we go through here on earth. As a human, Jesus was subjected to temptations directly from Satan, as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13. Satan’s ego was, and is, such that he believed he could even cause Jesus to slip and sin, if only once. After fasting for 40 days, Jesus’ human body would have been in a weakened state, but He kept His mind focused on submitting only to the Father. After failing to cause Jesus to sin, one would think the evil one would have learned a lesson. However, it is apparent that his resolve toward humans only became stronger.

Today, even Satan realizes his time is getting short, and he knows the outcome that’s waiting for him. (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10). Even so, his destructive self-pride doesn’t stop him from trying to pull as many souls away from the Father as possible.

Although we are creations of the Triune God, He proved beyond all doubt that He is absolutely worthy of our total worship and praise. All so-called other human-designed gods are said to demand that their followers wholly submit to them, and any personal relationship is unheard of. In 1 Timothy 2:5-6, we read, “For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men/women, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

Our God wants each and every person on this earth to reach out and receive the divine gift that His Son provided at Calvary (2 Peter 3:9), For that gift to take effect, it must be accepted. There are no earthly deeds nor any earthly price that can be paid to have this gift. It’s there to be accepted or rejected by each and every individual. The “sin sacrifice” for our redemption was completed once and for all through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Prior to this, all sin-sacrifices were temporary and were in place to show willingness to follow God’s will.

By calling out to Jesus and acknowledging we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), asking His forgiveness and to come into our hearts as our Savior (Romans 10:9-13), we change our eternal address to a Home built by Him in Heaven (John 14:1-3). We give Jesus the “possession of our souls” in exchange for the blood He shed.

God knows human nature and realizes more will follow the desires of this world than will accept the straight and narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14). The only difficulty in accepting the Savior is in the minds of those who don’t want to change because of the lures that Satan provides.

We who are saved can sing of our victory through songs such as the one Ms. Crosby wrote. Consider the words of Hope and Praise and Promise:

(1) Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am.

(ref) Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am.

(2) Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus, no language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His presence with me doth eternally dwell.

(3) I think of my Blessed Redeemer; I think of Him all the day long. I sing for I cannot be silent; His love is the theme of my song.

(4) I know I shall see in His beauty, the King in whose law I delight; Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps, and giveth me songs in the night.

(5) I know there’s a crown that is waiting in yonder bright mansion for me. And soon with the Spirit made perfect, at Home with the Lord I shall be.

As stated previously, the hardest part to grasp is how anyone could refuse such a blessing that is there for the asking. Their vision is focused no further than this world, and the thought of eternity doesn’t come to mind. Satan keeps them occupied with material things and makes them seem all-important. Thoughts of a Redeemer are pushed aside for what we cannot take from this world.

My sincere hope is that all who have read this will take just a moment and make the most important decision ever. That is to call on Jesus and accept His sacrifice for all of our sins. All who truly call on Him will not be turned away, and they will be redeemed forever. He will be coming back very soon – as one expert put it, “imminent.” He will be calling all true believers up to meet Him in the air to avoid the soon-coming tribulation/wrath (1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). To miss this opportunity would be a most terrible mistake.

Your heart will be able to sing, “Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child and forever I am!”

Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus!

huebshman46@gmail.com