Mark 14:50 “And they all forsook him, and fled.” Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

From Bible Hub: Ellicott’s Commentary on Matthew 26:56

“Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” –We read with a sorrowful surprise of this cowardly abandonment. Better things, we think, might have been expected of those who had professed their readiness to go with Him to prison and to death. Yet we may remember (1) the weariness and exhaustion which had overcome them, making the resolve and courage, to say the least, more difficult; and (2) that they had been told not to resist, and that flight might seem to them the only alternative to resistance.  – Source

Upon waking up this morning, the word “Forsaken” came to mind; and immediately I knew it would be the title to my next article. Whenever I think about ‘my reality of being forsaken,’ I cannot help but revert my focus onto how Jesus was forsaken by His disciples when things ‘got real.’ Yes, we will be hated, forsaken, despised, and rejected. Somehow, knowing that Jesus told us these things would happen helps to soften the impact of enduring it all. See, Jesus told us that we will be hated for His Name’s sake, that true Christians will be hated by this world. We will not fit in, we will be ostracized, we will be shunned, and we will be scoffed at for our belief in God’s Word, our trusting in Jesus, and for our upholding of Biblical Morals and Values.

From Bible Tools: Commentary on Persecution

Above all, persecution for His sake brings us into fellowship with the sufferings of our Savior. Our love for Christ should be so great that we rejoice that it has come upon us on His account. If He suffered so much to give us this awesome future, why should we not gladly suffer a little for Him?

Persecution is a blessing in disguise designed to bring out the best of Christian character. From it we frequently become aware of weaknesses in our character. Persecution’s pressures are humbling. They make us understand that our spiritual infirmities are so great that we cannot stand for a single hour unless Christ upholds us. How true are His words, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Persecution can also keep us from certain sins because it makes us more vividly aware of the impossibility of friendship with the world. Seeing we cannot have both the world and the Kingdom, it can help us set our resolve to live righteously. “And not only that,” the apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:3-4, “but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

At first glance, persecution seems contradictory to the way and purpose of God. Though we certainly do not wish it upon anyone, and though we sincerely hope we do not have to face it, we can understand in the broad overview that, because of the enmity of Satan, it is inevitable. And in reality, it is a disguised blessing, designed to complete our preparation for God’s Kingdom. – Source

The Bible talks about children being a fruit of the womb, a heritage from the Lord, and a blessing. In recent years, the ‘fruit of my womb’ has been more of a type of affliction; but upon further reflection, I realize that this whole experience has truly been more of a ‘blessing in disguise’!  If I were to see my oldest prodigal today, I would first hug her and let her know I forgive her, then I would tell her that God used this situation and turned it out for our good and for His glory! If I were to see my youngest prodigal today, I would hug her and tell her that we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities, powers, and wickedness in high places, and that Jesus is waiting for her to come back to Him!

Just know that if you are going through something similar as being forsaken by loved ones, that God can take a scourge, a malady, a misfortune, and turn it into the biggest praise report of your life! If this is what it had to take to deepen my relationship and walk with Christ, then being forsaken was well worth it! Therefore, no matter what, I am grateful for the fruit of my womb, the heritage from the Lord, the blessings which are my two girls whether they choose to have me in their lives or not.

Psalm 127:3 “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”

From Collins Dictionary: A Blessing in Disguise

If you say that something is a blessing in disguise, you mean that it causes problems and difficulties at first but later you realize that it was the best thing that could have happened. – Source

If you are someone who feels ‘forsaken’ in some way this day, just know that Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. God loves us with an everlasting love, more than we can comprehend or fathom. From experience, I know it is very hard to live this life, day to day feeling this way, but through Christ we can do all things! Yesterday, I read Psalm 139, and it made me cry knowing how much God loves us and thinks of us… it truly is more than we can wrap our minds around. Here is the chapter; I recommend reading this a couple of times aloud to yourself… it is beyond beautiful how much we are loved, thought of, and cared for by Abba Father God Himself!

Psalm 139

1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

² Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

³ Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

⁵ Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸ If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹ If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰ Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹ If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹² Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸ If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

¹⁹ Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

²⁰ For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

²¹ Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

²² I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Until next time… Maranatha!

(JESUS = WAY, TRUTH, LIFE)

In this article, we are going to examine love. We are not going to discuss any form of negativity regarding love such as “Luv ja” when people hardly know each other. The love of money condemns itself and does not need amplification. Likewise, we are not going to assess the supposed new forms of love from the LBGTQ foundations and the imagined genders. We are also not going to examine why the phrase “my spouse’ has largely become “my partner.”

As we begin, the initial inquiry is “where does love come from?” Paul replies that love comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Love then is about following the principles and directives of God: “Love God and love your neighbor” which is widely known, but not universally practiced.

Love is so widespread a concept that there are many types… However, for our purposes, we will discuss only two. The first comes from amore, which is a noun. An example is that God is love. Another is that we are called to love God and our neighbor, which comes from amare which is a verb.

All forms of love are based on the love among the Divine Trinity. While the three persons in the Trinity are complete in themselves, it is remarkable that they want to share their love which itself is an act of love. Some would stress the sacrifice that Jesus made for mankind is the first love. That would be wrong as the first aspect of God’s love is that He shared it with mankind by creating us. Furthermore, as you read through the scriptures, there are so many examples of love. No wonder we are called to love others as this represents one of God’s attributes. In addition, we are called to receive and grow in God’s love. The fullness of love will happen upon our eternal life with the loving God and all He has prepared for us.

There are many things that God has not only prepared for us, but has also told us. However, I believe most people just gloss over some of these verses and continue reading and completely disregarding that it says we can be in God! Consider these verses:

“When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is Love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (1 John 4:15-16).

“At that day, you will know that I Am in my Father and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).

“Thus you will be able to grasp fully with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge so that you may attain to the fullness of God Himself” (Ephesians 3:18-19).

And a restatement of a believer, “Are you not aware that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

This last verse of scripture is the summation of the true believer who participates in the interaction of the Holy Trinity with the action of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The result is that we are becoming Christ-like. “This is the Christ we proclaim while we admonish all men and teach them in the full measure of wisdom, hoping to make every man complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

Are you a member of God’s kingdom? You became one after accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, but what kind are you? This is a necessary question today when we see religious practices diminishing. Furthermore, it is quite appropriate when you consider the daily broadcast vagaries of the 2020 America election process. What happened to the decorum, the regimen, and discipline of orderly discussions? Adding to this is the decline of our culture regarding morality and church attendance and the rise of the occult.

What type of a believer are you? Do you just know about Jesus or is your belief and acceptance of Him that He created us to imitate Him and to seek heavenly values rather than temporary, transient, earthly happiness?

At this point, the word righteousness has to be introduced. This is not a common word in the modern vocabulary; however, it is used in scripture over 300 times (Strong’s). It is really how we define Christian holiness, for it is basically adhering to moral principles. It is the quality of being righteous which is holiness, uprightness, and purity of heart. It is conforming to a standard which, for our purposes, is the Ten Commandments and love of God as well as our neighbor. Summarizing, it is being right with God.

Jesus was referenced as being like us, but lower than the angels as He put His divinity aside while on earth (Philippians 2:6 and Hebrews 2:7). The very creation of the angels is another proof of God’s love for this human creation: “For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). If you thought guardian angels were a childhood myth, the Bible says quite the opposite, as there are about 20 verses about our keepers.

While Jesus is our model, there can be confusion, as Jesus always referred to obeying His Father. Wait a minute; wasn’t Jesus God, and didn’t He work miracles?  As we saw above, Jesus put His Godhead aside, which is another testament to another aspect of God’s love. Yes, He was God, but He put aside the divinity to become man. Then how was He able to work healing miracles? The answer is that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit in the Jordan under the auspices of John the Baptist. This again shows God’s love for us, as Jesus then declared that He would baptize us in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus became like man so that, after Pentecost, man could be like Him in His full humanness. In a post-resurrection meeting with the apostles, Jesus proclaimed, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:23). In the post-Pentecostal teaching, Peter explained, “He first received the promised Holy Spirit from His Father, then poured the Spirit on us” (Acts 2:33).

As Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit, He moved to Capernaum and began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). In like manner, He enabled us to preach about the kingdom with the gifts of the Spirit. In fact, Paul was quite persuasive about the spiritual gifts as he states: “Now brothers, I do not want to leave you in ignorance about spiritual gifts, as he lists them in 1 Corinthians 12:4-10. Once again, scripture does not leave us in the dark, but explains the reality. Paul also was the first to reveal a massive example of God’s love unknown for centuries, as we will shortly discuss.

Jesus also revealed something, later fully detailed, when He said, “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (John14:2-3). The words “come again” obviously generated many discussions among His followers. However, they were fully revealed by Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians in Chapter 4, verses 13-18 and in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, with a massive indication of God’s love for His church which would change history forever.

Paul revealed that a generation of believers will not die, and deceased believers will be resurrected to join them. With a forthcoming worldwide calamity, God is going to remove his believers en masse to avoid the worldwide catastrophe. This will happen as they come together before being heaven-bound. However, before the flight, two things must happen. The first is receiving new bodies for living eternally without the rigors of sickness and death. Secondly, they will join our Lord in the clouds where He awaits them before all being lifted to heaven.

The “come again” occasion is popularly called the Rapture, when the entire Body of Christ is physically transferred to heaven. Not many realize that when the Rapture happens, there is a worldwide dearth, because the Holy Spirit has departed as well. While His staying hand lessened the forces of evil, can you imagine the amount of mayhem without His presence? In addition, without the presence of the Holy Spirit, only lackluster churches will exist.

After an unknown period of time, after the Rapture, a new era called the Tribulation will begin. This will be governed by the Anti-Christ and his prophet leader. While the word Tribulation implies some negative features, this is understated. The reason is that this is the era that Jesus Christ predicted as the worse time in earth’s history (Matthew 24:21).

Some people, having refused the saving power of Christ before the Rapture, might think they can stick-out the forecasted Tribulation period of seven years. How foolish! Do they think they can out-fox the Anti-Christ and his minions? How can you minimize the Satanic leaders that conduct wars, martyrdom, pestilence, disasters, and nature gone astray? How can you also avoid the wrath of God against non-believers during the Tribulation?

I have often wondered if the cool guys who think they are hot stuff realize they are playing with fire. This is because their eternal life will be filled with smoke and fire. Like the reader, I have wondered how many would be involved. For questions like these, God has never remained uninvolved. In fact, once again, the scriptures give the answer. While exact numbers are not given, the reality is clear. Scripture presents two gates: one leading to heavenly glory and the other to damnation. Scripture encourages us to enter through the very narrow gate. It further says the road is quite rough and there aren’t many who find it or choose it. By contrast, the other road is very wide and quite apparent or unobstructed. Therefore, many chose this road instead (Matthew 7:13-14).

Another clue to the size of the remnant was by Christ Himself when He asked whether He would find any faith when He returned (Luke 18:8).

In these two cases, scripture becomes a clever road atlas and presents salvation as a geography lesson. The wide gate terminals are an opening to Satan, his demonic gang, and the earthly, evil wayfarers to a hellish eternity. The narrow gate opens to the Lord God, angels and saints and the eternal presence of the loving God. Choose wisely.

ENDING COMMENTARY:

As you endure the daily machinations within the forthcoming election process, please consider the following scriptures:

“Save yourselves from this generation which has gone astray” (Acts 2:40).

“Dismiss all anxiety from your mind” (Philippians 4:6).

“Note this first of all: in the last days, mocking, sneering men who are ruled by their passions will arrive on the scene” (2 Peter 3:3).

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