Revival and Resolution

Introduction

On this first Lord’s Day in the year 2015, we want to speak about revival and resolution. Those who are not revived, those who are not made alive by the Spirit of the living God, cannot resolve anything. Only those who are born again can resolve to practice the confession, “Jesus is Lord,” daily in all situations until death. When we baptize people, we tell them, “Be faithful till death, and he will give you a crown of life.” Some of us may die this year and not see the next year. Our times are in his hand. We must make certain our calling and election.

What is the purpose of our existence? It is to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and serve him all of life. The chief end of a godly man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Either we serve our triune God or we serve the devil. There is no true autonomy. It is a lie and deception to think there is.

Yet Americans glory in autonomy. Parents never want to tell their children what to do. They want to let them grow up autonomously. But it makes no sense to serve the devil, who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came to save us from the devil’s tyranny and to give us eternal life. He said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28). There is no other Savior but Jesus. Every knee shall bow before him and every tongue shall confess Jesus is Lord for the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10–11).

We are entering this new year as children of God to live for his glory. That is our new year’s resolution. And we are making that resolution, knowing that the Lord is our shepherd, and we shall lack nothing. Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil. I do not know what this new year has for us, but do not worry. We fear no evil, for our shepherd is with us; his rod and his staff will always comfort us.

In this new year, let us serve God gladly! Let us stand firm in the faith of the gospel and resist the devil. Let us do good works, as we read in John 9:4: “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.” We can do good works in this world only while we are alive. There is no more opportunity after death.

Paul exhorts us by the Spirit, “[Make] the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). God will give us abounding grace to do what he commands us to do. So we say, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ, the vine, who gives me strength and who is always with me.”

Let us consider the lives of certain Old Testament saints, who, in the power of God, resisted the devil’s temptations and resolutely obeyed their God. Like us, these saints were born of God and therefore lived by the obedience of faith, as we read in Hebrews 11. They were a remnant faithful to God’s covenant—faithful in the power of the Holy Spirit and faithful all of their lives, not intermittently.

Joseph

Joseph was the first son of Rachel, Jacob’s beautiful wife. He received his theological training from his father to whom God appeared a number of times. Joseph was an obedient son, and God himself spoke to him through dreams.

When Joseph was seventeen, his father sent him on a mission to inquire about the welfare of his ten brothers, who were shepherds. Joseph’s brothers hated him and planned to kill him. They threw him into a pit. But God was with him in the pit.

Then they sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelite traders who took him to Egypt to sell him and make a profit. But the God of Jacob was with Joseph. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, bought him and he worked as a slave in Potiphar’s house. Joseph worked hard with his whole heart, as to the Lord, and the Lord was with him. God blessed Joseph and gave him success in everything he did. This must be true of all God’s people. We must work hard and be promoted wherever we are working, especially if we say we are Christians.

Potiphar promoted Joseph several times because he realized that the God of Joseph was blessing Potiphar for Joseph’s sake. In less than ten years, Joseph became the chief operating officer of Potiphar’s household.

Then Joseph encountered terrible opposition from the devil. It came through Mrs. Potiphar in the form of relentless and continuous temptation to violate the law of God which was written in Joseph’s heart and taught him by his father. Remember, Joseph was far away from his house and country. He had no family in Egypt. He was lonely. But he knew God was omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He knew the Lord was with him always.

In Genesis 39 the word “Lord” appears seven times and the word “God” appears one time. So we find the statements, “The Lord was with him” and “The Lord gave Joseph success.” And as he repulsed Potiphar’s wife, Joseph declared, “How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God, who is with me, observing me, always watching me?” We cannot push God aside. In the privacy of our room, we cannot do what we want. Our God sees all things, and he will deal with us on the last day when the books are opened.

God gave Joseph strength to resist the devil and this temptation resolutely, with full conviction of heart. Many people cannot do this. They make up their minds in the morning to do something, and by noon they change their minds. They want to lose weight in the morning; by noontime, they abandon their conviction. They want to study hard in the morning; after one hour, they forget all about it. They want to be financially independent in the morning; by noontime, they are buying on credit. They want to read the Bible and pray; but each day they fail to do so. They are taken up with everything else. They are going and coming, and they forget about the one thing that is needful.

Joseph purposed to please God, and oppose the devil and Mrs. Potiphar, and he kept his resolution. He argued with Potiphar’s wife: “No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). Every sin we commit is against God. So in verses 8, 10, and 12, we read that he refused to sin. May God enable us to be filled with the Spirit and the Scripture so that we can refuse the devil and say yes to Jesus Christ, whose slaves we are.

Finally, Joseph ran from the temptation, losing his coat in the process. Matthew Henry said, “Better to lose a good coat than a good conscience.” Understand what we are saying, because the Bible says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor. 10:13). The way for Joseph was to run from sexual immorality.

Throughout the Bible we are told to resist the devil. James writes, “Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7). Peter says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Pet. 5:8–9). Paul exhorts, “Flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18). He also says, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14). And in 2 Timothy 2:22 he says, “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

After all this, Mrs. Potiphar lied to her husband about Joseph. Potiphar did not kill Joseph. I am sure the reason is that Potiphar did not believe his wife, and because the Lord was with Joseph. The prophet Azariah told King Asa a word that applied to Joseph and applies also to us: “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chron. 15:2).

In prison, the Lord blessed Joseph, and the warden again promoted him. A Christian worker will be promoted because he brings blessings to his employer.

Finally, the Lord blessed the righteous Joseph, and he became the successful prime minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. During his life, Joseph had resolved not to sin against his God, his master, his mistress, himself, and his father. God helped him to keep his resolution. He resolved to please God, and as a result, he enjoyed fellowship with God and blessings from God. There is blessing in serving God, both in this life and in the life to come.

Joseph was not like Samson, who failed twice in his resolve and eventually died (see Judges 14:17; 16:16–17). So if you are tempted to commit sexual immorality, consider this: “For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. . . . At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, ‘How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!’” (Prov. 5:3–4, 11–12).

Godliness is the way of lasting success for God’s people, whether they live in Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, or anywhere else. All sin, as Joseph said, is wickedness and is sinning against God. As the light of the world, let us resist temptation and shine for the glory of God!

Joshua

Joshua was another Old Testament saint who resolved to obey God. Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. As a young man, he learned obedience by serving as Moses’ aide. Later, Moses appointed him as captain of Israel’s army to fight against the Amalekites because Joshua was a man of discipline who could do that great job.

Joshua was also chosen as one of the twelve spies. Along with Caleb, he brought a good report. God killed the ten spies who brought a bad report. The Bible tells us that Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit—the Holy Spirit—and followed the Lord wholeheartedly (Num. 14:24; 32:12; Josh. 14:8). A double-minded person is unstable in all his ways. There is no other way to serve God than to serve him wholeheartedly.

Eventually Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of the Israelites. And he, led by God, defeated all the kings of Canaan who fought against Israel. At his prayer, the sun stood still (Josh. 10).

In the end, this old, great warrior counseled his fellow Israelites about the only way to successful living. If you want to know how to live, go to old people who have walked with God for a long time.

Joshua counseled, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD ” (Josh. 24:14–15). Joshua could speak on behalf of his household because his children obeyed him, and everyone else governed by him. So he said, “We will serve the Lord. We will fear the Lord. We will obey God.” And in the same chapter we read, “‘Now then,’ said Joshua, ‘throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel’” (Josh. 24:23).

Jacob had given his family same counsel: “Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes’” (Gen. 35:2). Worship of idols makes us dirty. And when we come to God, we must come with a pure heart to worship him. Otherwise, he will not listen to our prayer.

Consider, then, the counsel of Joshua:

1. Throw away all idols as you would throw away stinking garbage, whether the idols of Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Canaan. Idol worship is demon worship. The devil creates nothing. He comes to destroy only. He covets our worship that he may destroy us. Idolatry kills individuals, families, and nations through the pleasures of sin for a season, and then eternal miseries forevermore.
2. Serve the Lord alone. Practice exclusivism, not a both/and philosophy. A double-minded person is unstable in all his ways. We cannot serve both the Lord and Baal (1 Kings 18). We owe exclusive obedience to Jesus Christ. He alone saves, and therefore he alone must be served.
3. Serve him all of life. We must persevere to the end. Paul said before his death, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). Jesus cried out from the cross, “Tetelestai (It is finished)” because the work God gave him to do was done.
4. Choose today whom you will serve. If we study this carefully, Joshua is not speaking about choosing between the true God and idols but about what idols you want to serve: the old brand of idols or the new. In other words, he was introducing the people into what we call religious freedom. A person can enjoy religious freedom and go to hell because religious freedom has to do with worship of idols. But if you want to worship the true and living God, you must confess and serve Jesus Christ alone.
5. But for me and for my household, we will serve the LORD. Joshua was making a resolution: “But for me and my household, we will serve the LORD”—the Lord of creation, providence, and redemption; the Lord who alone is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Daniel

The name Daniel means “God is my judge.” Daniel came from a noble, godly family in Judea who participated in the revival of King Josiah’s days. As a young boy, Daniel was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, along with others like the three Hebrew children, to Babylon to be trained to serve the king in state service. But Daniel and the others purposed in their captivity to serve the Lord alone, not the gods of Babylon.

So we read, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (Dan. 1:8). He purposed not to defile himself by partaking of the king’s food and wine, which had been offered to the idols of Babylon. Daniel’s God instructed in the Scriptures what his people should eat and how to prepare kosher food (see Leviticus 11). This law had not been abrogated at this time.

The Babylonians lived all their lives in the service of their idols. We are to live all our lives in the service of our one true and living God: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). We have no authority to do anything that is not for the glory of God. So Daniel prayed, and God showed him favor in the eyes of the officials.

Daniel proposed an alternative plan—ten days of Daniel’s diet. “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink” (Dan. 1:12). God showed favor to these Hebrew youths in the eyes of this officer. He gave them vegetables and water for ten days. After that, the Bible says, “they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead” (Dan. 1:15–16).

God makes a way where there is no way so that we may obey God only. He even enables us to suffer martyrdom, if necessary, so that we may die in faith.

In Daniel 6 we find Daniel facing another temptation as an old man. King Darius was planning to promote Daniel to rule all his vast kingdom, to make him second only to the king, like Joseph had been in Egypt. Of course, Daniel’s enemies did not like this. Without consulting Daniel, they deceived the king into enacting a law that, for a month, all people should pray only to the king, not to Daniel’s God or to any other god or man.

When Daniel came to know this law, he refused to obey it. He knew as a result of his non-compliance he would be thrown to the hungry lions. Nevertheless, he went home and prayed as usual three times a day to the God of Jerusalem—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am sure Daniel was familiar with Psalm 55:17: “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” So we read, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men [his enemies] went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help” (Dan. 6:10–11). He was praying for God’s help to save him from death in the lions’ den.

Those who framed Daniel out of envy reported his violation of the law to the king and he was thrown into the den of hungry lions. But God sent his angel, the pre-incarnate Christ, to shut the lions’ mouths and give him a good night’s sleep instead. God let him sleep on the best mattress, and he rested his head on the best pillow on earth. It is called “The Lions’ Mattress and Pillows.” Very comfortable—soft and smooth.

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of God’s people who “through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions” (Heb. 11:33).

We are powerful people when we are humble before God and pray. God will make a way for us where there is no way because he is the way. Thus God preserved Daniel. But when King Darius threw Daniel’s enemies to the lions, they were killed instantaneously: “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones” (Dan. 6:24).

Daniel was promoted and prospered because he resolved to serve God alone.

Three Hebrew Children

The final Old Testament example is the three Hebrew children (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) who came to Babylon with Daniel. The arrogant Nebuchadnezzar was filled with many demons, who inspired him to make an image of himself ninety feet tall and nine feet wide, a gold-plated statue that glistened in the sun. At a given signal, all people were commanded to fall down and worship the image. If they did not worship it, they would be burned to death in a fiery furnace.

Some informers reported to the king that these three Hebrews refused to worship his image. In Daniel 3, the word “worship” appears eleven times and “image” appears ten times. The devil enjoys the worship of unbelievers. He even tempted Jesus Christ to worship him (Matt. 4:8–10).

Those outside of Christ worship and serve the devil daily. They can do nothing else; they are not autonomous. They are deceived into thinking, “I did it my way.” But on the last day, King Jesus will say to them, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matt. 25:41). That tells us that all unbelievers worship and serve the devil.

These three Hebrew believers resolved not to worship the image because to do so would violate the written law of their God: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exod. 20:3–5).

When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he quoted Scripture with the intent of obeying the written word of God. We must also use the sword of the Spirit in our spiritual warfare to defeat the devil. (PGM) The sword of the Spirit is the written word of God. Like Jesus, we should quote it with the purpose of obeying it.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resolutely defended their refusal to worship the image. Notice their resolution in their reply to the king: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:16–18). “Our God is able to deliver us from this blazing fire,” they were saying. “We are convinced of this. And even if, in his sovereign will, he does not deliver us, we still will not worship your image.” Theirs was not little faith; it was great faith indeed!

The three young men were bound and thrown into the blazing fire, which had been made hotter seven times. But God sent a divine being, the pre-incarnate Christ, to save them from the fire. Their bonds were loosened. Their hair and garments and bodies were unhurt.

Elsewhere we read about such protection by God: “But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’” (Isa.43:1–3). Thank God we have a Savior! And we read in Hebrews 11:34, “[By faith in God they] quenched the fury of the flames.”

Nebuchadnezzar claimed that he was God and that his kingdom was forever. This was not true. Jesus is the eternal King, and his kingdom is forever. He alone possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. The state has no right to impose idolatry on God’s people (see Acts 4:19–20).

About the three Hebrews we can say:

1. They knew their God was the true and living God, and there is no other God;
2. They knew the holy Scriptures;
3. They knew their God was with them;
4. They were willing to die for their faith and live forever with God.

In the end, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged their God as the Most High God, and he promoted them. May God help us, like them, resolve to serve God alone!

Jesus Christ

Finally, let us consider the most resolute person in the history of the world. It is our Lord Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who lived a life that pleased the Father always. The Bible says he never sinned. He resolved to please God in every situation, and he kept that resolution, though he was tempted in a way that no one else has ever been. Let us then look at some key scriptures about Christ.

The first scripture is Psalm 40:6–8. It begins, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced.” That idea comes from Exodus 21. If a slave loved his master, he would tell him, “I don’t want to leave you.” So the master would take the slave and put a hole in his earlobe, symbolizing that this man loved his master and would be always ready to hear and do his master’s will because of that love.

About Jesus it is said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced,” meaning that he would do the will of the Father, no matter how difficult it was. The psalmist continues: “burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.’” The scroll stands for the Bible, and the subject of the Bible is Jesus Christ. In the King James version we read, “In the volume of the book, it is written of me.” Jesus spoke about this: “The law, the prophets, the writings and the psalms—they all speak of me, that Christ must die and be raised up on the third day, that repentance and forgiveness of sins may be proclaimed to all nations” (see Luke 24:44–47).

The whole Bible speaks about the person and work of Christ. So in Psalm 40 we read, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Elsewhere the psalmist says his delight is in the law of the Lord (Ps. 1). If we do not enjoy the Bible, if we do not love God’s law to do it, we have nothing to do with Christianity. We prove that we are Christians by our works. “By their fruit you shall know them” (Matt. 7:20). If we conform to the Bible, we are Christians.

All people either do God’s will or Satan’s. Satan deceives people through the pleasure of sin for a season. But then comes eternal misery. Unbelievers find their pleasure in sin, but the pleasure of a Christian is found in doing the will of God.

Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed the will of God: “I desire to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart.” He came with pierced ears to hear and do his Father’s will. He was resolute. He decided and he did.

His ears were ready to hear and do. In Revelation 2 and 3, seven times it is stated to various churches, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches.” The idea is that they would hear and do what God was telling them. May God give us pierced ears to hear and do his will. Jesus said, “If you hear these words of mine and do them, I will liken you to a wise man who built his house upon a rock” (see Matt. 7:24). Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done” (Matt. 6:9). We are to know God’s will and do it, so that we may be blessed by him.

In Genesis 3, we read that Eve listened to the devil, who said, “You shall not surely die.” She picked the fruit and ate it. Then she gave it to her husband and he also ate. This occurred when they were supposed to be hearing the word of God with the intent of doing it.

We encounter problems when we listen to the devil instead of God. In John 13 we read that the devil prompted Judas and entered Judas. Then Judas went out, and it was night. He went out to betray Jesus, but then he threw away the money. He hanged himself and went to hell.

We must make up our minds whether we want to listen to God or to the devil. The devil is always near, and he puts thoughts into our heads, as he did to Jesus Christ himself. The devil asked Jesus, “You are hungry, aren’t you? Why don’t you make bread from these stones?”

Isaiah 50:4–7 is another scripture that speaks about the resolution of Jesus Christ. It begins, “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”

Verse 5: “The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.” This is speaking about the crucifixion of Christ. “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” In other words, he resolved to do the will of God. And the most difficult thing for him was to make atonement on the cross for our sins. “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” Flint means purpose, resolution.

The man of Isaiah 50 was resolute, unchanging. He will do what he promised, just as we read in Psalm 40: “I have come to do thy will, O God; in the volume of the book it is written of me.” In other words, he was going to read the Bible and do what it says.

In Luke 9:51 we read about Jesus fulfilling Isaiah 50: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” In other words, he set his face like flint to go to the cross and die and be buried and be raised from the dead. And because of that, we are saved. Jesus also said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Like Jesus, we all must be resolute. We must set our faces like flint. Some people live without any purpose. They go and come and wander. They are always going around in circles. I encourage such people to get counsel and have a purpose in life. You can talk all about revival, but you must also have resolution. What are you going to do with your life? Get counsel; have purpose. But first, love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; that should be our primary resolution.

Jesus himself was tempted by the devil. The devil was against Christ, and he is against us. Don’t be surprised when the devil puts thoughts in your mind. Thank God, the Lord also puts thoughts in our mind. “Those who are being led by the Spirit are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). But we need to discern which thought comes from whom. If it has anything to do with sin, it is coming from the devil, and we must say no.

The devil said to Jesus, “You are hungry, aren’t you? You have been fasting, without eating or drinking. Now you are hungry. Just command these stones to become bread.” But in the volume of the book it is written of him that he came to do God’s will. So Jesus told the devil, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). We must take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That is why we must read the Bible and fill ourselves with God’s word. Then, when the time of testing comes, the Holy Spirit will bring that word to us and we can speak it out and obey it.

The mind of Jesus was always in the word of God. In Luke 24:46–47, he told his disciples, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” That is why we are here. Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification. He was resolute.

In John 8:29 Jesus declared, “The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

When we obey God, we can commune with God, and we will have confidence. There is no fear. If we do what is right, our God will be with us. If we are not doing do the will of God, we will be full of fear because God will not be with us. God is with us when we are with him.

So Jesus said, “The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone.” There was only one time when the Father left him. He did so because “he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). So from the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Thank God that Christ died for our sins!

In John 8:46 Jesus asked: “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” Here again we see that Jesus kept his resolution. He never sinned, though he was tempted in every way like us. A sinning Savior cannot save anyone. Mary the mother of Jesus was a sinner who needed a Savior, and Jesus her son saved her. No one else died for her sins. Jesus died for the sins of every person who repents and believes on him.

In John 17:4 Jesus said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” By his death he completed the work of substitutionary atonement.

In Matthew 26:38–39 Jesus told his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” No one can fathom this statement. “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” In verse 42 we read, “He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’” Finally, with resolution, he went to be crucified.

Paul writes, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4).

In Zechariah 2:5 the Lord promises, “‘And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’” Let us say with Paul, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

We read about this in 2 Kings 6:16-17 also. “‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’” We don’t see God’s protection, but it is real. God is invisible. He is a spirit. But he is with us and he is around us. We are in God and God is in us. So we are never alone.

Verse 17: “And Elisha prayed, ‘O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” That is what happens to us. God is all around us as a wall of fire. Our protection and our glory within is God.

The hills were full of horses and chariots of fire. They surrounded Elisha to protect the man of God. So take heart, church of Jesus Christ! In the same way, God is committed to you. The greatest thing God has ever done is to build his church. It is his most beautiful and most precious creation. We are so dear to the heart of God that he gave the highest price of the death of his own Son to save us.

Finally, John writes, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). He is not only around us and not only the glory within, but he is also the one who is in us, who is greater than the one who is in the world.

Our God is committed to our salvation. He paid the highest possible price to save us. He spared Isaac but he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.

If you are not a believer, I counsel you to do the one thing that is needful. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. If not, you will remain outside of salvation and outside of Christ. Beyond that, you will also remain under the rule of the devil, and you will go where the devil is going. May God help us to trust in Christ and do the one thing needful!

If you are already a believer in Jesus Christ, you do not have to worry about anything. God is with you, and you can say with the psalmist, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why is it? “Because thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4).

May God help us all to experience this great salvation and be revived in this new year, that we may resolutely serve our glorious Lord Jesus Christ all the days of our lives.