Is There any Word from the Lord?
Meditation for the week of November 7, 2010
Jeremiah 37:17 then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" And Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!"
There are times when it seems that God is silent. However in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:2). Old testament prophets heard him speak to them, and they spoke to the people. Some heard Him in dreams and visions of the night (Job 33:14-15). Likewise new testament prophets have left their messages in the Bible for us. God has spoken in various ways. Are we listening?
Some of the message is about love and grace. Some of the message is about coming judgment. Just as Jeremiah’s audience wanted him to tell them what they wanted to hear, we are like that today as well. Jeremiah’s audience wanted to believe that they could win the battle against Babylon. Because they had sold themselves into idolatry, they could not be saved from Babylon. God’s message through Jeremiah was faithful and true and came to pass. The message that God has given us in His written word is also faithful and true and will come to pass.
While the whole Bible is God’s word and is profitable, there are parts of it that really speak to me. God didn’t give us His message to confuse us but to enlighten us. One verse that is God’s Word for today is found in Acts 4:12 which says, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
God’s word says we must be saved. Saved from what? We must be saved from the eternal judgment that our sins deserve. In the passage, an impotent man was saved from the practical consequences of sin. The world is lost in sin because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The earth and everything in it has been cursed because of this disobedience. This man did nothing to deserve to be lame, but lame he was. We might argue that we have done nothing to deserve the sin nature with which we were born; but, nevertheless, we have the sin nature. We have sinned as the result of our nature, and we must be saved. Christ was the solution that the nation of Israel had rejected. But He is the means by which we must be saved. Our salvation is not a physical salvation from a sickness or disease. Our salvation is a spiritual deliverance from the consequences of sin. Christ has been raised from the dead and there were many witnesses to this fact. He ascended to heaven, and He is coming again. When we meet Him, He will either be our Savior or our Judge. Our word from the Lord is that we MUST be saved.
If we must be saved, then the question is asked, “What must I do to be saved?” (See Acts 16:30-31.) The answer is simple: “Trust (believe in) the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.” Also if your household believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be saved. Actually, all who believe in the Lord Jesus will be saved. Notice the answer is really, “Nothing!” We can’t do anything to be saved, because it was all done by the Lord. All we can do is trust the Lord when He says that He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).
What happens if we don’t believe this “word from the Lord”. Peter asks the question, "If the righteous one is scarcely (or with difficulty) saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear (1 Peter 4:18)?" Salvation was “with difficulty” because of the cost of salvation to God. However, if we don’t believe this “word from the Lord”, God says we are “condemned already” as the following passage says:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18).”
Is there a word from the Lord? There is!
Bruce Collins