O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing / Charles Wesley
Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life, and health, and peace.
On Wednesday, this same song was also playing in my mind, only then it was this stanza that was playing:
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I finished reading Matthew 24 Thursday morning, so I began reading in Matthew 25 about The Parable of the Ten Virgins, The Parable of the Talents and The Judgment. Honestly, as I read these verses, I thought, “How is this about charming (or calming) our fears and bidding our sorrows cease?” In the parable about the Ten Virgins, half were prepared to meet the Lord and half were not. The Lord came and the door was shut. The virgins who were not ready then came to the door and asked to be let inside, but the Lord said, “I never knew you.” Then, a warning was issued that said that we need to “keep watch,” because we don’t know the day or hour when the Lord will come.
Next was the Parable of the Talents (Gold). The master gave 5 to one servant, 2 to another and 1 to another. The one given five doubled his, the one with two doubled his, but the one with only one buried his. When the master returned, he rewarded the servants who had doubled what they had been given, but to the one who had buried his, his master took what he had away from him and gave it to the one with the ten (5+5). And, then he instructed that the “worthless” servant who had buried his talent (gold) should be thrown into the darkness where there shall be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Lastly, in chapter 25, is the judgment where Jesus separates those who were genuine in their faith as evidenced by their actions from those who did not have real faith that lived itself out in their daily lives. For those who had been faithful, a reward of eternity in heaven with our Lord awaits them, but for those giving just lip service but are not really in a true, vital and active relationship with Jesus Christ, they will go to eternal punishment. So, this whole chapter is really about separating those who are ready from those who are not, those who produced fruit in keeping with repentance (Mtt. 3:8) from those who buried what they were given, and those who lived out their faith by what they did from those who did not.
I finished reading Matthew 25 with the feeling, thus, that there must be a message here of hope and encouragement because of the words to the song that were playing in my mind which were about calming fears and sorrows ceasing. The song said that it is the name of Jesus that calms (charms) our fears and bids our sorrows cease and that it is music in the sinner’s ear and brings life, health and peace.
I don’t know about you, but when I read about people not being ready to meet Jesus, having the door shut and them being told by God, “I never knew you,” it brings sorrow to my heart. When I read about a servant who buried his gift from God and did not produce fruit in keeping with repentance and thus is thrown out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, I feel much sadness. And, when I read about those who did not live out their faith in their daily lives being separated from those who did, and me knowing that many will be separated from God in eternal punishment forever and ever, it breaks my heart. So, again I thought, “How can this be about calming fears and bidding our sorrows cease?”
Then, I read Matthew 26 and these verses stood out to me (vv. 36-45):
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 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.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 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.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
When they arrested Jesus and one of his companions tried to stop it from happening by cutting off the ear of a guard, Jesus told him to put his sword away. He told them that he could call His Father and that he could put at his disposal 12 legions of angels to come to his rescue but that the things that were to take place had to happen in order to fulfill the prophecy of scripture. Then, this passage of scripture tells us that Jesus’ friends deserted him and fled and that Peter denied him 3 times, and this was after Judas had betrayed him and had handed him over to be arrested. By human standards, we would have to say that Jesus was having his worst possible day. And yet, this is what he said:
“But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus had hope because he could see what they could not see. He could see beyond what was taking place in his life to the hope of what was to come. He knew that he must go to the cross to die for our sins, and he knew that he must take the sins of the world upon him. Yet, he knew that he would rise again victorious over sin, death, hell and Satan! And, because of that hope, we also have hope that we can hold on to when things get rough.
Tonight, I was reflecting back over a time in my life when I was not walking with the Lord; when I was failing him miserably, in fact, and I was overcome with sorrow just remembering that time in my life when I was walking according to the flesh instead of walking according to the Spirit. That was the most miserable time of my life ever.
Can you imagine what Jesus – one who knew no sin - must have felt to take upon himself the sins of the entire world – past, present and future? People talk about the horrible death he suffered, and yet the greatest pain of all was the pain of our sin. That is why he was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Yet, he had hope because he knew that he would conquer sin, death, hell and Satan, triumphing over them by his death on the cross and by his resurrection, and that through faith in Him we could also now be free from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal punishment, and that we could be free from the control of sin and bondage to sin in our daily lives, as well. That is true hope!
The song says that it is the name of Jesus that charms (calms) our fears and bids our sorrows cease. When Jesus was overcome with sorrow due to knowing that he must take upon himself our sins, he prayed to the Father that if it were possible for this cup to pass from him, he prayed it would, and yet he said, “Not as I will, but your will be done.” So, the first thing he did was to call upon His Father, and then to surrender His will to the will of the Father. I believe that is the first step for us, too, in having our fears calmed and our sorrows ceased. There are a lot of things that are difficult for us to accept or even to understand, and yet we must, as well, surrender our will to the Father who is sovereign over all.
When his disciples kept falling asleep, he told them to “watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” I believe he was talking with them, not just about them falling asleep while praying, but he was talking to them about what they were about to face, as well. He knew they would be scattered due to persecution, that they would suffer as he suffered, and that many of them would face martyrs’ deaths for the sake of his name. His rebuke to them in asking them “Are you still sleeping?” held with it more than just a chastisement for falling asleep while praying. They were asleep because they didn’t get it. If they had, they would not have fallen asleep. They really didn’t understand what was taking place and how their lives were about to drastically change directions. And, we must also “watch and pray” so that we don’t fall into the devil’s trap, because even though we may have the best intentions, our flesh is weak.
Matthew 24 and 25 are about the end of the age when Jesus returns for his bride and when he judges the earth. Matthew 26 is about Jesus’ suffering and death for our sins so that we could go free. I believe they parallel each other and that the instructions given and the example set by Jesus then as to how to respond to these difficult days when we are or will be overcome with sorrow are that we need to wake up so that we are not caught asleep when Jesus returns and thus we are not ready to meet him; we need to take what he has given to us and multiply it instead of burying it; and we need to live our faith out daily by what we do in our obedience to our Lord. We need to have the oil in our lamps full by spending time daily with our Lord in prayer, in His Word and most of all in obedience to his commands. And, we need to surrender our will to the will of the Father even if what is coming around the corner for us may be the worst days of our entire lives. We need to say with Jesus, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” We need to understand that what is spoken of in Matthew 24 and 25 concerning these last days must be fulfilled. We can’t get out of it.
Then, we will know the calming of our fears and the ceasing of sorrow and we’ll know true life, health and peace when we say with Jesus, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
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