Yet He Shall be Saved

Jeremiah 30:5-9 ESV

 

“Thus says the Lord:

We have heard a cry of panic,

    of terror, and no peace.

Ask now, and see,

    can a man bear a child?

Why then do I see every man

    with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?

    Why has every face turned pale?

Alas! That day is so great

    there is none like it;

it is a time of distress for Jacob;

    yet he shall be saved out of it.

 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”

 

A Cry of Panic

 

This is a time of distress in the world among the nations and in the USA, which is where I live. Here the distress mainly seems to revolve around the presidential election’s results, the C virus, and the draconian measures our government is taking to control the virus, i.e. the people of America.

 

Some Christians are fighting against other Christians because they each are following after men, and they are taking sides as to which man they should follow over the other. It seems the Apostle Paul covered that subject many years ago when the people were all proclaiming who they were following.

 

In that case, they were all following someone who was following Christ, because Paul’s counsel was that all of those being followed were servants of the Lord, each doing his assigned task. He said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Co 3:6).

 

But, he said that the Christians were not spiritual, but they were worldly because of their infighting over who was best to follow. Thus, he said that neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. Amen! And, he concluded, “No more boasting about men!” Amen!

 

Now, we are not talking today about godly men who are servants of the Lord, who are clearly working for God’s eternal kingdom. We are talking about men who are worldly, who may or may not have some belief in God, i.e. in Jesus Christ. Christians are fighting against other Christians over which one of them is best for the people of this nation.

 

And they are fighting over pre-tribulation rapture vs post-tribulation rapture, or baptism by immersion vs sprinkling, or whether the KJV of the Bible is superior to some other more recent translations such as the NIV, NASB and the ESV and others.

 

And they are worried that if this person is in office that this will happen, while they are confident that if this other person is in office that those same things won’t happen. Thus, they are putting their trust in men to save them and to be their hope for the future instead of solely putting their trust in God.

 

Or they are frantic over the C virus, or concerning the draconian measures, or they are all affright over where this all is headed, and pertaining to what they will do to us, and/or regarding where this is going to take us, and over how they will survive if this or that happens, etc. etc.

 

A Time of Distress

 

But are things bad right now? Surely they are! Are we headed in the wrong direction as the world and as individual nations and as the majority of the church? Yes, most certainly we are! Is doom and gloom in our future? Yep! The Bible says it is! Is the economy going to crash? Most likely!

 

Are we coming into that time of the rule of the beast? I believe we are. Do the mandates for the C virus play into this at all? I believe they do. Will they force us to take a vaccine that is harmful to our bodies? Probably so, but time will tell. It does seem everything is hinging on that right now.

 

Should these situations unglue us? No! Should we be afraid? No! Should we be looking to some man (or woman) to save us from it all? No! Should we be praying for discernment? Yes! Should we be trusting God fully through it all? Absolutely! Should we be asking for wisdom to make right choices? Yes!

 

Should we believe the Lord that this time must come upon us? Yes! And that God has a good purpose in it for us? Yes! Should we accept the idea that God may allow us to go through this time of distress because he wants to rescue people from their bondage to sin, and he wants to revive and to purify his church before he returns to take us to be with him forever? I believe so.

 

And why does his church need to be revived? Because the vast majority of them has left their first love to follow men, instead, and to accept a half-truth diluted gospel in place of the true gospel in order to appease their sinful addictions and to console themselves that God will not judge them.

 

Breaking the Bonds

 

So, the Lord needs to break these bonds from around their necks that they have allowed to be put in place due to the fact that they are men followers instead of God followers, and that they are believing lies instead of truth because they want to go their own way instead of God’s way.

 

For, it is the Lord’s will that his church be surrendered to him, to be walking in his ways and in his truth, and that she does not have divided loyalties. It is God’s will that his church would be walking in holiness and righteousness, obeying his commands, and forsaking her sins and putting them to death.

 

So, the purpose of what is now upon us and is yet to come is the salvation of human souls. And it is the revival and purification of the wayward (or of all the) church. And it is that we should serve the Lord our God and Jesus Christ, God the Son, as our only Lord and master.

 

And it is that we might be free from the yoke of slavery to any institutions or philosophies of men which might have, or which might yet lead us astray.

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

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