Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
Bible prophecy is clear: we have come to Daniel’s “time of the end” ( 11:35; 12:4), to the “last days” Paul describes (2 Tim. 3:1), to when “then shall the end come” that Jesus speaks of (Matt. 24:14).
Yes, “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was” (Dan. 12:1). But it will also be a time of lighting “the earth with ... glory” such as has never been because God will prepare a people all over the world to stand at Christ’s second coming. It will be the time when God’s people shall be delivered from fear. The righteousness of Christ will clothe them, and so clothed, they cannot be afraid any more than Christ was afraid when He was among us and faced the raging tempest (Matt. 8:26), or the wild men of the Gadarenes (vs. 28).
Deliverance from fear “in Christ” will be a glorious blessing; but even now we can learn to receive such deliverance from fear.
This is accomplished through understanding how close Christ is to us, says Hebrews 2:9-15: “We see Jesus, ... that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. ... Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy [paralyze, Greek] ... the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
Note: eventually, Christ will destroy Satan; but for now, He paralyzes [Greek, makes ineffective] the one who has “the power of death.” We are “the children” who “partake of flesh and blood” now; and we do have a mortal enemy; but Christ has “shot” our enemy with a tranquilizer that paralyzes him, so we do not need to be afraid of him.
The common excuse that we give for falling into sin is a false one, “the devil made me do it.” The devil cannot force us to do one wrong thing! Temptation to sin may be fierce but the much more abounding grace of Christ is far stronger. The key truth involved here in learning to overcome fear is that in His incarnation Christ “took part of the same ... flesh and blood” that we have received from our fallen “head,” Adam. Thus we realize that we are united with Christ; His faith becomes ours; His fearlessness also becomes ours. There is no need to fear a paralyzed enemy!
Over and over the Lord tells us, “Don’t be afraid!” In fact (and I speak softly and reverently) it’s a sin to be afraid; it implies that there is unbelief buried or woven into our so-called “faith.” And unbelief is the sin of the ages, the last sin to be overcome on planet earth.
But we can overcome it! And we must overcome it, and for all those who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (cf. Rev. 14:1-6—God will have such a people!) there is that blessed gift of freedom from fear.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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