Dear Brethren and Friends,
Does God really care about YOU? Is your life being watched over and guided by the One that Jesus revealed as the “Father”? Has God actually assigned His holy angels to monitor, protect and intervene in YOUR life? Does our High Priest, Jesus Christ, directly appeal to the Father on our behalf by countering the barrage of charges that Satan levels against us night and day?
Count on it and believe it! If you have been called by God and if you have received His Holy Spirit and have been converted, God knows YOU! He not only knows who you are, but He is involved in your life—day in and day out!
Sometimes, the stark reality of living in a dying society threatens to overwhelm us. At times, the press of personal and even global influences can distract and disorient us. When that happens, we must focus on our calling!
Brethren, we have been called into the knowledge of the truth of God. His great purpose in all of His creation is to add sons and daughters to His own Kind—to be made like Him and to become members of the Family of God!
In His majestic revelation to us, God has left words of abiding encouragement as reminders for us of how deeply He has offered His unfailing love toward His elect. Paul wrote of this to the Church at Ephesus:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7).
Then, note what is stated in verse 10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
In His preparation, God gave His Son to die for us—to pay the supreme price for our sins (Compare John 3:16). But that is not all! Jesus Christ now lives, and He serves as OUR High Priest (Compare Hebrews 8:1; 10:12-14). In Hebrews 9, verse 24, we find this statement about something that Christ fulfills as our High Priest, and that is “…now to appear in the presence of God FOR US.”
God called Paul into the truth—just as others, including ourselves, have been specially selected and offered an opportunity to have a part in the first resurrection—what the Bible speaks of as “…a better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35). However, Paul’s calling was fraught with severe difficulties and great personal trials (Compare 2 Corinthians 11:22-28). Through all of this, take note of the confident assurance by which Paul sustained his hope in God’s calling:
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
In the closing days of his life, Paul left this powerful testimony of God’s unfailing care for those He calls out of the world in this age:
“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
If we truly love “His appearing,” we will continue to answer our own calling to be fervently and zealously involved in the Church of God and the Work given to the people of God!
We, as well as the billions of people alive today, face a future that God’s Word describes in sobering and frightening ways. World war will erupt in the near future that will be so catastrophic that human life will hang in the balance. Only God, by sending Jesus Christ to establish Godly rule on this earth, will stop this conflagration!
But before this, the modern houses of Israel and Judah will each suffer times of trouble that will lead to their downfall—even national captivity! Our booklets, titled “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” powerfully warn of this coming period of devastation. Just as it was for Israel and Judah in the former periods, our peoples are not hearing nor heeding the messages of warning in our generation.
By July 5, 2007, the Church of the Eternal God will have reached its seventh year of corporate existence. Even though much has been accomplished during these past six years, much more work lies ahead for all of us.
While there is still time, WE must intensify our efforts to fulfill our part in lifting voices of alarm in the nations! And while there is still time, WE must make our own “call and election sure” (Compare 2 Peter 1:10-11)!
Get involved in YOUR calling, and stay engaged!
We have these words of help:
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Brethren, here is how Jude concluded his letter to the Church of God in his day, and his proclamation should also stand as our encouragement for the challenges that now lie before us:
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude, verses 24-25, NASB).
In Christ’s Service,
David J. Harris
