Embedded Files
Post date: Jul 10, 2014 4:21:55 PM
I am a writer of hymns, and for quite some time, now, I have been writing at least a hymn a day.Yesterday’s hymn is about daily following Christ—and the wording of the hymn is quite important. I believe that, if it is actually pondered and processed and thought out, the wording of this hymn can teach a great many things about the Christian’s daily walk in Christ.
First, you are in His footsteps. Therefore, you are going through what He went through. If He went through suffering, then you go through suffering, for “the servant is not better than his Master”. If they have hated Christ, then they will hate you, too; if they have vilified Christ, they will also vilify you. If, however, they are treating you differently than they treat Christ, then you are not in His footsteps. That is a clear teaching of Scripture—even though many would deny it.
Also, it says that you are following Him; You are not leading Him, but are following. Thus, again, if you are not going through what He went through, then you are not following Him—no matter your most eloquent protestations to the contrary. This is simple logic.
The hymn then speaks of His determination, that He does not abandon His course because of difficulties (so should you); then speaks of who He is, as your reason for following Him in the first place.
The hymn for today is an assurance, that as you do what yesterday’s hymn proclaims, you will be secure in your salvation. As it is written, “I give them life eternal, and they will, no, never be destroyed, unto the ages, and no one seizes them out of My hand.”What a promise! What an assurance that is!Of course, as the skeptic will rightly argue, “What use is that? Who is he to be making such monstrous proclamations?” And they would be right—if He had not proven His claims, they would be right—to make such an argument.History, though, thoroughly attests to the accuracy of His claims by thoroughly documenting what He did to verify them. And here, it is not sufficient to simply quote Scripture. You must examine the contemporary secular histories to prosecute the testimonies of those who most had an opportunity to negate the claims made in Scripture. Scripture states that (a) Jesus lived, (b) He was crucified, dead, and was buried, and that (c) on the third day His tomb was found empty. There is no contemporary, ancient, secular testimony that refutes any of these claims. Now, there will be those who will bring up the Qur’an, but the Qur’an is not contemporary to Christ, but is 600 years later than Christ, and relies on sources that are heretical to the Christian faith in order to define the Christian faith. It, therefore, is not reliable in this matter. You must examine the contemporary, ancient, secular testimonies to see whether they refute the claims of Scripture, that Jesus lived, was crucified, dead, and buried, and that the tomb was discovered empty on the third day.
They do not.
Instead, they engage in a sort of left-handed, indeed back-handed, touch-point corroboration of the Scriptural claims. They don’t intend to, but that is the accomplishment that they have achieved through their efforts. They do not refute that He lived; they do not refute that He was crucified, dead, and buried; and they do not refute that the tomb was found to be empty on the third day. Instead, they make weak, untenable excuses as to why those claims are true—thus, verifying that they are, indeed, true.
I will, then, leave it up to the reader to reason out the following:
It is historically verified that Jesus Christ lived; that He was crucified until dead, and was buried; and that on the third day, his tomb was discovered to be empty. Jesus claimed, many times, to be God, prophesied that He would be put to death, and that He would raise Himself from the dead. As it is written, “No man takes my life from me; I have the power to lay it aside, and I have the power to take it up again.”
Reason that through.
Who but God is able to raise themselves from the dead?
Reason that through—if you dare.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse