My heart is heavy. There
is so much pain in this world, so much violence, so much hopelessness. It touches every person walking on the face
of this planet. It may be a different
situation for different people, but it is always there; pain, violence,
hopelessness. People are hurting. People are scared. People are angry. I see it every time I pick up the newspaper
or read the news on my phone app. I see
it when I talk with friends. I even see
it on Facebook. No one escapes its
grasp, no one. Not in this life anyway.
What we need is an Escape Plan. We need an Escape Plan that will free us from
all of the ugliness of this world and release us into a place full of unending peace,
love, and joy; a safe place where everyone lives together in harmony. When I see and hear of all the violence, I
long for that safe place. I think most
people would agree with me on that.
As I was doing my daily Bible reading this morning, God
reminded me that there is an Escape Plan.
He has put a marvelous Escape Plan into place for us. That Escape Plan is two-fold: an Escape Plan for us here in this world and
an Escape Plan for us in the afterlife.
The Escape Plan for this earth does not include a physical
removal from the pain and violence but it does include an Escape Plan from the
hopelessness. When we understand God’s
Escape Plan for the afterlife, all hopelessness falls away and is replaced by
Hope…..Hope for love, peace and joy to fill us on the inside in this life and
Hope for love, peace and joy in eternity.
Galatians 5:16, 22-23 says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit and
you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.” The Escape Plan in this life fills us with all
the good things in life that God wants to bless us with on the inside.
The Escape Plan for eternity guarantees us that we will spend
eternity in the presence of our Lord. I
Thessalonians 5:9-10 tell us, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but
to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake
or asleep, we may live together with Him.”
And then in I Thessalonians 5:13-17 God gives us a
description of what the Escape Plan will look like; “Brothers, we do not want
you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or to grieve like the rest of
men who have no hope. We believe that
Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus
those who have fallen asleep in Him. According
to the Lord’s own Word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left
till the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen
asleep. For the Lord Himself will come
down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever.”
Revelation 21 & 22 gives us a description of what life
will look like for those who accept the Free gift of eternal life and
use the Escape Plan; “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any
sea. I saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men and He
will live with them. They will be His
people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or
crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am
making everything new.’ I did not see a
temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its
temple. The city does not need the sun
or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is
its lamp. The nations will walk by its
light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for
there will be no night there. The glory
and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will
anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 21:22-27
The Lamb’s Book of Life is our Escape Plan. It is the Escape Plan for all who “confess
with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised
Him from the dead”. Romans 10:9 promises
us that our name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and we will be
saved from the destruction of this evil world if we make this confession.
“BEHOLD, I AM COMING
SOON!”
“So be strong and let your heart be courageous,
all you who put
your hope in the Lord!”
Psalm 31:24, Revelation
22:12
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