”Thou broughtest them in and didst plant them in the mount that is thy possession….”  Ex 15:17 (NEB translation)

The people of Israel had not yet entered the promised land, and yet they could already now praise the Lord with loud voices for having brought them that far.  God´s redeemed people still have that assurance today on the virtue of the blood of Christ.

At the request of her husband I called on a cancer stricken woman in a town nearby.  I came at noon time.  There she was at the end of the table.  At the other end there was a Bible.  I was supposed to sit there.  At the table was also her husband.  In my heart I groaned before the Lord.  “O, grant me a word to say…”

I believe the Spirit of God directed me to Hebr. 12:22:  “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels…”.  I read the whole context.  The sick woman said, “You see clearly in what shape I´m in…”  I said to her, “Yes, here you are, but in God´s reckoning you are already there!”  And I emphasized the words, “You have come…” – not you will come.

We had fine moments of fellowship, prayed together and soon she passed on to a bright eternity to which she already belonged.

If that same assurance of having already now passed from death to life (Joh. 5:24) fills your heart you can´t help making a tremendous impact on your surroundings.  A retired military man, a neighbor in fact, in San Diego told me abt. 5 years ago that in his career he had done a lot of travelling all over the world.  “What about your very last journey?” I asked.  “I hate to think of it”, he said.

So be bold about “the hope that is in you”  (1 Pet. 3:15).  If we are not bold about it, who else will be?

Febr. 3, 2012 – jn -