[Jesus said]“I tell you, My friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him [God] who, after He has killed, has Authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!
Luke 12:4-5
Jesus is talking to His “friends” in this passage. His ultimate message is that Christians are to “fear not.” But, Jesus tells His friends here, and Christians today, that we are not to fear any human, or demon, who may take your life in this world. Jesus talks of a Greater One who is to be feared, God, who has all Authority to take life from this earthly body and cast its spirit into hell, a place of everlasting death. God’s Word tells us that fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. Christians are to fear God in the sense that you do not want to disappoint Him, not the fear of one who will torture and kill you. Jesus, next, talks of the omniscience of God by telling His friends that 5 sparrows are worth 2 cents and yet, God knows when a sparrow dies. Jesus says that God has numbered the hairs on our head, a way of saying that God knows everything about each human that has ever lived, now lives and, will ever live in the future. So, Christians, fear nothing in this world for the God of all Creation, maker of all humanity, cares for humans much more than for a flutter (flock) of sparrows. If you, oh reader, then, know God through belief in His only Begotten Son, Jesus, you are assured of eternity with Him. But, to the ones who do not know Jesus, eternal death awaits you in the life to come. This is not a death of annihilation but, an everlasting condition of dying but, never dead. An eternity of remembering all your sins with only grief and gnashing of teeth and suffering and pain, without relief, awaits those who reject Jesus. Now is the day of salvation. Call upon the Lord, Jesus, and be saved today!
Source: S C Ball February 16, 2023
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