"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift." -- 2 Cor. 9:15
"Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." -- 2 Cor.
2:14
The Christian is always victorious in Christ.
"From victory unto victory,
His army doth He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished,
And Christ is Lord indeed."
At the very outset of faith, every believer enjoys the victory that Christ has won
through His death. "He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). All our inglorious past has been
taken care of forever. "There is now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus."
The question of punishment for my sin can never come up again, for "by
suffering, He has perfected forever" all who trust Him as Saviour.
"Settled forever sin’s tremendous claim;
All glory to Jesus; yea, blessed be
His Name;
No half-way measures doth His grace provide;
Settled forever, when Christ the
Saviour died!"
Jesus paid it all in full. In John 19:30, He announced from the Cross: "It
is finished!" Not "I am finished!" His death spelled the
death of sin and death.
It is true that "we see not yet all things put under Him. But we see Jesus...
crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every
man" (Heb. 2:9).
God is now perfectly righteous in justifying everyone who trusts His Son. He is
"just and the Justifier of everyone who believes in Jesus" as Saviour
(Rom. 3:26).
"‘Tis in the Cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet
righteous be."
"For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world through Him might be saved."
The potential for saving the whole world is inherent in the sacrifice of Christ.
His saving work is actual for those who trust Him. "He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but
the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
It is not the greatness of your sin that excludes you from God’s salvation.
His great grace is sufficient for all, but efficient only for those who believe.
God’s salvation hinges on His Son. Those who accept Him are saved eternally,
and those who reject Him are lost forever.
"As Jesus appears to your view,
As He is beloved or not,
So God is disposed as
to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot."
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!" Receive Christ,
God’s Gift, and don’t forget to say "Thanks!"
As to the rest of your time on earth, say with the apostle: "Thanks be unto
God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ."
While it is often true that each of us may know defeat after defeat personally, there
is no such thing as defeat in Christ. The course of the believer is constant victory.
We cannot know defeat, really, because the Lord’s portion is His people, and He is
always on the side of His own. The Scripture declares: (1) "The eternal God is thy
refuge" (Deut. 33:27). We have a secure place in which to hide in the
storms of life.
"O, safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows
would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine would I be;
Thou blest Rock of Ages,
I’m hiding in Thee."
(2) "And underneath are the everlasting arms" - Every believer is
forever held, kept by the power of God. "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).
(3) "He shall thrust out the enemy from before us" - We have One to
help, for our God shall fight for us, and "if God be for us, who can be against
us?" (Rom. 8:31).
The devil may be mighty and wily, but our God is Almighty and always victorious.
He cannot be defeated.
"Though the enemy accuses—
Sins recounting like a flood,
Every charge our God refuses;
Christ has answered with His blood!"
He always causes us to triumph in Christ. What a location! That’s
where God sees us—accepted in the Beloved.
"So near, so very near to God,
I cannot
nearer be,
For, in the Person of His Son,
I’m just as near as He! So dear, so very
dear to God,
I cannot dearer be;
The love wherewith He loves His Son—
Such is His love
to me!"
What about the future? Neither death nor life can separate the believer from Him.
Even now, we claim the victory over death. For the believer now, who passes through
the portals of death, it is simply "absent from the body and present with the
Lord." It is "to depart and to be with Christ, which is very far
better." No more sickness, no more struggle, no more sorrow, no more
stress. The believer immediately goes to the land of "no more" and "much
more."
"What will it be to dwell above,
And with the Lord of Glory reign,
Since the blest knowledge of His love
So brightens all this dreary plain?
No heart can
think, no tongue can tell
What joy ‘twill be with Christ to dwell!"
And then, of course, for every step of life’s way, we have the blessed assurance
that there is not one word of Scripture that needs to be fulfilled! The Lord may come at
any time to "gather His loved ones Home."
"The Lord may come at evening
twilight,
Or at midnight’s deepest gloom;
Perhaps at crimson flush of morning,
Or
the brightness of the noon."
Then the believer will share "the last laugh" at death and the grave. No
believer then living—no matter how close to death—will die. He’ll laugh at death,
which cannot then touch him: "O death, where is thy sting?"
All then who are in their graves will rise first and say, O grave, where is thy victory?
You thought you had us, but now we have received a body like unto His own body of glory.
His victory on the Cross was the death of death forever. Our bodies may have crumbled to
dust, but Christ our precious dust will take and freshly mold. He’ll give these
bodies vile a fashion like His own. He’ll bid the whole creation smile, and hush its
groan."
The celebration that shall never end will start then, for forever we will be
saying:
"Thanks be unto God, Who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ!"
A DEATH BED
As I lay sick upon my bed,
I heard them say, "in danger;"
The word seemed very strange to me;
Could any word seem stranger?
"In danger?"—of escape from sin
Forever and forever!
Of entering that most holy place
Where evil entereth never!
"In danger?"—of beholding Him
Who is my soul’s salvation!
Whose promises sustain my soul
In blest anticipation!
"In danger?"—of soon shaking off
Earth’s last remaining fetter!
And of departing hence to be
"With Christ," which is far better!
It is a solemn thing to die,
To face the King Immortal,
And each forgiven sinner should
Tread softly o’er the portal.
But when we have confessed our sins
To Him Who can discern them,
And God has given pardon, peace,
Tho’ we could ne’er deserve them,
Then, dying is no dangerous thing;
Safe in the Saviour’s keeping,
The ransomed soul is gently led
Beyond the reach of weeping.
So tell me with unfaltering voice
When Hope is really dawning;
I should not like to sleep away
My few hours till the morning.