Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. The king says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern; until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that you may live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’””
(2 Kings 18:28-35)

“Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed. He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him! But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’””
(Mark 16:5-7)

Money had been seized. The city had been surrounded. The siege was full-on against Jerusalem and the Judeans. The current king, Hezekiah, was a godly man. He had – finally – taken down the high places that were not used for godly worship. He’d campaigned against idolatry. He held to the Word and followed God’s commands. He was a GOOD man and a GOOD follower of God. He was leading the people where they needed to go. But they were under attack. It looked bleak. And the same question the ungodly always ask when it looks like they’re winning is asked: how can your God deliver you?

The women were expecting a body. Jesus was dead. The enemy thought they had won. The Judean Pharisees thought they had won. The Romans didn’t really care, but they thought they’d kept the peace. Everyone was convinced that they were facing either bleak circumstances or total victory. But Jesus was ALREADY alive. He was NOT in the tomb. The tomb was opened by angels so that the people could see it was empty. So that we could understand Jesus had left. Resurrected to life. He laid down His life and He picked it up again (John 10:17). In HIM we had a saviour. He paid the price. He FINISHED it. When things were looking bad, and we were surrounded by the enemy who had killed the One we thought would help us, when things were as dark as they could possibly be. That’s when deliverance came. That’s when Jesus rose up. That’s when we were made to know just how secure we are in His hands (John 10:28-29).

Summary

When the world or the devil thinks they have you on the ropes, that’s when we can show them they do NOT have us. We can stand on what Jesus DID and what Jesus SAID (James 4:7). We don’t need to struggle and panic and hide. We can be safe in His arms. Armed with His Name. Able to succeed because HE overcame for us and we’re walking in His Way. No matter how bleak it LOOKS, the REALITY is that in Jesus we have TOTAL and ABSOLUTE victory. Humanity’s point of view is very limited. God’s point of view is not, and when we look at life from HIS point of view, even things that SEEM to be defeats can be seen as the VICTORIES they really are.