PRÉCIS ON THE PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE OF GOD’S REMNANT IN THE DAYS OF DARKNESS

SCRIPTURE. “But be not far from me, O Lord; O my Help, hasten to aid me! Deliver my life from the sword, my dear life [my only one] from the power of the dog [the agent of execution]. Save me from the lion’s mouth; for You have answered me [kindly] from the horns of the wild oxen.” – PSALM 22:19-21, AMPC

KEY TERM: “DELIVER MY LIFE!” ‘Natsal’ [הַצִּ֣ילָה]: “A primitive root, ‘To snatch away [from danger by a powerful force].’” NOTE: “The Hebrew verb ‘natsal’ primarily conveys the action of delivering or rescuing someone from danger, distress, or oppression. It is often used in contexts where ‘God Intervenes to save His people or individuals from Peril.’ The term can also imply a sense of ‘snatching away or plucking out from a harmful situation [a veiled reference to ‘The Rapture of God’s Remnant’ at the End of the Age].”’

QUOTATION. “I have sat in the impossible places that existed leagues beyond the reach of the prose of men, the touch of friends, and the encouragement of family. And in these horribly famished places where hope languished and desperation ruled, I eventually fell to exhaustion and laid my life in the frigid embrace of an awaiting death only to find that instead I had fallen into the warm Hands of a Loving God. And while these words are the prose of yet another man, the Hands that they speak of are not.” ― CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH, Author and Clinical Therapist, including, In the Footsteps of the Few, 2022

COMMENTARY. “‘In these verses we have Christ suffering, and Christ praying; by which we are directed to look for Crosses, and to look up to God under them.’ The very manner of Christ’s Death is described, though not in use among the Jews. They pierced His hands and His feet, which were nailed to the accursed Tree, and His whole body was left so to hang as to suffer the most severe pain and torture. His natural force failed, being wasted by the Fire of Divine Wrath preying upon His spirits.

‘Who then can stand before God’s Anger? or who knows the Power of it?’

The life of the sinner was forfeited, and the life of the Sacrifice must be the Ransom for it. Our Lord Jesus was stripped, when He was Crucified, that He might clothe us with the Robe of His Righteousness. Thus it was written, therefore thus it behoved Christ to suffer. Let all this confirm our faith in Him as the true Messiah and excite our love to Him as the best of friends, who loved us, and suffered all this for us.

‘[Even] Christ in his agony prayed, prayed earnestly, prayed that the cup might pass from Him.’

When we cannot rejoice in God as our Song, yet let us stay ourselves upon Him as our Strength; and take the comfort of spiritual supports, when we cannot have spiritual delights. He prays to be delivered from the Divine Wrath. He that has delivered, doth deliver, and will do so. We should think upon the Sufferings and Resurrection of Christ, till we feel in our souls the Power of His Resurrection, and the Fellowship of His Sufferings.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK’S TAKE. The life of a True Follower of Jesus Christ is a Grand Drama filled with a rich blend of great joys and triumphs alongside some of the most painful challenges we could possibly imagine. But best of all: It is a Wondrous Journey like no other and is to be lived to the very fullest possible!

Perhaps it was best said by C.S. LEWIS: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important!” (“Christian Apologetics,” in God in the Dock, 1970; edited).

In this same regard, when I had reached the lowest point of my life in 1979 and frankly wanted to take my own life, somehow J.R.R. TOLKIEN and his magnificent Trilogy found their way to me.  And somehow those robust Stories of Adventure lit my very weary blood on fire.

Well, maybe a little flicker it was.

In any case, it began to to show me that: ‘Real Life was to be lived large, beloved, and not tiny and hidden beneath the staircase!’ Here is how Tolkien put it so beautifully in The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937; edited).

“This Hobbit was a very well-to-do Hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the Neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: You could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him. This is a story of how a Baggins had an Adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether Unexpected. ‘He may have lost the neighbours’ respect, but he gained—well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.’”

CODA. During my well over 40 years of following the Messiah, I have discovered TWO GREAT TRUTHS that will guide the Christian to the richest, most fruitful and joyful Adventure imaginable.

(1) Being Unafraid to die, should God require it. (2) Thereby being Unafraid of anything else in life, ever!

Beloved, this is what Real Freedom looks and lives like, and there is nothing that one cannot do when such a ‘Death of Self’ takes place. I will close therefore with the words of DIETRICH BONHOEFFER in this crucial and ever hopeful regard.

“The Cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-Suffering which every man must experience is the Call to Abandon the attachments of this World. It is that Dying of the Old Man which is the result of his Encounter with Christ. As we embark upon Discipleship, we Surrender ourselves to Christ in Union with His Death—We give over our lives to Death. Thus it begins; The Cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our Communion with Christ.

 ‘When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die!’” – The Cost of Discipleship, 1937; edited

Here lie The Keys to Real Life in Jesus, beloved. Hear it. Heed it. Then fix your heart and face like flint for the Ride of a Lifetime! Selah.