Martin Collins, reminding us that God's love does not shield the believer from sickness, pain, sorrow, or death, focuses on several scriptural contexts in which Jesus shed tears and expressed grief. Though no wimpy sentimentalist, Jesus chose to experience the often disrupting vicissitudes of human life, having the capacity to feel empathy. Like all of us, He felt weariness and exhaustion, grew in wisdom and knowledge, and felt anger and indignation. The short clause, "Jesus wept," conveys both His anger at the consequences of sin and His compassion for those who suffered, prompting observers to say, "He loved." Jesus was made like us so He could empathize with our weaknesses, qualifying Him to be our High Priest and Mediator. Unlike the religion of Ancient Greece, or Judaism, God's true religion shows God as having the capacity to feel, to empathize, and to have love for others. God meticulously keeps track of our tears and promises to wipe them away in the fullness of time. But, before God transforms our tears of sorrow into tears of joy, He commands that His called-out ones be the same kind of living sacrifices as were Moses, the apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ.
Martin Collins points out that our Savior has a tender spot for those who are weak in the faith but are doggedly struggling to hold fast to what they believe. People sometimes unfairly brand others who display a one-time weakness, as in the case of "Doubting Thomas," who demanded empirical evidence of Christ's resurrection. We forget that it was Thomas who boldly encouraged his fellow disciples to risk death by returning to Bethany for Lazarus' funeral. We forget that all the disciples who abandoned their Master expressed doubt until they themselves had a higher level of tangible evidence than hearsay. While all the disciples were in a brain fog as to where Christ was going following His impending betrayal and crucifixion, Thomas was not afraid to expose his ignorance. Thomas realized that to follow Christ involved denial of self and a willingness to die. The principle of death and denial is hard for us to apply because many things—fame, fortune, and power—compete to take the place of God's purpose for us. We must learn to say no to anything which goes against God's purpose. When we give up trying to run our own lives, we find the contentment of living the productive life God has prepared for us. Jesus' deliberately delayed His return to Bethany until Lazarus had died so that He could bolster the faith of Martha and His disciples, as well as His called-out ones today. Like Martha, we must allow Christ to transform our basic faith into an absolute trust in God's purpose for us.
John Reiss: Having learned in Part One about biblical compassion, we can see no better example of it than the sacrifice our Savior made for us. ...
People are often both mystified and fascinated by angels. What do they look like? How many are there? What are their names? What are their powers? What is their purpose? Martin Collins uses biblical texts to show that angels are God's servants whose purpose is to help those He has called to eternal life.
Clyde Finklea, acknowledging that life is full of good and bad times, directs us to learn the lesson of Ecclesiastes 7:13-14, to rejoice when times are good and to reflect soberly when times are bad, realizing that adversity or suffering is a tool that God uses to create something beautiful in us. Suffering always hurts, just as renovation on an old building involves tearing out something undesirable to transform it into something pleasant and useful.. The apostle Paul developed incredible spiritual strength by being tested to his limits in what he described as a trial or affliction beyond his capability of handling. Later he developed confidence to shake off a poisonous serpent, trusting in God to heal him. What he had earlier described as “burdened beyond our capacity” he later characterized as a momentary light affliction. To mature us, God uses trials to (1) render us capable of comforting others in their affliction, (2) prevent us from trusting in ourselves, but to motivate us to trust unconditionally in God, and (3) enable us to thank God for our newly acquired strength to endure greater trials and challenges. Whatever we face, God is able to provide us the strength to endure, enabling us to exponentially grow spiritually.
John Reid, anticipating the pressure to conform and compromise placed on God's called-out ones in the coming years, admonishes all of us, that though we may feel worn out, we will ultimately prevail in the end. If the beast power succeeds in revising the calendar, it will make keeping God's laws more challenging and dangerously difficult. In modern Israel violent crime is on the rise. Abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage, secular progressivism, hopelessly corrupt government, denying God's sovereignty, are reaping a horrible crop of curses, further wearing out the saints. Satan has already captured the world, but he cannot succeed until he has compromised the Saints. We must resist the darkness, keeping our light shining at all times. As God's called out ones, we must warn or caution our brethren against danger, comforting one another, praying without ceasing, holding fast to and proving what is true, abstaining from evil, praying for the ministry, anticipating the reward at the end of the spiritual trek.
The gospels present Jesus working the wonderful miracle of resurrection only three times in His ministry, one of which is the raising of the widow's son. Martin Collins dissects the episode, elucidating the depth of our Savior's compassion for others.
Martin G. Collins: The reality of death is that we can rarely predict when it will occur. Many factors affect longevity—some we have control over and some we do not. ...