“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

Is not Christ’s returning for us a rescue? Is it not vengeance and judgment by the Father upon all evil, upon all stumbling blocks? (Matt 13: 41, 18:7)

Father, is there not “hell to pay?” How can it be said of darkness, “This has already happened?” Or of the abomination of desolation, “he has already come, it has already been done.” Respect raises this question. Are we not to study, to seek understanding?

One might as well say, “Christ has already come!” or “There is no second coming!” Yet we believe in Your second coming Lord. Is it NOT preceded by tribulations? Or like in the days of Noah, will the world be having a great time, totally unaware of Your imminent return because they placed no value in the “Arc-like” message of enduring love, the gospel of the kingdom (reign) that “shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:13 -14 NASB

In fact “darkness” occurs daily to souls around the world. Abominations by men of desolation occur daily around the world. Is there any doubt that a climactic darkness is yet to occur as “dusk” reveals its approach?

Our rescue began with the Lord’s birth, then His teaching. It is assured by our obedience, ( John 3:36) and was implemented by His sacrifice and made available by the Holy Spirit. Our reconciliation to the Father is meant to precipitate our surrender to or better yet our embracing His Way which is actually the guarantee to our victory in Him. How is that? By following His Way we maintain the cleansed state He gave us freely. It is the Way of the kingdom! Jesus came to preach the gospel, the good news, of the kingdom. He has already told us,  we must follow the Ways of the kingdom, His Way, if we wish to come after Him.

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
³⁵  “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:34-35 (NASB)     

Each surrendering event in life, “not my will but Thine,” is a glorious victory in the life of a child of the King, for the name of the king means “salvation” and His Son’s name means, “Yahweh saves.” Our acts toward others must say the same as His name. Freely given to us first, our mercy in the face of hatred is meant to be salvation to them and us. Our forgiveness toward them or their forgiveness toward us lights the path for both of us to Him. Whoever allows darkness to remain, perishes. There is  no darkness in eternity.

This cross mounting is a daily submission that leads us to the gate, the narrow gate, the entrance into the kingdom, “…and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7:14 NASB) These Ways are keys to the kingdom that we must possess and learn to implement with eternal proficiency.

These victories, these daily submissions to His will are the very “ministry of righteousness,” that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 3:9. Is it not righteousness in us to intercede for the salvation of our enemies? We are not condoning their behavior! We are praying for Jesus to find them like He did us! Is it not glory to God when we chose righteousness over anger and vengeance?

Can God not execute the vengeance that belongs to Him alone? Why must we lift a hand or fist? Is He so weak as to be imagination only and not the true All Mighty, Majestic, All Powerful, Living God we have come to know and believe in? Only a weak understanding of Him would default to a powerless, unresponsive image of God, an image easily cast aside under duress. Can He not rescue His own when He has said that He will?

Are we His own? Is there proof He can see? If God required proof from His own Son how can we imagine He would not require proof from us? Obedience was the proof and it still is.

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  John 3:36 (NASB)

Have we mounted our cross willingly? Do we not see it as our victory platform just as Jesus did? Jesus “accomplished ” His departure from there. We do also!

”and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who, appearing in glory, were speaking [to Jesus] of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Luke 9:31 (NASB, NKJV, KJV) [added for clarity] 

Our successful departure is just as important as His. He died to show us!

Was our cross just to be picked up daily, carried as a symbol only or do we bear it knowing that within its lesson lies the path to our place of peace.

On our cross daily is where all offenses are cast off expeditiously and intercession for others then propels us into an eternity of Christ-likeness first here and then forever!

Today, we are to leave behind anything not permitted in heaven. This trip requires preparation! God will, in His mercy, point to anything in you that is a problem. Beyond that don’t worry about what you do not know; operate in what you do know.

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“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

   We initiate the return of Christ!  (The E-book)

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