What IF…?

By: Steve Huston

Who wants to herald (or read) warnings of danger or tidings of “gloom and doom” during this season of peace, when we’d rather focus on those “good tidings of great joy to all, which shall be to all people”? There is a tension which exists today between the reality of the consequences of sin reigning in those mortal bodies who have not submitted to Jesus and the reality of hope and peace which is ours because Christ reigns above all.

What if those two realities are meant to intersect? After all, when God, through Isaiah, promised “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” and it was fulfilled in that humble, little stable in Bethlehem, it was a cataclysmic intersecting. God took on flesh; Jesus, fully God and fully man, was born! Into a world of darkness, the Light was born. Into a world of hopelessness, Hope was born. Into a world that needed a Saviour, THE SAVIOUR was born!

Our world is so dark today, but there is the Christ in us who believe on Him. What if God is urging His people to share His Light in this darkness, share the hope of Christ in today’s hopelessness, and share the Saviour with those around us who need saving? What might that look like for us? Around our office, Bill often asks, “What do you think God is doing?” Prayerfully read these scenarios; consider what God might have you to do. Keep in mind that if we are to do the following, it doesn’t negate action on our part to set things right, using all constitutionally lawful means at our disposal. Paul was a heavenly citizen first and a citizen of Rome second; he used his earthly rights to accomplish his heavenly mission. Let us follow Paul’s example.

What if our border crisis equals an opportunity to evangelize masses? Long ago, Christians were scattered to foreign lands around the world and God used that to spread the gospel (I Peter 1:1-9). With The Heritage Foundation reporting that “Ten thousand illegal immigrants cross our southern border every day” and Gary Bauer stating (12/7/23), “Illegal border crossings set a new record Tuesday when at least 12,000 illegal aliens walked into our country on Tuesday.  Those are just the ones we know about.  Even worse, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) suggested that as many as 5,000 more may have totally escaped detection that same day,” we can’t help but recognize that we have a border crisis and it isn’t right. What if God is bringing large numbers of people groups, some of them with nefarious purposes, to our nation to hear the GOOD NEWS that “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. (Titus 2:11-12)” What if we have an opportunity to make an eternity of difference in another’s life?

What if war on American soil proves to be an opportunity to put feet to Christ’s command to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5:44).”

Gary Bauer also reported, “At this point, if every enemy of the United States decided to put 5,000 or 10,000 of their most elite fighters in civilian clothes and send them across the border, I have no idea what, if anything, would be done to stop them.  And why wouldn’t our enemies do that?” He continued, “Since Joe Biden took office, there has been a 7,000% increase in the number of Chinese nationals crossing our border.  China expert Gordon Chang warns that communist China intends to fight the next war on American soil, and that ‘Our neighborhoods will be the battlegrounds.’” Add to this Frank Gaffney’s most recent and very concerning webinar and we can’t help but recognize that with such an influx of potential enemies, war on American soil is a real possibility. Even so, God is in control and the believer is secure in His hands.

What if this threat of war is meant to move us to pray more urgently as Paul exhorts us to do? “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (I Tim. 2:1-5)” How often do Christians and groups of Christians (churches) pray for the salvation of Russia’s Putin, China’s Jinping, Turkey’s Erdogan, and a host of others in authority (those in our own nation) who would be considered enemies of our nation. Their salvation would make a world of difference on the world scene.

What if our nation’s moving Marxist-ward is a call for us to consciously guard God’s commands in our hearts and teach and train our children by the Word of God instead of shuffling them off to public schools where they, generally, learn a contempt of God, a hatred of Truth, and dishonoring of their parents? What did we expect would happen when prayer and the Ten Commandments were no longer welcome in these propaganda-pushing, indoctrination centers called “public school”?

In a recent Epoch Times opinion piece (12-12-23 digital edition) called Hating God, Laura Hollis writes: “For example, God tells us not to steal or even covet other people’s property; Marxists argue that no one should have personal property and that the government should take people’s property by force and give it to others. God says ‘Thou shalt not kill’; Marxist revolutions are inevitably bloody affairs—100 million people have died under communist regimes. God tells us to honor our father and mother; Marxists claim that family ties interfere with the proletariat’s love of the state. (In communist countries, children are routinely encouraged to report their parents to the authorities for being ‘enemies of the state.’)”

What if our increasingly wayward culture is an opportunity to recognize that Paul’s condemnation to the Corinthians that “some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame” is a wake-up call to you and I to “Preach the word…reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2)”?

What if all that is happening in our culture and to our nation (and I’ve only touched on a few) is a call for Christians to stand having done all to stand in this evil day; to no longer live by lies through our silence; and to dig deeper into the Word, rest more fully in the Lord, and live out our faith in Christ – walking in truth and holiness – regardless our personal outcome?

What if our personal losses are a means of God calling us to rely more fully on Him. Growth is often the outcome of adversity.

Yes, so much of this seems impossible, but Christmas is before us – the coming of Jesus is a testament to impossibilities! Born of a virgin, foreign wisemen following a star to where Messiah was, even being brought by census to be born in the little town of Bethlehem, the list of impossibilities is astounding – yet, Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten Son, fulfilled all of them!

What if Jesus had never come? Perhaps the greatest impossibility (maybe ‘most inconceivable’ would be a better word) is that the great Creator Himself would put on a tent of clay, live perfectly amongst His creation, submit Himself to His own laws completely, willingly and obediently suffer at the hands of His own created beings, endure an agonizing and shameful death upon a cross, and all that so we might know the grace, forgiveness, and love of our Heavenly Father. What seems impossible is that Jesus, He who knew no sin, would become sin that we might become the righteousness of God. Incomprehensibly impossible! Yet, it’s true!

Now, if we’re believers, this same Christ lives in us and “[we] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [us] (Phil. 4:13)” Christ lives in me! Emmanuel, God with us! So, now look back at the “what ifs” with a renewed sense of what God can and wants to do in you and through you; do not fear, but stand and proclaim the grace of God.

Be grateful that Jesus was born to die. Taking up our cross and following Him is a command, a blessing, and can only be done in His power. Christ graciously works through us to intersect and bring resolution to the reality of the consequences of sin reigning in those mortal bodies who have not submitted to Him and the reality of hope and peace which is ours because He reigns above all.

 

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