Jesus is with each for a different purpose; but with each He is there with Peace and Strength!

Jesus is with each for a different purpose; but with each He is there with Peace and Strength!

“What shall this man do?” “What is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

Image result for jesus with us in suffering

Israel has Netanyahu back as their Prime Minister; but the rift between Obama and Netanyahu is becoming wider. John Kerry insists progress is being made with Iran on a nuclear deal, yet Iranian leaders continue to threaten America and Israel with annihilation. The Bible has foretold of a battle, involving Russia and her allies attacking Israel, where God fights for Israel, delivering her from Russia and Iran.

ISIS is a real threat to America, as they vow to behead Obama in the White House and turn America into a Muslim province. One ISIS fighter said, “Know, Oh Obama, that we will reach America, know also that we will cut off your head in the White House and transform America into a Muslim province.”

Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

In Revelation 3:5, He says, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after His resurrection, at the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). It is here that Jesus asked Peter to reaffirm his love and commitment to His Lord three times, once for each time that he had denied Him. Jesus then foretells how Peter will die in John 21:18-19. “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”

 

peter upside down on cross

 

Fox’s Book Of Martrys tells us that Peter was crucified upside down on a cross. Peter requested this position because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as His Lord.

There are five words that Peter replies to Jesus after He had foretold his death: “What shall this man do?”.  Jesus replied, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” (John 21:21-22)

Peter was asking about the Apostle John. Peter wanted to know how John was going to die; if he, himself, had to die on a cross. Jesus basically told him to not worry about John.

John was the brother of James, and both were sons of Zebedee the fisherman. His mother was Salome, who was a sister to Mary, the mother of Jesus. John eventually became the pastor of the church in Ephesus, which is in modern day Turkey. John’s brother James was the first of the apostles to die. John was the last. James was beheaded. John was thrown into a boiling cauldron of oil; yet the scalding oil could not harm him as he lifted his voice in prayer to His Lord. When the Emperor couldn’t kill him, John was sentenced to the Isle of Patmos off the coast of Greece, where he lived into old age and wrote the Book of Revelation. (95 A.D.) When he was allowed to return to Ephesus, he wrote the Gospel of John and the books of First, Second, and Third John. John died around 100 years of age.

Why did the other apostles have to die horrible deaths, and yet John was able to live out his life to a ripe old age? John was even allowed to return to Ephesus before his death; where he continued to encourage the saints to love one another. Peter wanted to know how John would die, and Jesus told him that it wasn’t his concern, even if He chose to allow John to live until He came back again. Peter’s only concern was to make sure that he was following His Lord in all that His Lord led him into.

We don’t know why some suffer horrible things in this life, while others seem to suffer very little. It further complicates things when you understand that God had delivered Peter and John in the Book of Acts, chapter five. God sent an angel to open the prison doors and allowed both of them to continue to preach the Name of Jesus Christ and His Gospel under threat of imprisonment and death. Yet when Peter was faced with crucifixion, God didn’t send an angel to deliver him from the cross; but when John was thrown into the boiling oil, God protected him from scalding and death.

Jesus was with Peter on the cross, giving him strength and peace; and He was with John in the boiling oil, protecting him from harm. He was with each one for a different purpose; but with each one He was there with His Peace and Strength, just as He promised.

James and John were mending their father’s nets when Jesus called them to follow Him. Peter and Andrew were casting their father’s nets when Jesus called them to follow Him. James and John were both used in the early church to encourage believers in Christ to purify their lives and to be faithful to their Lord. Peter was used in the early church to bring thousands to the Lord in one sermon, on several different occasions. Andrew took the Gospel from Jerusalem to many countries of the continent of Europe, so he also saw many thousands saved under his preaching.

Job 14:5 says, “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,”

Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jesus promised tribulation for His followers while they lived in this world and testified of His Good News. He also promised His Peace in the middle of that tribulation. Jesus went on to say that the one who overcomes the trials and tribulations of this world will be given white garments, and will have his name kept in the Book of Life before His Father, for eternity.

Israel has suffered horrible things, as a people, since the call of Abraham; but God has promised her that she will always be a nation as long as the sun, moon and stars continue to give their light. (Jeremiah 31:35-36)

Obama may turn his back on Israel, but God will fight for her Himself, as described in Ezekiel chapters thirty-eight and thirty nine.

ISIS may bring to America the beheading and burning of Christians, but God will protect those who are to be protected, and He will allow those who are to be beheaded, to be beheaded, as He gives us the strength and peace that He is with us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in. Only God knows the number of our days, and only He knows what He intends for us; to be delivered and live out our days as John, or to be delivered to the enemy as He goes with us to the chopping block. Either way, He is with us; and where He is, there is peace and strength that enables us to face whatever He asks us to face, even suffering and death.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (I Peter 4:12-13)

“If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” (Revelation 13:10)

As Christians, we may not know exactly what we will have to face in the coming days, for our Lord, or whether we will have to suffer as those in Antichrist countries, but we know whatever it is, it is what He has ordained for us to suffer, and we know that He is with us in the midst of that suffering, with His Peace and with His Strength!

 

 

 

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