Prepositions can make a “big” difference!
Thank God we who are saved are not strangers in any way “to” our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the very definition of eternal life, according to John 17:3, is “knowing” the Lord! Jesus Himself at times calls us His “servants” (that is definitely a “knowing/being known” relationship), and at other times He even calls us His “friends” (an even closer relationship based on knowledge)!
But that is not what our Bible Text says!
What Text (you may be wondering) … only partially quoted in the Lesson Title above?
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger WITH thee, and a sojourner (foreigner), as all my fathers were.” Psalm 39:12
Jesus and you, Jesus and me … co-strangers in this old evil world!
Here’s 1 John 3:13, written to us who love Jesus, who are “in” Him spiritually … “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.”
Yes, we are “strangers” (Peter adds “pilgrims”) in this old world. Jesus agrees, adding a further dimension … “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18
Now then … we are not merely “strangers and sojourners” (by ourselves) WITH the wicked world. We are (even more so) “strangers” WITH JESUS in this wicked world!
Yes, our dear Lord Jesus was “not received” by sinful mankind. Even though He gladly receives repenting sinners! John 1:11-12 … “He came unto his own, and his own RECEIVED HIM NOT. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
In our more and more wicked Country, some now calling it “post-Christian” America … we will increasingly become “strangers WITH Jesus.” But at the same time we will be growing into more mature Believers who are NOT “strangers TO Jesus!”
Paul once mentioned desiring to better know Jesus in “the fellowship of His sufferings!” (Philippians 3:10) That’s identical with being “strangers with Him” as we live day by day in a hostile environment!
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17
Matthew 5:11, an encapsulating verse … “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” For Jesus’ Sake … strangers “with” Him!
Get ready … harder times are coming!
Especially if this next election goes the “anti-Christian” way!
“O God we pray, give America a few more years of religious freedom we ask. Defeat the politicians who have sold out to the enemies of the Judeo-Christian standards, so clearly established in the Word of God! In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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