His Forever

April 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

His Forever

While visiting family last fall, a few of us went to a large indoor shopping center for our daily walks. This particular mall boasts over 500 stores and many other attractions. As we walked past the various windows of the individual shops we saw many fancy and appealing things. Good aromas came from the restaurants. Pictures of handsome men and pretty women sought to increase the appeal of individual retailers. Certainly, there were many things in that one building that we could have bought and enjoyed having, but all of it would have given only a limited amount of delight.

The Feature articles in this month’s magazine are about buying. In them, the purchaser is the Lord Jesus Christ and the merchandise is the believer. Unlike the items for sale in the shopping center, we already belonged to the Lord. He bought and redeemed us, to His eternal joy. Payment was made through the blood of His cross, where He went willingly in love and obedience. To have us for Himself did not involve any money; it cost Him His life!

Is Jesus Christ still dead today? Absolutely not! People seek to teach that lie and deny the truth of the resurrection. We are not to entertain those thoughts, for the Bible is quite clear that the Lord Jesus is alive and His resurrection did take place. In fact, everyone will be resurrected, some to life and the rest for judgment (Jn. 5:29; Rev. 20:5). Even in the days of Genesis we read of the faith of Abraham: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your descendants shall be called.’ He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type” (Heb. 11:17-19 NASB; see Gen. 22).

In accepting His great offer of salvation, we belong to Him forever. James G. Small (1817–1888) wrote of this certainty:

“I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend! He loved me ere I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, and thus He bound me to Him. And round my heart still closely twine those ties which nought can sever; For I am His, and He is mine, for ever and for ever.”

By Paul Alberts