Abiding in Christ Illustrated

In my previous article I explained from Scripture The Practice of Abiding, and today I would like to give some illustrations of why that practice is so important.

Noah in the Ark

In a previous article, I showed from Scripture that Noah's Ark is a Type of Christ. Rather than rewrite that short article here, I recommend you read it. In it I showed how the ark taught us the importance of remaining in Christ.

Although God sent a flood in His wrath to destroy every living creature on the face of the earth, He spared Noah and his family, because he found Noah to be blameless and righteous. He instructed him to build an ark of gopher wood and to enter it at the appointed time before the rain began. Of course, God sent all of the animals, two-by-two, male and female, into the ark with Noah, where they were spared along with Noah and his family, so that they could repopulate the earth afterward. This demonstrates how God recognized the borders of the ark's framework, so that everyone inside that framework was spared. However, every living creature outside the ark perished in the flood. It illustrates again the importance of remaining in Christ.

As I stated in that article: "You need to be in Christ the ark...and remain in Him, so that you will be saved from the wrath of God. If you already know Christ, be sure you stay in Him, and do not wander away..."

Israelites in Goshen
When Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, God sent plagues on the Egyptians so that Pharaoh would let the Hebrews go. As most people who have read the Bible know, there were ten plagues, which were judgments from the Lord, and the last seven of those did not affect the people of God, who were living at that time in the land of Goshen. The Lord said:

"But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the LORD, am in the midst of the land. I will put a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign will occur."' (Exo 8:22-23)

This again demonstrates how the Lord recognizes borders and honors His Word when He promises to protect those within those borders. In this case the borders were around the land of Goshen in Egypt, and they illustrate how the Lord in the same manner protects those who remain in Christ.

Passover in the House
Immediately before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, God sent the tenth and final plague on Egypt, which was the death angel.

Moses said, "Thus says the LORD, 'About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 'Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. 'But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'" (Exo 11:4-7)

The Lord told Moses to instruct the Hebrews that each household should kill a lamb at twilight and apply it's blood to their house for protection from the death angel.

'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." (Exo 12:12-13)

This demonstrates how the Lord kept His promise to protect all the Israelites who were inside their homes with the blood of the lamb applied to them. He honored the borders of their homes and the blood that was applied there. Ever since then, in obedience to the Lord, Jews around the world have celebrated this event every year. Of course, the Passover lamb was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God, who shed His blood on the cross to pay the price for our sins. Just as the Israelites had to shed the lamb's blood and put it on their dwelling place, and then remain in it, we need to have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our hearts and remain in Christ in order to be saved, so that we will not perish with the wicked. It's another wonderful illustration of abiding in Christ.

Rahab in Her House
When Joshua was leading the children of Israel into the promised land, he sent two spies to reconnoiter the land, especially Jericho. During that mission, they were hidden by a prostitute named Rahab, whose home was in the city wall. After completing their mission, she asked them to make an oath to spare her life whenever they would eventually return to destroy Jericho. She said:

"'Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.' So the men said to her, 'Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.'" (Jos 2:12-14)

"The men said to her, 'We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household. It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear.' She said, 'According to your words, so be it.' So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window." (Jos 2:17-21)

As agreed, Rahab left the scarlet cord tied in her window, and her family was inside her home when the Israelites destroyed Jericho. As the spies promised, the Israelites honored their word and spared Rahab and her family who were in the house. They did not kill them with the rest of the people of Jericho, but everyone else they destroyed.

"They utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, 'Go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.' So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel." (Jos 6:21-23)

This demonstrates once again how the Lord honors verbal promises and the borders of a home. He protected Rahab and all of her family who were within the walls of that residence. It illustrates for us how the Lord in the same way protects from destruction and saves all those who remain in Christ.

Incidentally, in God's wonderful plan Rahab became the wife of Salmon, the great-grandfather of King David, and ancestor of Christ (Matthew 1:4-5 and Luke 3:32). Not only did the Lord save Rahab and her family, but He gave her a place of great honor in the lineage of Christ. And the apostle recognized her in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11.

People in the Ship
Another illustration is when Paul the apostle was being taken as a prisoner for Christ to Rome by a centurion. The ship had encountered serious trouble in a major storm at sea and all hope of being saved was given up by the ship's owner and crew, as well as the passengers on board. But Paul did not give up hope. He stated:

"Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.' Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on a certain island." (Act 27:22-26)

Watch what the sailors did to try and save their lives their own way, rather than the way God promised through His angel. 

"But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land. They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship's boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved." Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away." (Act 27:27-32)

Remember that the angel told Paul that the Lord promised to save the lives of all those sailing with him on the ship. He did not promise to save those who tried to save themselves, nor did He promise to save those who disembarked the ship before the appointed time. They had to trust in God's promise given by His holy angel to His apostle that night and remain on board the ship in order to be saved. And God honored His promise by saving all two hundred seventy-six persons aboard. (Act 27:37). "And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land." (Ac 27:44b).

This demonstrates the faithfulness of God to honor the borders of a sailing vessel and keep His Word to save those who remained aboard the ship. It also beautifully illustrates the importance of remaining in Christ and trusting in Him to save us, rather than trying to save our own selves some other way. As with Noah's ark, the Adramyttian ship is another great picture of the practice of abiding. 

Putting it All Together
As we have seen, the Lord sets boundaries on His promises of salvation. He promised to rescue those inside the ark, those in Rahab's house, the Israelites in the land of Goshen, the firstborn of every Israelite family inside the house covered by the blood of the lamb, and the people in the ship with Paul. The promise of salvation according to the New Covenant is to those who repent and believe in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Those who do so must abide in Christ to the very end in order to inherit the promise. If they do not abide in Christ, they cannot be saved.

Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you." (Joh 15:4). In other words, if you remain in Him, He will remain in you. You must remain in His love by keeping His commands (Joh 15:9-10). However, He warned those who do not remain in Him. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." (Joh 15:6).

Let's keep that in perspective and let the illustrations I cited serve as vivid reminders of our need to abide in Christ always.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. 

Author's Note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other articles of mine, such as The Practice of Abiding, Noah's Ark is a Type of Christ, The Conditional Security of the Believer, As the Still, Fair Court, Practicing the Presence of the Lord, In the Shelter of the Most High, The Lord is Near, and Walking in the Light of His Presence, which are available through the Home page of this blog. I also recommend Eudoxia Varga Testimony of Heaven and Hell, One thing, and Fruit in Every Season. Also see my daughter's poems called Connected to the Vine. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Never Forsaken

I want to encourage you today to hold onto the promises of God to you, which are recorded in Scripture, assuring you that the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.

God's Promises Never to Leave or Forsake Us
First there is the promise that Jesus gave to His disciples after His resurrection. He said: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Mat 28:19-20)

The Lord has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age. In the context, this promise was made to those who would obey His command to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded His original Twelve apostles. This is not a guarantee that if you forsake the Lord, after coming to know Him, and choose a life of sin, that He will be with you. That's why, if you have sinned, anytime you have done so, it's important to repent and ask the Lord's forgiveness. His presence is so vitally important to us that we would never want to lose it.

Again in the book of Hebrews the apostle wrote: "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you...'" (Heb 13:5). This is another beautiful promise of the Lord's faithfulness to abide with us and help us in all circumstances, so that we do not need to worry. It is given in the context of a warning not to love money, but to be content with what we have. The Lord warned us about the love of money and said that it is impossible to love both God and money. He said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Mat 6:24).

Therefore, in the context of Hebrews 13, the promise that He will never desert you nor forsake you is to those who are content and avoid the love of money. If you have grown to love money, which the apostle Paul called idolatry (Col 3:5), then you need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive you, so that His precious abiding presence will remain with you.

Another Scripture that speaks of the Lord's promise to abide with us is found in Deuteronomy. Moses said to the Israelites, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6, NIV). 

Afterward Moses spoke the same promise of God to Joshua. "Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, 'Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.'” (Deut 31:8, NIV)

Later the Lord Himself said to Joshua, "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5, NIV).

These are such encouraging verses for us to remember. Here are some others:

"Then David said to his son Solomon, 'Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.'"(1Ch 28:20)

Our prayer should be as Solomon's was, "May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us." (1Ki 8:57)

Promises Intended for the Righteous and Faithful

It's important to understand that these promises are only for the righteous and faithful, not the wicked. There is a wonderful Psalm of David that illustrates this well as it contrasts the righteous and the wicked.

"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing. Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish." (Ps 37:23:28, NIV)

Notice that this promise is for the just or righteous man, not for those who turn from the truth and follow after wickedness. This further emphasizes that the promise of the Lord's abiding presence is given to the righteous, not to the wicked. Certainly we all stumble in many ways, as James says (Ja 3:2). But we are not talking about occasional stumbling, because even when a righteous man stumbles or falls, he will not be utterly cast off by God. It will not be fatal. For the Lord upholds him with His hand. If he truly delights in the Lord, then the Lord makes his steps firm.

In David's old age, he could say that in all his many years on earth, he had never seen the righteous forsaken. He describes what righteous people are like. Quite the opposite of begging for bread, they are generous and lend freely to others. David admonishes us to turn from evil and do good, if you want to inherit these promises he speaks of.  For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. 

And again he says, "For the LORD will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance." (Psa 94:14)

Elsewhere he states, "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You." (Psa 9:10)

Feeling Forsaken
There are times when His people may feel like they've been forsaken, because they are afflicted and needy. Yet the Lord will not forsake them. "The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them." (Isa 41:17)

Even David felt at one point in his life as though God had forsaken him. He prayed, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest." (Psa 22:1-2). Yet when we read the life of David, we can clearly see that through all of his trials and even his stumbling, the Lord did not forsake him, but considered him a man after His own heart. In the very next Psalm, David sings of the Lord's continual presence with him even in the valley of the shadow of death, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." (Psa 23:4).

There are other subsequent psalms of David that reveal he was able to look back with new perspective on the experience he wrote about in Psalm 22. For example, in the thirty-first psalm he reflected back in this way: "In my alarm I said, 'I am cut off from your sight!' Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help." (Ps 33:22, NIV). For he had come to realize that although he had once felt as if he were deserted by God and shut out of His presence, the Lord still heard and answered his cry for help.

And he also wrote again later, "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." (Ps 27:10, NIV). He was confident that God would never forsake him, even though he had once felt quite vividly and painfully at an earlier point in life that he had in fact been forsaken.

Remember how Christ Himself felt as He hung upon the cross for those six hours? He prayed those same words as David did in Psalm 22. At the end of those six hours, at 3:00 PM, shortly before He yielded up His spirit, "Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?'"  (Mat 27:46). 

Yet we know the Father had not forsaken Jesus when He was on the cross. We have proof of this by what occurred when He died and through His resurrection from the dead. 

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'" (Mat 27:50-54)

The apostle Paul had the assurance in his heart in the midst of his troubles and persecutions that he was not abandoned by God, regardless of how he may have felt. He wrote: "We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body." (2 Cor 4:8-11, NET).

Therefore, no matter how you may feel in the various trials and afflictions you may go through, remember that the Lord's promise to the righteous who delight in Him is that He will never leave them or forsake them.  God didn't promise that you wouldn't face trials, but that He would never forsake you.

Dispelling a Dangerous Myth
However, as I have already alluded to, it is a dangerous myth to believe that God will never leave you or turn away from you as a result of rebellion or idolatry. "But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?'" (Act 7:42). There was indeed a time when God turned away from the house of Israel due to their rebellion and idolatry.

As Azariah said to King Asa, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." (2Ch 15:2). Let this be a warning to all of us to cling to Jesus, who said:

"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." (Mat 10:32-33).

The doctrine of eternal security is not Scriptural. There are terms and conditions of the New Covenant that we must meet. There is such a thing as apostasy (2 Th 2:3; 1 Tim 4:1; Mt 24:10; Lk 8:13), and there is a sin which leads to death (1 Jn 5:16). For more on this please see my articles, If -- A Picture Paints a Thousand Words and Eternal Security.

In Summary 
This article is meant to be encouraging, and it should be so to those who are walking in the Light in fellowship with Christ, delighting themselves in Him, and seeking to obey His commandments.  For He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (Jn 14:15,21,23; 1 Jn 5:3). To others, it may seem as though this article has jumped erratically back and forth between encouraging and threatening, and it may seem preferable to just talk about the positive points that we like to hear, while leaving out the unpleasant parts.

However, even Scripture doesn't do that. In all the passages I have quoted in their proper context, the Bible does not isolate this topic from the dire warnings against sin and its terrible consequences. The Bible usually doesn't talk about the Lord's promise to never leave or forsake us without also stating the conditions that must be met to receive that promise, or else warning us of the dangers of being forsaken.

You will see this if you consider the passages I have quoted about never being forsaken. In Hebrews 13, there is the warning against the love of money. In Matthew 28, there are the conditions regarding discipleship. In Deuteronomy 31, there are conditions, too. And when David speaks of never being forsaken in Psalm 37, he also tells of certain destruction for the wicked. When Azariah spoke to Asa in 2 Chronicles 15, he also spoke of both the promise of never being forsaken and the risk of being forsaken. And the Lord Himself in Matthew 10 spoke of both the promise of confessing us before the Father in heaven, as well as that of denying us. If I were to only tell you what you want to hear, I would be doing you a disservice, and I would not be consistent with Scripture. I would be giving you false hope, and there are plenty of other articles that you can read, if that's what you are looking for.

My hope is that this article has been an encouragement to you to rest assured in the Lord's promise that you will never be forsaken, while at the same time admonishing you to live according to His Word, so that you might have a right to claim that promise, as well as ultimately receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pe 1:11).

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. except where it was noted that the Holy Bible NIV was used.

Author's Note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other articles of mine, such as The Practice of Abiding, As the Still, Fair Court, Practicing the Presence of the Lord, In the Shelter of the Most High, Going Through the Valley (poem), Nothing Will Separate (poem), and Walking in the Light of His Presence, which are available through the Home page of this blog.  You may also like The Conditional Security of the Believer, The Keeping Power of God, and Your Identity in Christ. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.