THE MOST PRECIOUS PROMISE OF JESUS

"...behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20).

I truly treasure the promises of Jesus. The apostle Peter spoke of the promises this way,
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature..." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Don't you love what Peter says. "Great and precious promises"? Our God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. When Jesus rose from the grave and right before He ascended into heaven, He made a most precious promise. No promise of Jesus has meant more to me this promise "Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). The promise had been given precisely in the context of the Great Commission: "Go and make disciples of all nations . . . and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). More than any other promise, this one has brought Jesus close and real to me in all my trials. How I praise and thank Jesus for it, and rejoice in it!

Without the abiding consciousness of the promise,the presence, and the power of Jesus, nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from despair and giving up.

Jesus, with all authority over every enemy and every disease and every calamity and every futility, promises to be with you. So that we can face the worst threats and say with the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:16-17, "Everyone deserted me, but the Lord stood by me and gave me strength." Who speaks this to us? The risen Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth and says  I am with you.

Jesus says in  Hebrews 13:5, "Be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never fail you, and never forsake you.'"

How long will He be with you? Specifically, to the end of the age: "Behold I am with you always to the end of the age." As long as the world lasts, Jesus will be with us in this world.

John Paton, the great missionary to the South Pacific wrote about what this promise meant to him.
More than any other promise, this one brought Jesus close and real to John Paton in all his dangers. After a measles epidemic that killed thousands on the islands, and for which the missionaries were blamed, he wrote: "During the crisis, I felt generally calm, and firm of soul, standing erect and with my whole weight on the promise, 'Lo! I am with you always.' Precious promise! How often I adore Jesus for it, and rejoice in it! Blessed be his name."

The power this promise had to make Christ real to Paton in hours of crisis was unlike any other Scripture or prayer:

Without that abiding consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Savior, nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my reason and perishing miserably. In his words, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the scene. I felt His supporting power. . . . It is the sober truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after 20 years, that I had my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smiles of my blessed Lord in those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being leveled at my life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing "Him who is invisible

“I am with you” means that Jesus can help you right now! Jesus knows and is watching you. He is not just any person, He is the risen Savior, the Son of the living God and creator and sustainer of the universe and your life! In fact, He is watching over you to protect you.

What if you face a different struggle today? What if you feel overwhelmed with loneliness and fear, inconsolable grief and sorrow, feelings of abandonment and betrayal? Let's not get religious here. Christan's feel and experience all of these things don't they? Listen again to the sweet, kind, empathetic, compassionate, merciful voice of Jesus: “Behold I am with you always.” 

When I really hear that, and take it to heart, I know That I am not alone. I am safe. I am secure. I am loved. I am comforted. I am helped. I will not be abandoned. I will not be rejected. I have a friend. I have help. I have someone who knows me and understands me, yet loves me anyway fully and completely. He will never reject me or forsake me.

"BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS"

Let these precious words be on the forefront of your thoughts, your meditations, your drive to work, as you lay in bed, where the battle rages, and in your loneliness, fears, anxieties, pain, and sorrows. Let these words begin filling your soul with comfort, assurance, peace, faith, and joy.

Try this week to get alone with Him in a quiet place and come into his presence and begin to release to Him all of your past sins, all of your present burdens and temptations, and all your fears and anxieties and worries about your future. Then begin allowing His word to fill your mind, your heart, and you soul with the comforting words BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU WITH ALWAYS. Don't rush, allow the reality of His presence fill you with a sense and awareness of His presence with at this moment. Listen to Jesus kind and loving voice breath assurance, faith, and hope like rivers of living water:

BEHOLD I AM WITH YOU RIGHT NOW. I AM HERE FOR YOU. I WILL HELP YOU. I LOVE YOU.

Pastor Bill