But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 2 Timothy 4: 17, 18, NKJV.
Dear God, please teach us how to rest in You. This is our prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Savior and King! Amen.
Is it not wonderful to know that we can, “rest in Jesus,” not only on the seventh day of the week, but at all times, and in every situation? I am surely glad for this knowledge! This is a chapter taken from the last letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith, just before going to appear before Caesar. He sensed that he would not be returning. He had come to the end of his journey here on earth. As he said earlier in the chapter, he had “fought a good fight,” he had “kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4: 7). There was nothing left to do – but rest in Jesus!
Perhaps he was reminiscing from the time Jesus knocked him off of his “high horse” to the time of “his departure” which was “at hand” (6). God had called him to preach the good news to the Gentiles, and had not forsaken him. Throughout his journeys he knew that he was always under the protective eye of the Almighty. Nothing, or, no one, could prevent him from finishing the work that God had called him to do.
He had gone from being a Pharisee to a Preacher of Christ’s righteousness, not an easy transition. Just as he had been responsible for, and participated in, the arrest of many Christians because of their faith in Jesus Christ, he too would be persecuted, for his new found faith in the Man of Galilee. Listen to Paul as he recounts some of the dangers that he faced throughout his Christian journey: “in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, inperils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— (2 Corinthians 11: 23b-27).
But through it all, Christ had “stood [with him] and strengthened [him].” Even as he faced death, Paul could boast that he had been delivered from “the lion’s mouth.” Not only that, he did not fear for the future, no evil could touch him until his work for the Master was completed. I believe what touches my soul most profoundly, is the fact that Paul’s concern was not for his physical well being. Remember, he had “finished the race,” (7). Now his eyes was on that city not made by men, “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11: 10). He had heaven in his view! He was resting in Jesus!
Even before he faced death Paul had come to this conclusion: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “ For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 31-39). This is rest at its best!
What about you, my friend? Are you resting in Jesus?