To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 4:14-15 “He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

Thanksgiving: it’s a time to reflect on all the blessings of life – both the things we now enjoy, and the things we’ve been blessed with in the past.  But, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, no need to stop there!  Wonderfully, God has given us wonderful truths about our future that we can begin to thank Him for right now, because they are as certain as if we already possess them.  God has filled His awesome Word with promises, promises that are as sure as the God Who gave them to us is sure, and He would have us to “meditate in (His Word) day and night” (Psalm 1:2). It is God’s will that we would have the joy of thinking on such things. 

One such promise is given to us in the verses above.  The joy of the anticipation of such promises enables us to weather any storm that might come into our lives.  Indeed, we are told that we are to be ones who are “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).  So, what is the promise that God has given us in the passage from 2 Corinthians above?  It’s a preview of the joyous gathering together of the saints that Jesus Himself had in view as He endured the horrors of the cross.  Can you imagine what it will be like when all the saints are gathered together in the presence of Jesus at a time that will be here before we know it?!  Here the apostle Paul speaks of a time when all believers will be raised from the dead just as Jesus has been raised.  At that time, we will all be brought into the very presence of the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.  At that moment we will be gathered in a great reunion.  Paul will be there, as will David, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Stephen, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  All our believing relatives and friends that we’ve been separated from by death will be gloriously brought together in that place. There will be believers from every age and every nation there.  Can you imagine that scene?  Well, the Lord wants us to imagine it. Otherwise, He wouldn’t have told us about it. 

But these verses furthermore give us the assurance that the grace of God will extend to more and more people as the days go by. There are people that we are praying for right now that don’t know Christ, but one day they will know Him.  As we wait for the Lord’s return, we know that the wait continues only because there are more people to be added to the kingdom.  God isn’t finished with us yet. He’s moving in more and more hearts and as He does this, there is a growing crescendo of thanksgiving ascending unto His throne. 

So, as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, is it such things that you are thankful for?  Are you thinking about them?  If you know Christ, is your heart filled with thanks for all the Lord has blessed you with, for all the things that you have in Him right now?  And are you also thankful that “to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance” (Matthew 13:12).  How awesome it is that no matter the blessings we have been given, things too numerous to name, there is going to be more, much more, for those who know Christ. 

May the Lord “add to (our) number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47), so that thanksgiving will ever increase to the glory of our glorious God.