Communion Message #6

Last night as I lay in bed, I suddenly thought about the fact that one day, hopefully in old age...I would pass. I might close my eyes knowing that I had the afterlife to look forward to, as I bid farewell to this life. Such thoughts can evoke fear in us. It can make us nervous as we contemplate the unknown. It’s not that there is uncertainty. I know what will happen to me, but I have no imagination to visualise what is to come.

The only fact that gave me peace at this unnerving idea, is the fact that no matter what I go through Jesus would be there with me. Just in life, as in death. I need not fear because He is with me. The promise that Jesus gave to His disciples in Matthew 28:20 is one of the greatest we have:

“And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age”

We may not have awareness of His presence with us in every waking moment, but He promises that He is there. The promise of His presence is what gives us the courage to endure every situation that might crush and pulverise us. It's the promise that assures us that in this crushing we are not buried and reduced to the dirt that our physical bodies will one day inhabit. We are crushed and renewed into new life. 

Emmanuel, God with us, is one of the greatest promises we have on account of the gospel. If it were not for the work of the Cross, we would not be able to rejoice in this fact. We would not only have selectivity as to whom the Spirit rested upon as it used to be, but for many, we would have the chasm of sin that separated us relationally.