Hello, and welcome back to another Tabernacle Tidbit. Today, we are in 2 Timothy, Chapter 1 and verse number 10.
The Apostle Paul is walking through with Timothy, why Timothy shouldn't feel shame about either the Gospel message of Jesus, a crucified Jewish man, as he is there in the town of Ephesus, and helping to pastor there, and even he would have his mentor, his, you know, the person that discipled Timothy, that he was also a Jew who was imprisoned by the Romans, and he's encouraging Timothy. The point is not the sufferings that we go through. Instead, the point is Jesus.
And he talks in Verse No. 9 about the Gospel, about the truth that God is the one that saved us and called us, and that God's intention was to do that, to accomplish that even before time itself began.
And what a comfort that is to our souls when we're going through tough times, when we are encountering doubts in our life that we can realize that God is not, you know, juggling with our eternity right now.
Instead, he has known from all eternity past that he would save us and love us. And so that can bring us certainty in our life. And so then, that's where we pick up today in verse number 10.
He says, this has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
He says, God's plans, God's salvation, God's, if you will, election and calling of us was made clear because Jesus showed that all of the promises from the Old Testament starting in Genesis 315 with the promise that there would be the
serpent-crushing descendant seed offspring of the woman that would reign victorious over Satan and death and hell and all of its forces. The promise that went through Abraham that through Abram's descendants all of the nations, all of the peoples of
the earth would be blessed. The promise is that we're given to Judah, that out of Judah there would come a ruler who would rule God's people Israel.
The promise is that we're given to David, that one of his descendants would reign on the throne of Israel forever and ever.
The promise is of Isaiah 53, that there would be a suffering servant who would die for the sins of the people and would rise again and would see his descendants.
We could look at Psalm 2 and Psalm 118 at so many promises that declared exactly who Jesus was going to be, what his lineage would be.
Looking at Micah 5, at where he would be born, looking at the Book of Hosea and seeing that even his flight into Egypt once he was born, even that was prophesied.
The manner of his death as we read previously in Psalm 22, that he would be pierced through in his hands and his feet. All of these promises came true.
And so we can know for certain that if God promised, if he prophesied all of those things and they all came to pass, then we can know that when he says that he loves us and cares for us, that he has given us a purpose and a mission, that we can go
forward in that because our God is the truth-giving God. And so we are able to fully rely on him and believe in him. And then I love the ending of the verse.
Not only have we seen the gospel and all of God's promises appear in Jesus, but he has abolished death, that death no longer has any sort of lasting hold on us.
Instead of death being something that we dread, death is that doorway that we walk through into eternal life and into God's presence forever.
Certainly none of us have a great desire to die We're not looking forward to either a heart stopping or not being able to breathe anymore or whatever the events of our death might be.
We're not looking forward to that, the process of dying, but death itself has no more fear in store for us.
And so now because Jesus has abolished death, we have life and immortality through the good news of Jesus that whoever believes on him will not perish but will have everlasting life.
Today, who can you tell about the everlasting life that is brought only through Jesus and through his gospel?
What comfort does it bring to your life that you have been saved, that all of God's promises for your good and for your future are certain because Jesus really did come and because he gave his life.
Now, we have no fear for our own lives, because we know what lies beyond the grave. Thanks for tuning in today.
Tomorrow, we are in verse number 11 as Paul begins to say, okay, you know about the gospel and let me tell you a little bit about how that has influenced my life. Thanks for tuning in. See you tomorrow.
