by Stuart Briscoe
REJOICING IN DIVINE PROVIDENCE
T OO often Christians fail to realize the wonderful opportunity they have of committing all that they are and have into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:9 and 10 we see how marvelously and match lessly the Lord has made every pro vision for our needs. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood.” You see, there is more to the Christian experience than only to be justified by the blood of Christ. The apostle goes on to say that “we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Now, a person who knows what it is to be justified by the blood of Christ and who is looking forward to the day when he will be saved from wrath through Christ, certainly has something about which to rejoice. First of all, what does it mean to be justified by Christ’s blood? This doctrine would require a great deal of space to deal with it in depth. Just one aspect, however, is like God do ing some divine bookkeeping. He turns over the ledger of His great accounts to your page. There He sees all the sin, debt and failure which has accrued from your life. Although it comes to a terrific total, the Lord writes across the page when by faith you receive the Saviour, “Trans ferred to the account of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Then, turning to the record of His Son, He writes all your debt against that account. On the other side of the ledger, He has listed all the righteousness of the Lord. This being totaled, it alone can expunge your record of sin, both of omission and commission. This is what takes place when you are re conciled to God. Justified, you see, among other things, means that you have reckoned to Christ all your debts and He has reckoned to you all
His riches. Now, doesn’t that make you want to rejoice? Yet there is more to it than merely having your past forgiven. The Bible assures us, “We shall be saved from wrath through Him.” This is in the future tense. The Gospel not only deals with man’s past, but also with eternity. It is an eternity of judg ment, condemnation and separation from God for those who have not accepted His way of salvation (John 14:6). The good news of the Gospel is that it is possible for human be ings to be saved from God’s wrath. Do you realize how really wonderful that is? It is possible for one to know that while he is living on earth that there is no condemnation, and that he has been delivered from the wrath of God. Having said all of this, we need to remember that most Christians find that the majority of their prob lems are not with the past or the future, but rather the present! How
Mr. Ronald Hater (left), directorof the Biola Alumni Association, has the opportunity for fellowship withtwo of the school's "Operation: Firebrand" students. They have come to Biola to prepare for the Lord's service in theirown countries. In the center is the Rev. Moses Gbodi from Ghana, and Pastor Truong Van Tot from Dalat, VietNam.
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