There is joy and peace in believing
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans 15:13
We know that our Lord Jesus Christ will soon return to judge the earth. The dead will rise and all will stand before His throne of judgment (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). While the rest of the world will shrink back in terror because all their evil deeds will be exposed (cf. Matt. 24:29ff.; Rev. 1:7: 6:12-17), we can face that day in joy and peace.
We know too, if the Lord should tarry, that the day of our death draws ever closer. The Bible tells us that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). While the rest of the world fears death and dreads that day when he or she must stand before the LORD God and be judged of Him, we can face the hour of our death in joy and with peace.
Why is this so? Because the God of hope fills us "with all joy and peace in believing, that [we] may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
Though, of ourselves, we could not stand in His presence because of our sin (cf. Ps. 130:3; Rom. 3:23), yet our God has given us hope by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, into this world a true man – that Babe born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem – that He might fulfill the righteous demands of God's law in our stead and bear upon the cross the full punishment and condemnation for all our sins (cf. Gal. 4:4-6).
As the Bible says, "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28; cf. Rom. 3:24-26; Ps. 130:4ff.).
And it is God the Holy Ghost who has revealed to us through the Word of God this salvation won for us by Christ Jesus. He assures us that "He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:6,7). He assures us that "though [our] sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa. 1:18) for the sake of Jesus' shed blood. Through the Spirit's working, we are given hope! We have joy and peace in believing! (Cf. Eph. 1:9-14; Rom. 5:1-2; Phil. 4:7).
O God of hope, we praise and thank You for the gift of Your Son to bear our sins upon the cross and rise in victory that we might have hope and have peace and joy in believing that You accept us and forgive all our sins for Jesus' sake. Strengthen and keep us in this hope unto life everlasting. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible.]
Editorial on 12/11/2013