“… serve Him without fear …”
(Luke 1:74, NKJ)
When we spread the good news of this new kingdom that is in the process of coming, “the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:10, ASV), it does not mean that we are trying to ignore the current sad state of events in the world. It’s not an ostrich-in-the-sand tactic to focus on revelation in the onslaught of world events. There is indeed serious political opportunism, ethnic tensions, economic crises, terrifying ecological realities, religious extremism – sin, inequity, decay and death still guard over us.
But they who, like David and all the heroes of the faith, walk in the truth and promises of God’s true agenda for their time (Acts 13:36), are clearly able to distinguish between the voice of people and the voice of God. We are bombarded daily with a cacophony of voices from the secular and the religious world that create dark and terrifying scenarios. The true sons of God speak – like Jesus – only what they have heard from the Father (John 8:28). This is so, because:
“it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matt. 10:20). Our revelation is not derived from the internet, CNN, Newsweek, Noseweek, Mail & Guardian, or The Wall Street Journal.
Years ago, our forefathers were terrified of the Jews, then the English, then the Communists and the Iron curtain, the Catholics, the Illuminati, now it’s religious Islamic extremism and our ecological crisis! And don’t forget of the Trump-crisis, the Zuma-crisis, the Putin-crisis. Heavens! Each new crisis again fills our hearts with fear about the unknown forces that are deadset against the earth. And each danger and crisis does indeed leave a trail of wounded and dead in its wake. In this way, the world history is directed through the trumpets that announce these impending dangers. We are continually “seized by great fear” (Luke 8:37). In Luke 21:26 Jesus warns that “men’s hearts fail … them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth”.
We forget that Jesus the Christ “redeemed His people,” “And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,” that He is continually thinking of His “holy covenant,” “the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” (Luke 1:68-75). This prophecy of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, introduced the epoch in which we now find ourselves, the New Covenant. John opened the way for Jesus. The Bride opens the way for Christ.
- Selah: Definitively deal with all fear regarding the future.
- Read: John 10-12
- Memorise: John 10:3 (what a beautiful, affirmative word!)
