Calvary Baptist Church

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to as many who received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name..." (John 1:10-12). "He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus had established quite a reputation in Galilee. He had cast out demons, healed the lame and sick, cleansed lepers, raised the dead, and preached to large crowds. Jesus was now preparing to send His apostles on their first foray into a hostile world without His physical presence (6:6b-13). In His preparation, He took the apostles to His hometown where they saw firsthand the hostility they were likely to experience in their ministry for Him.

To be "in Christ" (8:1) is to be joint heirs with Him in eternal glory. In the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul prays "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe..." (Ephesians 1:17-19). "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (I Corinthians 2:19). The blessings God has in store for those "in Christ" are beyond our present comprehension. The Holy Spirit gives us a "guarantee (earnest) of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:13). We can sing with boldness: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. (Fanny Crosby) There is, however, an unpleasant reality for Christians. There is "the sufferings of this present time" (8:18). We live in a fallen world. When Adam sinned, the whole creation was thrown into chaos. Victory comes to the Christian when we realize "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."