In the Fulness of Time/Part 62

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Fear Not: God Will Use His Power. Matthew 10:27-28

Matthew 10:27-28 “What I tell you in darkness, that speak in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that proclaim upon the housetops. And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

In this second word of comfort, when Christ speaks in “darkness” (skotia), He is obviously not using the word in the same way as He did in John 3:19, “men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” Rather, this entire verse must be taken as a reference to what He told them in private or in secret, which they were to speak publicly, or “in the light.”

The second analogy is like the first: what they heard “in the ear” was to be proclaimed “upon the housetops.” Since most of their housetops were flat they were literally used to shouting news to the people in the street below. Thus, the message of the kingdom was to be proclaimed publicly.

Yet this was not without its dangers. Some enemies of the truth would not stop until they would “kill the body.” But the messengers of Christ were not to fear them; this is the worst that men can do. When this is compared with the power of God to destroy the unbeliever with “everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41), it should do two things; first, give incentive to preach to the lost because of their eternal fate; and second, it should give boldness, not fear, since God’s power is on the side of those who share the message of truth.

Some have tried to picture Satan as the one who is to be feared, but Satan has no power to destroy the soul in hell. He may try to deceive the unbeliever and keep him from exercising faith in Christ, but in the final analysis it is the unbeliever himself who is responsible to receive the truth. Satan will also be suffering the same eternal suffering in the Lake of Fire according to Revelation 20:10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Further, we are never told to fear Satan, but to “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; Whom resist steadfast in the faith.” (I Peter 5:8-9), and we are assured that if we “Resist the devil, he will flee from you.” (James 4:7). And the reason is found in the power of God, “because, greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world“(I John 4:4).This mighty power will be finally manifested “in the fulness of time” when the enemy of our souls is destroyed; so “Fear Not!”

Read Part 63