When I was a young teenager back during the early 1960s our church choir performed a
few John W. Peterson cantatas on Easter Sundays. He must have been a man with a heart for God because the music he composed really blessed the heart. He wrote a lot of beautiful Christian music.
One year our choir sang an
Easter cantata called “Hallelujah! What A Savior!” The following year we sang
an Easter cantata called “No Greater Love.”
I, and others my age, sang
with the adult choir on a regular basis. We spent a great deal of time in
preparation for our performance of these great musicals, and I still warmly
reflect on those years long ago.
I don’t know what made me
think of the words “no greater love,” but when I did these Easter cantatas came
to mind as did the following Scripture verses.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down
his life for his friends.” (John
15:13)
“Hallelujah” is only
mentioned four times in Scripture (Revelation 19:1, 2, 4, and 6). (The KJV and
NKJV list it as “Allelujah.”)
“Then I heard something like the voice of a great
multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals
of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” (Revelation 19:6)
As my mind recalls the music
while I consider the greatness of our God, I am overwhelmed by the love He has
for all of mankind. Even during the Tribulation, when His wrath is at fever
pitch, His love shines through all the devastation as His patience waits for
others to come to Him and be saved.
Yes, our God is a God of
wrath against His enemies, but His love is there to save any who will come to
Him. Even the enemy can be saved if they will turn and come to Him,
acknowledging they are a sinner and asking Him, in belief, to save them too.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to
God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall
be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:10)
There is nothing more tragic
than one who lives his life on this earth and then dies without believing in
Jesus. He may possess everything the world has to offer; riches, fame, beauty, power,
but what good is it when death ends this life on earth?
We cannot buy our way into
Heaven. Fame is only good while alive on earth, afterwards, it means nothing.
Our beauty is changed to a rotting corpse. None of us has enough power to come
back to life and start over.
Only those who trust in Jesus
can leave this world through the gate called “death” with a smile and peace in
their soul. They have gathered riches in Heaven. They are known by God. The
beauty of His righteousness is their beauty and death has no power over them.
Riches for the Believer
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or
steal;” (Matthew 6:20)
Fame for the Believer
“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)
Beauty for the Believer
“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and
high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly
stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.” (Revelation 21:10-11)
Victory over Death for the
Believer
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1
Corinthians 15:55, 57)
Every believer in Christ has
everything to look forward to, but every unbeliever has nothing but judgment
that waits in hell. We wonder why God would even care about us, but He does,
and you can be saved if you repent (change your mind) and come to Him.
“But one testified in a certain place, saying:
“What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
You have made him a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And set him over the works of Your hands.
You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”
For in that He put all in subjection under him, He
left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things
put under him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by
the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:6-9)
Verse nine says it all. Jesus
became one of us and died in our place that we might have life in Him.
One day every believer in
Jesus will joyfully shout, “Hallelujah! What a Savior!” Every believer knows
now and will understand even more so then that there is no greater love than
God’s love for us. Our eyes will be opened to the wonders of God and Heaven.
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to
face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been
fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Every unbeliever in hell will
be asking themselves, “Why didn’t I listen?”
Every unbeliever standing before
the White Throne judgment will grasp for an excuse, hoping to avoid the Lake of
Fire, but none will escape.
Every unbeliever suffering
forever in the Lake of Fire will be separated from God forever, never having
another opportunity of changing their fate. Every moment of the flames will be
a reminder of all the opportunities they had, but ignored.
In the following passage the
God of Heaven calls out to all who will listen:
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one
and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life.
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the
world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no
judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in
him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light
came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for
their actions were evil.
All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near
it for fear their sins will be exposed.
But those who do what is right come to the light so
others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:16-21)
There can be no greater love
than the love God has shown for mankind. He has shown us that love by the
sacrifice of His own Son to save all who will come to Him through His Son
Jesus. Jesus gave His life, was buried and rose again for us.
Today … He can be our Savior
and Lord. Once we leave this world … He can be our Savior if we accept Him
today, or He will be our Judge if we reject Him.
Grant Phillips
Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
