The ultimate end of true Christianity is that the Christian rejoices in Christ and has no confidence in the flesh.
Have you ever wondered why God allows His people to be harassed after probation has been closed? When probation closes there can be no change in status.
God has said “He that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy let him be holy still” Revelation 22:11. Those who are righteous by faith will remain so until the end; those who have rejected Christ will remain in that condition. Why then does God allow His righteous people to go through a time of terrible crisis after the close of probation-a crisis the like of which can never be experienced by any previous generation?
Is He simply trying to prove a point? Is He just proving to the universe that these people will remain faithful to Him, no matter what He throws at them?
When you are going through a crisis, it doesn’t mean that God loves you any less. God’s agape love never changes; it is eternal, unconditional, changeless.
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3
So, the time of trial following the close of probation doesn’t indicate that God is not concerned about what happens to His people, any more than Job’s experience showed a lack of concern on God’s part for him. Self must be consumed so that the image of Jesus Christ may be reproduced in our lives. The world desperately needs to see Christ, but it cannot see Him in you or me unless every particle of self has been crucified. That is why God allows us to go through the refining process now and that is why He will allow His people to go through the time of crisis following probation’s close.
In the time of trouble, Satan will point us to our feelings. Even after probation closes, we will still feel sinful. Even after probation closes, we will still feel that we aren’t good enough to be saved. But the question is not how we feel. The question is: “Who is our righteousness?” The answer must be Christ. Every bit of self every taint of earthliness must be consumed. We cannot look to ourselves or our experience.
Christ can be fully reproduced in us only when we have said goodbye to self completely.
In this, as in all other aspects of our lives, Christ is our example.
The Humbled and Exalted Christ
