Safe To All Eternity

The recent pandemic and its aftermath of affliction came to many doors around the world. Where did you turn for help and comfort?  

The rich have afflictions as well as the poor.  

• There was a nobleman in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick.

Silks and satins often cover very heavy hearts.  The dwellers in palaces often sleep more uneasily than the dwellers in poor cottages. Gold and silver can lift no man beyond the reach of trouble.

Sickness and death come to the young as well as the old.  

• When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.

The first grave that ever was dug on this earth, was that of a young man.  The first person who ever died, was not a father but a son.  He that is wise, will never consider long life as a certainty.  The only true wisdom is to be always prepared to meet God, to put nothing off which concerns eternity, and to live like men ready to depart at any moment.

Affliction can confer benefits on the soul.

• The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies."  Then Jesus told him, "Go back home.  Your son will live."...And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.

Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is a greater.  Prosperity and worldly comfort, are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ.  There is no commentary that opens up the Bible so much as sickness and sorrow.  The resurrection morning will prove, that many of the losses of God's people were in reality eternal gains.

Christ's word is as good as Christ's presence.

• While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well.  He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, "Yesterday afternoon at one o'clock his fever suddenly disappeared!"  Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, "Your son will live."

Almighty power went with that little sentence.  He that by faith has laid hold on some word of Christ, has placed his feet upon a ROCK.  What Christ has said, He is able to do; and what He has undertaken, He will never fail to make good.  The sinner who has really reposed his soul on the word of the Lord Jesus, is safe to all eternity.

- Adapted Excerpt from J.C. Ryle's The Gospel of John