by: Alan Bullock
Although His birth brought no great fanfare or recognition from the institutions and governments of men, Jesus’ ministry of revealing the Father’s forgiveness of sin changed the course of men’s lives forever. Until Jesus, sin had an ugly permanency that gripped men’s souls like a black darkness without hope.Hope for the Journey
There is a garden provided for man,
A place of hope in God’s great plan,
Where your faith in Him will expand,
A refuge from storms in the Promised Land.
There is a light that glows from His lamp,
Giving power to battle the enemy’s camp,
With victory to conquer till the break of day,
Where the King of Kings makes grand His way.
There is a hope beyond a tempter’s scheme,
Where mighty billows of grace dost gleam,
Where the Balm of Gilead flows like a stream,
And the Day Spring of glory fulfills every dream.
There is a portal through the Door of Life,
Where grace is stronger than mortal strife.
A place where His sunlight will always rise,
The closest thing to Paradise.
There is a victory by a Broken Reed,
Where the Guide of Life meets thy need,
Where our feet flee from going astray,
And the Spring of Life makes its way.
There is a life beyond the Veil,
The wind, His spirit both fill my sail;
Beyond the valley where one travails,
Where the Rod of Jesse never fails.
There is a drink from the Master’s cup,
Where I, with love, shall drink it up;
That keeps me from the wilderness,
For the Savior’s love has power to bless. But with the Father’s forgiveness of sin, He brought relief from its clutches and a cure and hope to lost humanity. As Dr. Mark Rutland so eloquently stated in his book, The Finger of God, “…the reason common people gladly accepted Jesus was because He ministered to their needs. The two elements conspicuously absent from the tasseled robes and flowery public prayers of the Pharisees were reality and authority. Jesus’ ministry demonstrated the value of substance over image. Unlike the Pharisees, He understood and pitied their weaknesses and communicated with pure simplicity that He understood their pain and longed to bring the Prodigal Sons and Daughters home to the Father’s house.”Jesus then became the Door to Life and laid down the Welcome Mat of Grace to all that would follow Him. He drank of the cup in the Garden so we could drink of the cup of New Birth and share in His heavenly bounty. Of all the “I AM” statements of Jesus, of particular significance is the “I AM” found in John 10:9: “I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
In Biblical times the door to the sheep’s pen was the shepherd himself as he would lie across the entry way to the pen to keep the sheep safe. Jesus is also the door or gateway to abundance and greener pastures. Walk through the door, dear friend. Come home to the Father who waits on the other side to keep you safe from all harm.
As the Door, Jesus is the one and only way of entrance into salvation. As the Good Shepherd He is the one who cares for the sheep and provides for their salvation at the cost of His life. He lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:1-11).
Hope is God’s sparrow that lites gently upon our soul and sings the tune of faithful
anticipation for a glorious future…
