… She has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
(Proverbs 31:21)
Last weekend, I had an opportunity to take my family to The Creation Museum in Petersburg Kentucky. The exhibits were informative and excellent. I hope they have more opportunities to expand because I would have liked to see even more. Near the conclusion of one display, they shared the descriptions of the two final destinations described in Scriptures along with some artistic representations.
One artwork depicted the great chasm and the lake of fire disclosed in the book of Revelation. It showed dozens of ambiguous humans enveloped in terrible flames. It was a hard and sober image to be sure. But what really struck me was what occurred directly in front of this picture. There were several wide benches for people to sit and rest. On one bench was a young mother and her three small children (ages 3-7 I guessed). They were smiling and laughing and took the moment my eyes happened upon them to snap a happy selfie together (not of the image behind them, just of themselves).
It seemed wrong to me at first. Here is this dire prediction of the eternal fate of lost persons and this mom and her kids were just carefree, laughing and enjoying themselves. But the more I thought about it the more it occurred to me that this is exactly the position of every believer! Jesus Christ stood in our place and suffered the full punishment that we deserved for our sins. His blood was spent to cover and cleanse believers justifying them forever before Holy God. The lake of fire holds no dread for the believer because the Father has spared forever those who trust in the satisfying sacrifice of His Son. Jesus bore all the flames of the Father’s just and impending wrath so that believers may freely rejoice in this life and the next. It is an incredible gift!
Our concerns should only be for those yet to trust in Jesus Christ. We must pray earnestly that the Lord would save them. We must share the Gospel with them through our stories, service, and sacrifices. And perhaps a key element of our witness to them will be genuine joy experienced as a result of our lives lived at peace with God and free from fear of eternal penalty.
We can laugh. We can smile. We can sing. We can share. Because God is merciful, gracious, and kind. May those we meet have no doubt that we have met Him.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
(John 4:14-18)
