Heart Tracks - I Am He!

     I was browsing a bookstore recently when one of the titles caught my eye; "101 Myths Of The Bible."  I just chuckled.  There is nothing new about trying to debunk the word of God.  The enemy has been hard at that task since he questioned His word to Adam and Eve in the Garden by asking, "Did God really say that?"  The onslaught has continued through the centuries right to the present day, and we can be sure it will continue until, in the fullness of time, Christ returns.  Till then, various network programs, "scholarly" books, and epic Hollywood movies will come forth, all trying in one way or another to disprove the truth of His Word, the Divinity of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, and a seemingly endless stream of points raised with the intent of trying to do away with the reality of He who is the Source of all things, the Beginning, the End, and all that is in between.  The One that the Bible says "holds all things together."  That other belief systems found in this world never seem to undergo such attacks goes unnoticed.  Darkness hates the True Light, and will go to any extent to try and extinguish it.  All glory and praise be to Him, because it will never be able to do so.

     I read in His Word today the account of Christ's betrayal and arrest.  John 18:3 begins, "Now with blazing torches and weapons they arrived at the olive grove....Stepping forward to meet them, He asked, 'Who are you looking for?'  Jesus of Nazareth they replied. 'I am He,' " was His reply to them.  At these words, they all fell backward and to the ground.  The beauty and power of this passage never ceases to send chills to my spirit.  Here, in darkness, men bearing man made means of light, come looking for He who is the Light of the World.  When they come to Him, they don't recognize him.  Such is the result of all human effort to "find" or explain the reality of the 3 in 1 God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The artificial light of our intellects cannot do that, they must instead receive His light as it shines forth upon us.  We can reject that light, even be indifferent to it, but we can never do away with it.  It's eternal, pure, and holy, and our own light will always be blind to it's presence, until we receive it, and then, our eyes are opened, and we see.
      The other great thing I see here is that though He is one against a mob of armed and dangerous men, intent on killing Him, it is He who is complete control.  He is in control when they come for Him, when they arrest Him, when they try Him, beat Him, crucify and kill Him.  He is in control through all that as the purposes of the Father are realized in His resurrection.  Today, as the darkness increases, as evil abounds, He continues to be in control.  The Father continues to work out His purposes through Him, and in and through those that are His.  A friend recently sent me an article titled "Knocking Holes In The Darkness."  Christ has ever done this, and He will go on, in and through us, to continue to do so.  When one enters into a dark room and turns on the light, the darkness is crushed to the wall.  So does the Light of the World crush the darkness that is arrayed against Him.  The enemy will not give up though he is already defeated, but all his efforts will, as they always have, fail.  The Light has come.  Has it come for you and I?  In our seeking of that light, that truth, He says to each of our hearts, "I am He."  Do we hear Him?  Have we received Him?  Or, do we continue to light our "torches" searching for what we believe is truth?

Blessings,

Pastor O