CHEER UP!
«These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world» (John 16:33).
IN A MATTER OF HOURS, Jesus would face the agony of Gethsemane; in quick succession, He would be arrested, tried, condemned, and crucified. And He said that He had overcome the world? In addition, He said to His disciples, «Be of good cheer»?
To make sense of these apparent contradictions, we must read the preceding statement. There the Lord said, » Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me» (John 16:32).
In these words, the Lord made two realities clear. One, that the events that were approaching—Gethsemane, arrest, trial, and so on—would not take Him by surprise. The other, that although His disciples would leave Him, He would never be alone because the Father would not abandon Him. He could rightly declare Himself the Overcomer even before the hour of His trial had come! And He could also rightly say to His disciples: Be of good cheer! However, there is still another interesting detail. According to Rick Renner, the Greek grammar used in the statement «I have overcome» does not refer to a unique victory in the past, but to «a continuous and permanent victory.» It was as if Jesus had said, » I have overcome the world; I am still overcoming it; and I will always be in a position to overcome it.»
So how can Christs victory be ours? The point is well explained by Alexander MacLaren when he wrote that, in John 16:33, Jesus was contrasting two spheres in which the Christian moves every day. One, that of the world, where we will face afflictions; the other, that of the Lord, where we will find peace. We cannot, by our strength, defeat the world, but instead, we can have the peace of Christ! How do we achieve it? By placing our trust in him daily. Let us read: «For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?» (1 John 5:4, 5). t
«Trusting in Christ,» added MacLaren, «means that we must look at Him, not simply as an example to imitate, but as a powerful Redeemer who overcame Satan, the world, and death; and now He lives forever. When we rely on Him like that, then His victory will also be our victory.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You because in You, there is sufficient power to resist evil,
«power that neither earth, nor death . . . can master, power that will enable them to overcome as Christ overcame.»
—The Desire of Ages, ch. 73, p. 679.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Colaboradores: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate