Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The following verse in the hymn "Beneath the cross of Jesus" has so much meaning for a Christian, and causes us to feel such gratitude to God for His plan for us.
In verse 3 of the hymn we read the following ...
There lies beneath the shadow of Jesus' cross,
But on the farther side,
The darkness of an awful grave
That gapes both deep and wide;
And there between us stands the cross,
Two arms outstretched to save,
Like a watchman set to guard the way
From that eternal grave.
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The fear of death is overwhelming to the world.
Only through the cross of Jesus are we kept from the awful grave of the people of this world.
And that grave beyond the cross is both deep and wide. And indeed it is the arms of Jesus outstretched to save us and keep us from the eternal grave, that we would not fear death as the world fears.
God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit speak to us continually to turn us from the pit the world digs for themselves by their sinful way of life. When we start to go in the evil way, a thought from God will come to mind allowing us to choose another way, the way of God, resisting the evil way of this world.
And while the people of sin grieve with no hope when they see death, we who believe in God and choose His way know death has no eternal hold over us.
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The apostle Paul says ...
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
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Therefore, we who trust in Jesus know that our sins are paid for by Jesus' blood, not by our works.
Because of this we have an everlasting hope which is unlike the hope of the world, which is no hope at all.
We can go to our deaths knowing that HE saves us from the awful blackness that would otherwise consume us.
And we can rejoice totally in salvation and resurrection through the blood of Jesus and the cross of Jesus Christ.
Because of this we have an everlasting hope which is unlike the hope of the world, which is no hope at all.
We can go to our deaths knowing that HE saves us from the awful blackness that would otherwise consume us.
And we can rejoice totally in salvation and resurrection through the blood of Jesus and the cross of Jesus Christ.
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Hymn: Beneath the cross of Jesus
(Click forward arrow > to play music:)
1. Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.
2. Oh, safe and happy shelter!
Oh, refuge tried and sweet!
Oh, trysting place where heaven’s love
And heaven’s justice meet *.
As to the holy patriarch
That wondrous dream was given,
So is my Savior by the cross
A ladder up to heaven.
3. There lies beneath its shadow,
But on the farther side,
The darkness of an awful grave
That gapes both deep and wide;
And there between us stands the cross,
Two arms outstretched to save,
Like a watchman set to guard the way
From that eternal grave.
(Two arms outstretched to block us from stumbling into that eternal grave of the world and to turn us in the way of life, the way of God. Those "arms of Jesus" are the words of Jesus which cause us to go in the way of Jesus.)
4. Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One,
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart, with tears,
Two wonders I confess,
The wonders of His glorious love,
And my own worthlessness.
5. I take, O cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His WORD;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.
(Click pause symbol, " ... at beginning of hymn, to stop music)
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