Elizabeth Barnes
Columnist
Inseparability. Inseparability from God. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ promises inseparability from God. In every moment of the day, here and now. In every moment in eternity, where salvation and deliverance, sanctification and glorification, mean inseparability from God.
Jesus promises, “I will never leave you, or forsake you.” In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus comes to us walking on the water. He comes to all of His disciples then. He bids us to come to Him, also walking on the water. (Matthew 14:28,29)
The sermon yesterday at Beard’s Chapel showed how just one disciple got out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the water. All consecrated followers of Christ Jesus can step out of the boat, onto the water, when Jesus comes walking to us on the water. Our salvation is a new birth. We live in a new order of creation, now. Behold, all things have become new! All who trust have passed from death to Resurrection life in our Savior. Inseparability is the core of the New Life in Christ Jesus. He said so. He is its Power. He is with us always. He will not leave us or forsake us.
Some years ago, in the fourth watch of the night, between three and six in the morning, I was given a dream from which I awoke, enveloped in the deepest peace I had then yet known. That Peace was the very Presence of Christ Himself. The memory is sacred to me evermore. Thank you, Lord! The Holy Spirit often refreshes my lagging spirit with that memory. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
I incorporated a partial account of that dream into my bucket-list novel of 2011, and placed it into the death-bed experience of my major character, Temperance Green Smith. Here it is:
Temperance looked on, or down; as in a dream she saw herself under the collection table watching herself shout, then floating over the water, and onto the bank of…the river? Which? What body of water? A mere ditch? The one before her grandmother’s and Pa Gabriel’s old house? Was she under anesthesia? After the shooting?
Voice:. Aren’t you afraid? This is where your mother saw the ghost.
Answer:. No. They will all be there when I get there.
The door stood open. Temperance saw the familiar house, recognized it now; it was Pa Gabriel’s; it was full of people and all the lights were on. A celebration appeared to be inside it. People were standing close and talking in the light-filled, front room. The room where Grandma Hannah’s body had lain in her pine coffin. A figure in shadow stood in the open door, His back suffused in light from the room He called her into, now with Him. At last to be with them. The ditch was shallow and not wide. She could make it easily. There was no dark water in it. She raised her foot to step across.
Now, from the Gospel of John, where Jesus promises:
I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. (John 14:13)
Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John:14;27)
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (John 15:11)
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. (John 20:20,21)
A contemporary Christian song called Holy Ghost Fire requests the outpouring of this holy Breath given by the Lord, and rejoices in its fire. Glory to God!
The devout old hymn, “Trust and Obey, gives us the sure directions to follow, as we step out onto the water, in obedience to the call of Jesus. Trust and Obey. Trust in the Grace of God. Obey God. And walk. Walk on the water to Jesus. Walk, He bids us. Walk. Trust in Him.
Trust His Grace. Obey and keep His Words. Keep your eyes on Jesus. And walk.
Lord, forgive our lack of trust, our refusal to obey, our choice to stay in a boat of our own making, and our satisfaction with less than peace, joy, consecration, and inseparability in our walk with You. Fill us with Holy Ghost Fire! For Your great glory! For Your Promise is sure!
Heaven is Inseparability!
Thanks be to God!
Elizabeth Barnes is a native of Bladen County and now lives at White Lake. She taught Christian theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. She is a member of Beard’s Chapel Baptist Church.