BE NOT AFRAID by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 10, 1901

“BE NOT AFRAID.”

By L. A. S.

To His disciples Jesus said, when He appeared to them walking on the water, “It is I; be not afraid.” And when they heard His voice and knew that it was their Lord and not a strange apparition that was coming to them, their fears vanished, and their hearts went out to Him in joyful welcome.

The disciples were not afraid, because they knew Jesus. They were His followers; they had been often in His company, had shared His experiences, and had espoused His doctrine and principles. To them the presence of Jesus had ever been their assurance of peace and safety; His word to them had ever been, “Be not afraid.” To strangers the assurance, “It is I,” would have brought no comfort.

This same Jesus was crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended to the throne of God; and this same Jesus shall come again, “in power and great glory,” attended by the hosts of heaven, to judge the earth in righteousness. A fire shall devour before Him, and all peoples of the earth shall wail in terror at His coming. The earth itself shall reel to and fro like a drunken man, and shall quake at the sound of His voice. Out of His mouth shall go a sharp sword that shall smite the nations, and He shall seize the kingdoms of the world, and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” He shall tread the “wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” On earth shall be heard a universal cry to the rocks and mountains, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne!”

It is the same Jesus that spoke to the troubled disciples on the Sea of Galilee; and to all who know Him the same word will come: “It is I; be not afraid.” The trouble with the wicked will be that they know Him not. They have never made His acquaintance. They have never cared for His company. Their hearts have not responded to His words. He is to them a strange Being, and the words, “It is I,” if He should utter them then, would only add to their terror. He is the last person the world will wish to behold.

But the followers of Christ know Him, and they know His power. They have become acquainted with that power in their salvation from sin. They have experienced God’s exceeding “power to us-ward, . . . which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.” The power of God has been their salvation; and therefore, when they see that power shown in tossing hills and mountains through the air and shaking the heavens and the earth, they will not be terrified. They will know it is the same power to which they owe their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. As the plagues sent upon Egypt were to the Israelites but joyful tokens of coming freedom, so will the judgments of God at the last day be to the saints the tokens of God’s working in their behalf, and the coming consummation of their hopes.

All who will now become acquainted with Jesus, will know Him as the unfailing source of their joy, comfort, and safety. To all such He will be what He was to His disciples that stormy night on Galilee. He will be this to them at all times, for He is always the same, “yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Therefore it is of paramount importance to all of us to become acquainted with Him now. Then we shall be acquainted with Him in the day of His coming; and it will be worth everything to us to know Him then. “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.” Then there will be peace between you and Him in the day of Judgment. L. A. S.