There’s a very telling scene that unfolds in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 23. The time is drawing near when Jesus will be arrested and then crucified, as in put to death. He had just delivered one of His most blistering and scathing rebukes to the religious establishment of the day in vs.1-36. Then...you can sense a pause as He collects His thoughts before He laments aloud....

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!...” (37). Would you take a moment and look up Amos 3:7...I’ll wait for you here.

Then...please listen to the cry from the heart of our Beloved Savior...who came not to condemn us nor destroy us...but to save us...(John 3:17) [You remember what it is that we are ‘saved from’, yes? It is the ‘wrath of God’. (Rom. 5:9)....]

“O Jerusalem...How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings...but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). This would not be the first time Jesus had accused us of not being willing to ‘come to Him’...that we might ‘have life’. (John 5:40)

When Jesus made this open plea to ‘Jerusalem’ ....He had to know what most did not know which in about 40 years, the Roman armies of Titus would come and destroy the city of Jerusalem, along with the temple.

But it is the word picture Jesus uses that I find intriguing. He likens His desire and willingness to cover and protect His people, in the same manner in which a mother hen would gather her chicks with her feathers. This reminds me of a word picture we saw yesterday in our study of Psalm 91. All those promises of divine protection were extended to those who ‘abide in Him’. (91:1). We see the same illustration in vs. 4- “He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge.”

Friends...’abiding in Jesus’ is not some ‘holy option for super-saints’. To abide in Christ is to be “In Christ’, and it requires a total, 100% complete surrender of our lives, our heart, and will to Him. 90% won’t do it...just ask the rich young ruler we read about in Matt. 19. Jesus warns that “many will come in that day...saying...’But Lord...look what we did for you in your Name!” (Matt. 7:22-23) And it will be to no avail.

If there was ever a time to sit up (if not wake up- Matt. 25:4-7) and examine ourselves, to ‘see if we are in the faith’ as Paul admonished us to do, that time is now. (2 Cor. 13:5). And how can you know if you are truly abiding in the shelter of the ‘Most High’? Go read 1 John 2:3-6 and then 3:4-10.

One last portion of scripture I need to admonish you to read now in closing. Spoiler alert, you will find it deeply disturbing. It is found in Proverbs 1:20-33; and take your time with it.

Tomorrow, I will begin, Lord willing, a 3-part series on some practical applications that may help us better grasp what ‘abiding’ in Jesus looks like...and doesn’t look like.