Firmly Established

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

FIRMLY ESTABLISHED

Rom 16:25-27

25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

NIV

This is the final comment from Paul and our final thoughts from this letter to the Romans. To him, who is the only wise God, is the only one who is able to establish us by the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. No one or nothing else can establish us by the gospel. Yes, there were men who recorded this gospel, four of them to be exact, and there were those who traveled the surrounding lands preaching or sharing this gospel message about Jesus Christ. Over the years, this message has been proclaimed throughout the world and at some point in time, we heard this very same message. True, Christianity has also become simply a religion without the exact content of the proclamation of the full message that was brought as a revelation of a mystery that was hidden long ago. Now it would appear that all nations have at least heard of the name of Jesus Christ, although there are some nations who have determined to create their own gods instead, or governments that suppress the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We would be hard-pressed to find someone in our country who has not heard the name of Jesus. Yet, it would also seem there are many who have suppressed any knowledge they might know about Jesus in order to live according to their own appetites. Nevertheless, once a person, such as ourselves hear the proclamation of Jesus Christ and believe and obeys him, we are indeed established by the only wise God as his children who he declares that we are holy and blameless in his sight. This being established also includes eternal life, because Jesus came in the form of man, us, and lived a perfect life, so he could be the pure and holy lamb of God, the sacrifice, once and for all, for our sins. But that was not all, for although he died, and was in the grave, he was the first of us to be resurrected into a glorious state of eternal life. His work on the cross, in the grave, and through his resurrection, defeating death once and for all, gives us, who believe in and obey, the same experience. This corruptible body will die, and be put in the grave, but death has no hold on us for we will be raised incorruptible, firmly established by God as his eternal children to live in his holy presence forever and ever through Jesus Christ. We are so glad, filled with joy and peace,  contentment, fulfillment, and being completed satisfied because we heard, listened, and received the proclamation of Jesus Christ and are now firmly established.