CATACOMBS AND CROSSES -- Devotional for November 5, from "Good Seeds"

Our gathering together to Jesus Christ will not occur until the apostasy comes and the son of destruction presents himself as god. And you know what retrains him now. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but will only come into full power when the Restrainer is removed. (II Thessalonians 2:1-7)

In preparation for a child dedication service at our church I came up with these new words for a song I’d written some time before:
The family of God is a blessing, but also my family at home.
We gather together for worship in each little safe catacomb.
A member of my praise team questioned my choice of a particular word: “Aren’t catacombs filled with dead men’s bones? Why would you use a word meaning ‘underground graveyard’ to refer to a vibrant and happy home environment?” I had to think of a better answer than that it rhymes nicely with family at home! We know that the early church was driven into hiding by Roman persecution, and found a safe haven for sweet fellowship and worship in those putrid underground caverns. As I shared this with the group, it struck me just how often ugly things in this life are redeemed and beautified by the life of Christ indwelling every believer by the Spirit of God. Referring to the Holy Spirit Jesus told His disciples, “He now abides WITH you, but shall be IN you” (John 14:17). It is very probable that the Restrainer spoken of in today’s Scripture is the Holy Spirit. As God He is omnipresent: always and everywhere present. But as an active force holding back the full release of the evil one’s power “to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:1), He will be removed along with all Christians at the rapture of the church, referred to in the verse as the “gathering together to Jesus Christ.” Until that time, no matter what evil lurks in the souls of men, the Holy Spirit is present and in full power in the lives of believers, overcoming Satan’s deeds of destruction by “the blood of the Lamb and the death-defying word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11). And that’s why we say that a Christian home can be a catacomb, a place both safe: from the prying eyes and persecuting intentions of Satan’s agents, and sacred: for the nurture of little minds and hearts in the ways of God. Where goes any man of God, there goes the Spirit of God, overcoming the enemy of God with the blood of the Lamb. Just as a catacomb, a place of death, is redeemed by the presence of Christians, so the cross, an ugly instrument of torture and engine of execution, becomes a thing of beauty to all who come to understand it for what it really is: mankind’s only hope for forgiveness of sin and eternal life. What other tool or domain of Satan could you and I claim and redeem as a means of God’s amazing grace?