“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:57, 58
It’s a wonderful thing in this time when every wind of doctrine is blowing, to have things settled in our experience with God, to be settled in our minds regarding our relationship to the church, which is the body of Christ, to be so settled regarding our own hope for the future that it cannot be shaken.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken (Hebrews 12:27). That means that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain. The time of shaking is coming and God intends that you and I, like Jesus, will be steadfast and immovable. Satan tried everything in his arsenal to turn Jesus from His purpose to give His life as a sacrifice for the sins of men. He tried fear, flattery, bribery, uncertainty, but Jesus was committed—steadfast and immovable—to carrying out His Father’s will.
Jesus had gathered His disciples to Him in the upper room to partake of the Passover supper. He instituted the sacrament that was to commemorate His death, and then told them that He was soon to leave them but they were to carry on His work.
“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’ ” John 13:36–38
Did Peter mean it? Yes, he did, but unfortunately he did not know himself in the way Jesus knew Him.
“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.’ But he said to Him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.’ Then He said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.’ ” Luke 22:31–34
Satan had been and still was trying to turn the disciples against Jesus. But our mighty and loving Jesus had prayed for them, especially Peter. However, Peter still had great confidence in himself that he would not allow Satan to overcome him. He still did not realize that what he needed most was a broken and contrite heart. He needed to be converted. So, with some not-so-humble boasting, Peter thanked Jesus for His prayers, but he didn’t need them. He was settled, ready to follow Jesus no matter where it led him. Prison? Death? He was prepared to follow Him even there. Peter believed every word that he spoke. He wanted to be ready, but Peter didn’t know himself. Jesus had prayed for Peter, but He also warned him that he needed to pray for himself because he would soon meet the most significant test of his life and fail unless he put his faith in God to uphold him.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: “I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.” But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.’ ” Matthew 26:31–33
Peter makes an incredibly sweeping statement: I will follow you anywhere, even to death. I will never be offended. No one will be more faithful to You than me. Was he sincere? Yes, he was. But, “Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’ And so said all the disciples.” Verses 34, 35
Is it possible for a person to believe he is steadfast in purpose, but in reality he is not settled or immovable at all? Is it possible to believe that everything is beyond question, no chance of regression or failure, and yet, to find in one’s own heart and life the elements for failure? Sadly, as exhibited by Peter and all but one of the other disciples, it is possible.
Am I Immovable?
The study of being immovable requires that we first engage in self-examination.
How does a person prepare for the shaking? Many have been tested and failed, so how would you prepare for the test or tests that so many before you have failed?
Soldiers are prepared to face the terrors of battle by months of training, drills, and preliminary testing. Exercises that include crawling on their bellies through barbed wire barriers, all while machine guns spray bullets over their heads. They run many miles with a loaded backpack—sometimes as heavy as 70 pounds—to build their stamina and strength. Days, even weeks, of survival training prepares them to live off the land and how to evade the enemy. Each soldier is pushed almost beyond their physical and mental endurance so that they can be certain they will not fail on the battlefield when their own life, as well as the lives of their unit mates, is on the line.
In much the same way, God is seeking to prepare us for the time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. In His mercy and love, He allows testing and trial, but always provides aid.
“Trials and obstacles are the Lord’s chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success.” The Ministry of Healing, 471
Discipline and disciple come from the same root word. A disciple should then expect discipline, training, trials, and obstacles as the Lord’s chosen methods of preparing him for success.
“In His mercy and faithfulness, God often permits those in whom we place confidence to fail us, in order that we may learn the folly of trusting in man and making flesh our arm.” Ibid., 486
Our friends, our family—at home and at church—may fail us. Jesus met this test in the garden of Gethsemane. He met it when Peter fulfilled His prophecy and vehemently denied Him three times before the rooster crowed. He met it at the cross where only one disciple knelt unafraid and unashamed to publicly call Him his Lord. He met it again and again, when moving from one court to another, facing the hatred of the Jewish leaders and people. He met these tests and trials so that He could be an example to us, when everyone else fails us, when we ourselves fail. Mistakes are not always bad. They are but one way in which we can learn what is right.
There are many dear people who are troubled because of the mistakes, failures, and outright sins of people in the church; when Satan, the accuser of the brethren, accuses them before God he doesn’t have to make up a lot of lies. Satan finds plenty to do to keep busy just reciting our faults, failures, and mistakes. But Jesus can help us to have an experience in faith that is in no way dependent upon what others do.
Joseph was true to God even though his brothers sold him as a slave. For ten years as a servant and then for three years in prison he was true to God, and a few years later he had the privilege of saving his family, including the brothers who were ready to kill him. What a wonderful experience of immovability. This is the experience God wants all of us to have. The grace of God held Joseph steadfast and made sure that his life and experiences were included in the Scriptures to help us learn patience and to be comforted with the knowledge that we have our hope in Jesus.
“Jesus stands by our side, and shall we falter?—No, as the trials come, the power of God will come with them.” My Life Today, 94. With the trials He permits, God sends along His power so that we are able to meet our trials with confidence and overcome them. Each trial we overcome, the more immovable we become.
Movable Angels
One third of the angels apostatized and were cast out of heaven with their chosen leader. But for those angels who remained faithful to the Father and Son, there is something that keeps them from any instability.
“The angels ascribe honor and glory to Christ, for even they are not secure except by looking to the sufferings of the Son of God.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 1132
What keeps the angels in heaven secure? Looking to the sufferings of the Son of God. It is through the efficacy of the cross that the angels of heaven are guarded from apostasy. Without the cross they would be no more secure against evil than were the angels deceived by Lucifer.
Angelic perfection failed in heaven. Human perfection failed in Eden. All who wish for security in earth or heaven must look to the Lamb of God. Friends, even angels must look to the cross to be secure and immovable. How can we believe that we can become immovable by our own effort?
In Revelation 5, God is seated upon His throne with a sealed book (scroll) in His right hand. A mighty angel proclaimed, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I [John] wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.
“But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep, Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’ And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne … stood a Lamb, as though it had been slain … .” Verses 2–6, first part
Who is that Lamb? Jesus. He takes the book and opens the purposes of God to the universe.
Here is the Lamb. He takes the book, and three songs are sung. First, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fall on their knees before the Lamb, singing a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” Verses 9, 10
Next, angels around the throne joined the living creatures and the 24 elders, and the men and women redeemed from this world—Enoch, Moses, Elijah, and the multitude of others who were resurrected with Jesus and who accompanied Him when He ascended to heaven—ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands—all sang together:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” Verse 12
Just imagine it! All of heaven trembles with the sound of praise to the Lamb and to the Father. The song praising the power that was able to secure them so there was no danger of their failing. The love of the Godhead and Jesus’ death on Calvary created the fountain of blood by which we all are saved.
Then John sees the final response.
“And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, ‘Blessing, and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever.’ ” Verse 13
The keeping power for the entire universe, from the highest seraph in heaven to the smallest child in this world, is in Jesus the Lamb of God, dying for us, risen for us, ascended for us, pleading for us, and coming soon for us to reunite the family of earth with the family of heaven.
Friends, be steadfast and immovable, knowing that the keeping power is in the Christ who died for us and who lives to triumph and conquer. Do not look for power in your problem. Look away from your problem to find the solution, Jesus Christ. We will never, never in this life or in the future life have security in any other save the Lamb who died for us and freely offers His keeping power to us.
Pastor W. D. Frazee was a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist, minister, and author. In 1942, he began a faith ministry that would become the foundation for establishing the Wildwood Medical Missionary Institute, now Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Hospital. In 1996, he was laid to rest, awaiting the return of the Lord.