A New Year’s Meditation
I have been profoundly impacted this time of year like no other, on the return and reign of Christ.
His return will be awesome for every one will see his return – Revelation 1: 7 “Behold He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him”. Can you imagine? “Every eye” will behold the coming of the King! It won’t matter who you are, where you are or what time of day it is. “Every eye will see Him”. Christ the Lord of Glory will come with “power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Scott Denny is the Administrative Pastor at Grace Bible Church
His return will be wrathful for those who do not know Him – Revelation 20:15 “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Brothers and sisters this breaks my heart. There will be a day when our neighbors, friends, co-workers, family members, loved ones will see Christ and will not know him as Lord and God. They will see Him as Judge and they will mourn when they see Him (Matthew 24:30). This reality impresses upon my heart the immediacy and urgency of bringing the gospel into every circle I am in. There will be a day, dear ones, when those closest to us, will face the reality that Christ is Lord, but He will not know them. We must be about the business of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, who heals broken people.
His return will bring peace, life and joy to those who do know Him – Revelation 22:1-5 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each treeyielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.” Oh what a day this will be! How can we not along with John utter the words “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
As I camp in the Book of Revelation, I find myself longing for the joy of THAT Day when there is freedom from this broken vessel. I long for a day when there will be no more pain, suffering or tears as promised by our Lord upon His return (Revelation 21:4).
Yet in longing for that Day, I find myself encouraged (and hope you are as well) by the newness of life already given to us as followers of Christ here and now in this broken world.
We are a broken people made in the image of God who by God’s grace and through faith are newly created (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are being conformed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).
We are a new creation! Now! We each are given a new heart (Romans 2:29, Jeremiah 31:31ff ) with new desires (Psalm 84:2) with a new purpose (1 Corinthians 10:31) in a new family as children of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16, 17).
We do not need to wait for the start of a new year to be who we already are. We are new! Now! We are new people reborn and given a new life free from the reign of sin and death (Roman 6:7-10). We are free now to live as imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1). Free by God’s grace to pursue righteousness and reject unrighteousness (Titus 2:11,12). We are free to love our spouses in ways that shine the light of Christ in a dark world. We are free to work without fear of men because we work as unto Christ (Ephesians 6:5-8). We are free to go forth without fear into the nations making disciples because Christ is with us (Matthew 28:18-20). We are free to live a life of forgiveness when wronged because we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32).
We press on in this broken world because we live now by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20), and we press on in this life, in this world, broken as it is, knowing that our labor is never in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).
As we press on we look to the One who promises to make all things new. We look to the One who will return and dwell among us in glory. We look to that Day when the great city, the holy Jerusalem, will descend out of heaven from God possessing the very glory of God (Revelation 21:10,11). John describes the City with majestic words and notes that he “saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
What a Day that will be!
As the New Year begins, I would encourage you to not dwell on resolutions that may be long past and unfulfilled. But simply resolve to be resolved; to be resolute, unwavering, steadfast in your pursuit of the Lord Jesus. You and I are children of the Most High God. Let’s resolve together to pursue after righteousness by the power of God’s Spirit according to his wonderful grace with our eyes fixed on our blessed Redeemer.