Amid our mad preparations for Christmas, it’s all too easy to lose… Christmas. So, it seems good for us to stop occasionally, and think about various aspects of the Christmas miracle. One of those aspects is that it’s still happening. We’re in the midst of the Christmas miracle right now. And from here, the glorious climax of the story looks extremely close.
The Old Testament prophets spoke of the Messiah almost as if He would be two different people. Isaiah 53:4-6 (NKJV) is a great example of prophecies depicting the Messiah suffering for our sins. “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Through the same prophet, Isaiah, God gave us what seems like an opposite picture in chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end.”
How could the same Person die for our sins, yet rule the world forever? In retrospect, the answer is obvious. He would rise from the dead. We know from history that God resurrected Jesus. Hundreds of witnesses saw and heard the risen Christ. Jesus told us the eternal plan of God was for Him to die for our sins, rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and return at the right time. In Matthew 26:64, Jesus said, “Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
At Christmas we celebrate the Lord’s first coming, but we should at the same time celebrate His second coming. It hasn’t happened yet, but one of the great messages of Christmas is that God keeps His promises. He kept His promises in the past, and, we can be sure, He will keep them in the future. In John 14:3, Jesus promised, “I will come again.”
After Jesus ascended into heaven, angels appeared to His disciples. They said, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
This same Jesus will return! And when He returns, everything will change.
Back in the 1970s, I wrote a book with the title, There’s A New World Coming. It’s a verse-by-verse study of the Book of Revelation. We sometimes look at that book in the Bible with dread because it contains “apocalyptic” prophecies. But as you can see by the title of my book, Revelation is also filled of hope and joyous expectation. Jesus is coming again, and He will make all things new.
There’s A New World Comingwas written a long time ago, but because it is a study of scripture, it never goes stale. It’s as fresh today as it was the first day it went to press. And I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you that a tool for understanding Revelation makes a life-changing Christmas gift. It is also available as an audiobook on 9 CDs and M4B download.
God bless each of you during this glorious season!
