Up to this point I have been focused on the first coming of the King of Kings. But Advent is much more than that, it is a time when we also focus on and anticipate His second coming.

Jesus has come, Jesus has conquered, and Jesus is coming again to reign.

These three simple facts make up the core of Christian thought, and it is the core of the message of good news that we have been commissioned by Jesus to communicate to the world.

Jesus is Lord of all! Jesus will come again to rule! The evil of this age will not go on forever! The Prince of Peace is coming!

The Time Between

But now we live in the time between, the time between the victory of Jesus over sin and death, and the time of His return to destroy evil and reign over the new heavens and earth. This time between is marked by trouble of all kinds and includes a set of particular troubles for the church. The Church is the body of Christ on earth. The forces which killed Jesus on the cross have not repented of their hatred of God and His Son. So we, as the body of Christ on earth, have been the continued target of these beastly forces of evil ever since the victorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The history of the Church is a story of perseverance through trouble.

Christmas and the Prince of Peace

Christmas however is always and rightly celebrated as a time of joy and peace on earth. Yet, life on earth is seldom like the cards we send each other at Christmas. The truth is, real lasting peace will only come when the prince of peace returns. The joy we experience now is real joy but it is nothing compared to the joy that follows the return of the king of kings, the removal of evil, and the establishment of the new heavens and earth. Only then can we fully realize peace and joy as God intended from the beginning. Only then will we see the end of death itself.

History has been a long journey for humanity, and a costly one. But too often we think only of our personal cost or perhaps the human cost of evil. Christmas and Easter are times of the year we set aside to consider the cost of our evil to God. At these times we recognize God’s love for us in that He did not leave us to die in our sin without hope. He instead became one of us and experienced death and judgement in our place.

But Jesus did not come just to suffer. He didn’t even come just to be raised again in victory. The plan has always been to redeem humanity and restore them to God’s family, to a proper and loving relationship to the Father. God’s plan has always been to build or rebuild a world where true peace, true joy, true love, and fellowship exist -eternally. And to rule this new world of joy and peace is Jesus, our Prince of Peace and eternal king!

Living while waiting

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (Matt 25:44-46 ESV)

Matthew 24:36-25:30 gives us several parables of Jesus and all of them relate to how we should live as we await the return of our king. If you have not read them in a while it is well worth the time to go over them again in the context of Jesus returning to judge the earth and gather his family. Chapter 25 ends with Jesus describing the final judgement. And the final judgement is not described as we might think. People are judged on that day according to how they have treated those who were suffering. Because whatever they did for these suffering people they did for Jesus himself.

I get questions all the time that people feel must be important because they are so hard to answer. But in this passage we see that it is not the difficult questions that are important but rather the difficult choices that make the difference in our eternal destiny.

To truly believe in Jesus is to follow Him, it is to walk where He walked and help the people that He helped. It is easy to sit around and think you know the answer, it is more difficult to be that answer in someone else’s life. But thankfully - it is usually not as difficult as we sometimes make it out to be.

After a busy time of Christmas preparations and events it would be easy to kick back and feel like, now I can rest. And we can, God gives His children rest, he even commands it for one day a week. But in our resting we must not forget why we are here. In our resting we must remember, remember that we are all blessed with resources and places to use them for the good of others.

As I go about my business this week God help me to see the people around me, really see them, and help. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and may God strengthen you now for the week ahead!

Have a great week!

Tom

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