#GCAdvent Day 24 Ryan Reeves Revelation 22:12-17, 21 The apostle Paul tells us that if Christ was not bodily resurrected then we Christians are to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:17). We can take this further. If Christ does not return to restore all things—if he doesnt reveal the authority in heaven and earth that he already owns—then even the resurrection becomes a grubby truth about a miracle that happened long ago. We evangelicals are good on eschatology. We have our charts, our raptures, our millennial views, our tireless hustle to convince others that Jesus is real and he is coming back. But for some this ethos has created a disjointed experience: one where Christs return does not break into everyday life. His second coming remains alien to us, something mystical and strange, deciphered only by books and gurus. And so we lose the full drama of the gospel story. Content to stress only the atonement of Christ, we neglect to see the end to which the atonement is driving, namely, creation restored to its master, sanctification accomplished, tears wiped away and hell cast down. Gone will be the effects of sin though the world, the flesh and the devil. This is an achingly important truth for daily living! It shapes the context of things otherwise seen as humdrum, infusing our lives with the words that Christ himself is the alpha and omega, and so our life in him is a life swept up into his great victory. Our ministries are now plotted on the timeline of Christs glorious plan, begun when he broke into our world in Bethlehem, accomplished at the cross and empty tomb and completed at his returning. So our days should not be marked by folding our hands and waiting for him to return or take us to glory. Instead, we should be on our feet, racing to embrace the reality that our Lord will come again. Notice that this passage in Revelation, for example, is not written to warn unbelievers, but to strengthen believers. This testimony comes to the churches. Thus, we the church should allow these words to strengthen us, convict us. The reality of the end does not, in these verses, assume that the final hurdle is only in asking Jesus into our hearts. That is only the beginning. The time between our redemption and the ultimate end of the world drives us to a gospel-shaped life. It drives us to self-sacrifice, so that we might be a life poured out in service to the King.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:13:00 +0000
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