He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).
THEME
HOPE
On December 17, 1927, a submarine sank off Provincetown, Massachusetts, and forty crewmen died. In the failed rescue attempt, one diver heard a trapped sailor tap out a pathetic question in Morse code: "Is there any hope?"
The disciples must have been asking the same question at their last meal with Jesus. The One they loved the most was going away to a place where they could not immediately follow.
Although packing His bags to leave, He promised to return for them. When they least expected it, He would walk up the front path, climb the porch steps, and knock boldly on the door. Jesus told His disciples to feed on that hope because He was the hope for years to come.
This hope became a major theme of the New Testament. In essence, Paul pictured Christians skydiving in reverse, free falling upward through the clouds, reaching out their hands to His, and floating into eternity (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Peter proclaimed a sure hope because of Christ's resurrection (1 Peter 1:3) and challenged everyone to be ready to give a reason for that hope (3:15).
Until Jesus returns we have a message for those sleepwalking on trails that lead to a hopeless end. We on the other road--the one of endless hope--must awaken them with our shouts of joy, "He is the Christ. He is coming again. HE is our hope!"
-----------------------------------------
DEC 23
1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-5:11
"Behold, I come quickly! Hold fast what you have" (Revelation 3:11).
During the American Civil War, General William T. Sherman drove his troops on his decisive march to the sea. In a fort on Kennesaw Mountain, he left behind a small contingent of men to guard the rations. General John Bell Hood of the Confederate Army attacked the fort, and a fierce battle followed. One-third of Sherman's men were killed or wounded and J. M. Corse, the general in command, was severely injured. Just as he was about to hoist the white flag and surrender, a message came through the signal corps set up on a chain of mountains. General Sherman was within fifteen miles of the fort and sent the message: "Hold fast. We are coming." Those few words so encouraged the defenders that they held on and kept the fort from falling into the hands of their attackers.
Our heavenly Commander has also sent us the assurance that He is coming. The Lord Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). The fact that our Savior is coming again gives us hope. It makes us want to stand our ground. It encourages us to continue fighting the good fight of faith. It assures us of victory. Fierce as the battle may rage and difficult as the conflict may be as we serve Him, we dare not give up. Christ is coming again--perhaps today.
--R.W.D.
When faithfulness is most difficult, it is most rewarding.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 24
ISAIAH 46:5-13
"I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11).
In 1854 the Russian poet and diplomat Fyodor Tiutchev described the frightening world conditions as he saw them then. In a letter to his wife he wrote, "What is bewildering is the conviction--and it is becoming more and more general--that in all the perils that confront us, the direction of affairs is given over to a way of thinking that has no longer any understanding of itself. It is like being in a carriage, descending an increasingly precipitous slope, and suddenly realizing that there is no coachman in the box."
The world does seem to be traveling in a runaway vehicle, hurtling wildly through the dark night toward terrible destruction. The racial tension in South Africa, the ongoing religious conflict in Northern Ireland, and continued death and fighting in the Mid-East could cause us to feel as if the world is reeling wildly out of control. But the Christian views this frightening scene differently. We believe that even though Satan is called the ruler of this age, God has a plan for this world and is in ultimate control. We have confidence in Isaiah's promise that what God has spoken will come to pass. We know that God "works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Eph 1:11). God's hand "is stretched out over all the nations," wrote Isaiah, and "who will turn it back?" (Isa 14:26-27).
In the midst of turmoil we have hope. God rules.
--D.C.E.
Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure. --Browning
-----------------------------------------
DEC 25
HEBREWS 2:1-13
We do not yet see all things put under [man]. But we see Jesus (Hebrews 2:8-9).
The disasters, heartbreaks, and injustices all around us prove the truth of Hebrews 2:8. We live in an imperfect world in which many things are beyond our control. A thirty-year-old farmer, unable to make his mortgage payments, wishes something could be done to prevent drought. A young mother of three children, widowed by the crash of a commercial airplane, can't understand why modern technology can't prevent such tragedies. A well-educated, successful professional man, convinced that we are headed for a nuclear holocaust, talks about suicide.
It is obvious that we humans are not properly exercising dominion over the earth, as we were created to do. But knowing this does not fill Christians with dismay and hopelessness. We look up and "see" Jesus at God's right hand. We know that He possesses "all authority" in heaven and on earth because of what He did almost 2,000 years ago. He lived here as a man, overcame sin, paid the price for our transgressions on the cross, and broke death's power. He is in ultimate control of everything--even now. Someday He will return to earth and make everything right. Now, however, we see Him through the eye of faith, and we experience inner joy and peace no matter what happens.
--H.V.L.
When we can't see out, we can still look up.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 26
1 THESSALONIANS 1:1-10
You turned to God from idols . . . to wait for His Son from heaven
(1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
Eugene Lang, a self-made millionaire, greatly changed the lives of fifty-nine students in East Harlem. Asked to speak to the sixth-grade class at a school with a high drop-out rate, he wondered what he could say to inspire these students to stay in school. He wondered how he could get them to even look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay college tuition for every one of you." For the first time, those children had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly ninety percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
People without hope are people without a future. But when hope is restored, so is life. Nowhere is this more true than with those who come to know Christ. He gives a sure basis for hope. He has promised to return to earth to receive His own (1 Th 1:10). Until then, we have help through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Th 1:5). The believer anticipates a new kind of life that begins now and is fulfilled when Jesus returns.
Knowing Christ gives us a hope that makes life worth living.
--M.R.D.II
Hope is the anchor of the soul, and the stimulus to action and achievement.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 27
ROMANS 5:1-11
[We] rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2).
The glories that await the Christian defy our comprehension. What little we understand about them, however, fills us with anticipation. We look longingly to that day when we shall enjoy heaven in all its fullness.
In DARE TO BELIEVE, Dan Baumann told a story that illustrates the unique experience of knowing something is ours yet longing to enjoy it more fully. Every year at Christmastime, he would do a lot of snooping, trying to find the gift-wrapped presents and figure out what was in them. One year he discovered a package with his name on it that was easy to identify. His mother couldn't disguise the golf clubs inside. Baumann wrote: "When Mom wasn't around, I would go and feel the package, shake it, and pretend that I was on the golf course. The point is, I was already enjoying the pleasures of a future event; namely, the unveiling. It had my name on it. I knew what it was. But only Christmas would reveal it in its fullness."
That's the way it is for believers as we await what God has for us in heaven. Wrote Baumann, "We shall be glorified, but we are beginning to taste glorification now. . . . This quality of life begins the moment an individual places faith in Christ and thereby shares His life. We have eternal life--here and now--but it is only a foretaste of its fullness. God has whetted our appetites for the main course, which has to come later!"
Christians have good reason to rejoice in hope!
--R.W.D.
Future prospects bring present joys.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 28
LUKE 21:25-36
"Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27).
On Palm Sunday, 1981, millions of Americans shared a great sense of anticipation as they awaited the liftoff of the manned space shuttle Columbia. The media billed the event as "the dawn of a new age." More than 80,000 people crowded into Florida's Kennedy Space Center to witness the launching of the nation's first space plane. Hundreds of thousands drove to nearby roads for the best view they could get. And countless others watched the event on television. As the countdown reached the last ten seconds, the nation counted down in unison. Then at 7 a.m. Eastern time it happened. The great flying machine rose straight up. Orange flames and vapor engulfed the launch site as sound and shock waves thundered through the air and ground. The hopes of all future manned spaceflight seemed to focus on the success of that long-awaited mission.
As promising as that event was, it's nothing compared with another event--the return of the Lord Jesus to earth. He will usher in the dawn of a new age like we have never seen. When He comes in the clouds with power and glory, all other hopes will look empty and foolish.
The glory of what we put up into space is nothing compared with the glory that Christ will bring down when He returns.
--M.R.D.II
The return of Jesus is sure, for what the Bible predicts and Christ promises, God will perform.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 29
REVELATION 22:16-21
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly" (Revelation 22:20).
The great preacher F. B. Meyer once asked D. L. Moody, "What is the secret of your success?" Moody replied, "For many years I have never given an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have finished." This may well explain the intensity of his service and the zeal of his ministry for Christ.
One of the most encouraging teachings in the Bible is that of the Lord's return to earth. Three times Revelation 22 repeats this promise. As God was about to close the pages of divine revelation, He called attention to this grand theme, announcing in the words of Christ Himself, "Surely I am coming quickly." The last words of our Lord before leaving this earth twenty centuries ago remind us that He is coming back for us. With such a forceful assurance closing the canon of Scripture, we can have this hope continually in our hearts. The expectation of seeing our Savior, being like Him, and being with Him for eternity should prompt us, as it did Moody, to serve the Lord.
In this sinful world it's easy to lose our upward look. Yet we must keep the hope of Christ's return burning in our hearts. The apostle Paul talked about this when he said, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Php 3:20).
The hope of His last words, "Surely I am coming quickly," should motivate us all to lives of sacrificial service.
--P.R.V.
The hope of glorification keeps before us the need of purification.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 30
TITUS 2:11-14
The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men
(Titus 2:11).
American theologian Carl Henry gave a thought-provoking lecture with these three major points:
1. THE BARBARIANS HAVE COME. Evil forces have entered the gates and are tearing down the values Christians embrace as true and good. Many thoughtful people believe that we are witnessing the moral collapse of Western civilization, and they are afraid.
2. JESUS IS COMING. Christians have lived for 20 centuries with the hope that they will witness the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The darker the night, the brighter shines that hope. The barbarians may have won a battle, but they will not win the war.
3. THE CHURCH DOESN'T KNOW WHETHER IT IS COMING OR GOING. Many of those who claim to know God deny Him by their words and actions. A great number of Christians believe that the hands on the clock of history are nearing the midnight hour, but they don't know just how close. Whether our Lord comes today or in a thousand years, Christians must say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present evil age (Tit 2:12).
Let's get our eyes off the barbarians, keep looking for the coming of our Lord, and live for Him today.
--H.W.R.
What we believe about the world to come shapes how we live in the world today.
-----------------------------------------
DEC 31
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18
We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
As I walked out of the chapel after a memorial service for a Christian friend, the funeral home director remarked, "You know, there's a big difference between the funerals of those who are Christians and those who are unsaved."
This man had witnessed hundreds of funerals and had been impressed by the striking difference between the behavior of true believers and those who did not have faith in Christ. He had observed that Christians are comforted by Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 4, "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. . . . Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (vv. 14, 17).
Of course, we do grieve when death temporarily separates us from our loved ones. But the grief is greatly eased and the heartache gently softened by the truth of God's Word: Christians who die go into the presence of the Lord Jesus Himself, and they will accompany Him when He returns to this earth.
We who are looking for our Lord's second coming can take courage and find comfort in anticipating that glorious reunion. That's what makes the big difference!
--R.W.D.
The bright ray of hope in the darkening skies is the promised return of the Son.
-----------------------------------------
Note to the Reader
The publisher invites you to share your response to the message of this book by writing Discovery House Publishers, P.O. Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501 U.S.A. For information about other Discovery House publications, write to us at the same address.
