Saturday, December 11, 2004

Luke 21:28b, 36a Lift up your heads; because your redemption draws near ... Watch always therefore, and pray.

HE WHO CAME IS COMING

Christmas is coming -- signs are everywhere. But do people know what they point to? Or even that they which are pointing, are signs?

Christ is Coming again -- signs have been everywhere for centuries.
... wars and rumors of wars ... famines and earthquakes... (Mt 24)
But do people know they are signs ... and to what they are pointing?
To many they are simply "natural" occurrences.

Now, we know Christmas is not just family-time and gift-giving. We know it is the anniversary of the coming of the Son of God into our human race, God the Father's gift of His only Son to be our Savior from sin.

And we know this same Christ is coming again -- His Word is plain and clear on that. We know He will return in the clouds with power and great glory on the Last Day of this universe's existence, the Last Day of time and the heavenly bodies that mark time.

But we know this is not just the end of the world. This will be the greatest family time ever -- the gathering of the family of God. "The Son of Man ... will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (Mt 24:30-31).

For believers, then, this is not a day to anticipate with fear or anxiety, but rather a day on which the Lord says we are to stand tall;
to lift up our heads because our redemption draws near.