I Just Can’t Wait
II Corinthians 11:1-15 1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Revelation 21:1-8 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
The future John sees as written in Revelation is not based on wishful thinking. It is based on the birth of a baby born in a stable. In that baby, Jesus Christ, we see that the dark experiences of life are not the ultimate truth. For who would have guessed that this Child lying on coarse hay would be seen as a threat to a tyrant named Herod? Who would have guessed that this Unknown Infant would face the illustrious Pontius Pilate with the most important decision of his career? Who would have guessed that the power of this Child would prevail after Rome was in ruins? And who would have guessed that this obscure Galilean would be worshipped by millions around the world 2,000 years later?
The future promised in Jesus is a source of hope. “Peace on Earth” is not a futile wish, but a future fact. The future promised in Jesus gives birth to faithfulness here and now. The problem is that we are such a present minded people that talk about a promised future often seems like a blurry theological detail to us, and we doubt rather than receiving the hope and faithfulness that promised future can give. But perhaps at this time of year when the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Him, perhaps we can believe the future He has for each of us. Perhaps trust can be born in us that no difficulty and no amount of disappointment, not even death itself, can keep us from that time when there will be no more darkness. In the meantime, the light shines against the darkness and the darkness has not and will not keep us from the future promised us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We see evidence of the future Jesus brought to light. We see evidence in the life of someone who all had given up on as a hopeless case, and then one day that person has a peace in their heart and love in their eyes that takes your breath away. The Evidence continues. No despot, no amount of human destructiveness, no doubt, no despair, nor death itself can disrupt the future seen in Jesus Christ. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not and will not overcome it. The darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining (I John 2:8b). God has a future promised to us. Let that future shape and influence your life here and now.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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