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The
Bible describes us as "children of the promise." Unfortunately,
there are several different types of promises and not all of them are
very good news. Consider the promise mothers have sometimes
made: "You just wait until your father gets home, young
man! I promise you, he'll give you what you deserve!" This
is not a very comforting promise, that's for sure!
Another sort of promise bears this form. "I
promise that IF you clean your room, and be a good boy, we'll go to the
lake on Saturday!" This is certainly an improvement over the
earlier type of promise I described. At least there is a
chance! IF the lad can only remember to do what is asked of him,
and think before he speaks, and leave his sisters alone, there is a
chance of a good thing happening.
The third, and best form of promise is
unconditional. It points to a sure thing. "I promise I'll
make you a white cake with chocolate frosting for your birthday."
This sort of promise holds no conditions whatsoever. It is meant
to happen, come what may!
Now circumstances might change. Or such a
promise might be forgotten. Human promises are always
conditional, whether we mean them to be or not. We sincerely
promise "for better or worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in
health, in joy and in sorrow, to love and to cherish, and to be
faithful to our spouse alone, as long as we both shall live." A
solemn promise. But sadly enough even promises as serious as this
are broken all the time!
The bible often talks about God's promise, to his
chosen people, and ultimately to all people of earth. What sort
of promise has God made us, we who are known as "children of the
promise?" Is it a severe promise? The Day of the Lord will
come when all humans will experience God's justifiable wrath at how we
have failed him? There is ample biblical material that points to
just such a day! Consider the words of the prophet Joel for just
one example: "Truly the day of the Lord is great; terrible
indeed--who can endure it?"
However, Joel immediately continues: "Yet even
now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart ...Return to the
Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishment ..."
Such biblical rhetoric implies that the promise is conditional.
If we repent, God may well relent and favor us once again.
There is truth to this form of the promise. If
we hear God's Word, and if we obey God's word to the best of our
ability, particularly as taught by God's Son, things are very likely to
be a lot better for us than if we do not!
Nonetheless, I believe the predominant form of the
biblical promise is unconditional, as we see in the words of the
prophet Jeremiah this morning: "The days are surely coming, says
the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise ... I will cause a righteous
Branch to spring up ... he shall execute justice and
righteousness ... [His name?] ... "The Lord is our righteousness
..."
A few hundred years later, that promise was
fulfilled in a most enchanting, creative way. A little baby was
born in a stable in Bethlehem, and that baby grew into a Savior who was
in continuity with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but who
demonstrated an unanticipated form of compassionate, merciful,
restorative righteousness rather than an all-consuming, fearful
retribution.
For example, at one point some of the
super-righteous folks of the time, scribes and Pharisees brought to
Jesus a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery.
The Law of Moses prescribed death by stoning for such an outrageous
sinner. Suspecting that Jesus would not be so harsh, they thought
they could catch him in a leniency that would betray the Law of
God. He responded with creative genius ... "Let anyone among you
who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her ..." One
by one they melted away. Even more important, remember how he
treated her? "Has no one condemned you?" he asked her? ...
Neither do I condemn you. Go your way ..." But also notice
he added "from now on do not sin again ..."
His righteousness is creative, loving, caring, but
not permissive! And yet, what righteousness could be more
contagious than his?
This brings us to Luke and Jesus' words on the end
of time. As Luke reports, Jesus indicates that the Day of the
Lord, Judgment Day, the second coming, will be heralded by unmistakable
celestial signs that will not be confused with mere earthly, natural
disasters. The very "powers of the heavens will be shaken; ...
the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" ... will
be visible to all.
In such a fearful moment, how are we to
respond? Seek cover? Run like mad? Faint from fear
and foreboding? No, indeed. We are "children of the
promise". We are to "stand up and raise our heads" at that
momentous time, because we will then know that our "redemption is
drawing near."
How can this be? The one who will come is the
very same one who exhibited forgiving, compassionate, restorative love
right here among us! How did our Lord and Savior "execute justice
and righteousness in the land?" He did so by dying on a
criminal's cross for us, for all "children of the promise"! We
have nothing to fear! The promise is unconditional and
secure!
For several thousand years Christians have put in a
lot of anxious calculation as to exactly what will happen and when it
will happen concerning the end of time. Our anxious effort
reminds me of the story of the Gordian knot. One day, according
to ancient Greek legend a poor peasant called Gordius drove an ox cart
into the town of Phrygia. Apparently an oracle had foretold that
the future king would arrive in town riding in a wagon. The
people joyfully made Gordius king, and in gratitude he dedicated the ox
cart to Zeus, securing it with an intricate knot. The legend grew
up that the person who undid that knot would rule all Asia.
For hundreds of years no one could undo that knot
until one day Alexander the Great showed up on his way to
destiny. Faced with the knot he simply drew his sword and cut
through it. That sort of "thinking outside the box" led to his
amazing conquest of all of Asia!
The problem of exactly how God will ultimately
fulfill the promise of "a new heaven and a new earth" is so
scripturally intricate that it has never been adequately solved.
However, William Barclay, a famous bible teacher, cut right to the
heart of the matter, just as Alexander the Great had done. "There
has always been much useless argument and speculation about the second
coming," Barclay wrote. "When it will be and what it will
be like is not ours to know. But the one great truth it enshrines
is this--that history is going somewhere ... it has a goal and at that
goal Jesus Christ will be Lord of all. That is all we know and
all we need to know."
Knowing this, we can be free of all fear and anxiety
about our future. Should death come to call for us before the
Lord returns, we find it possible, in the words of Henri Nouwen, "to
befriend our dying gradually and live open to it, trusting that we have
nothing to fear ... [We can] wait for our death as a friend who wants
to welcome us home ..."
Thus the Lord's words in Luke counsel us with his
wonderful wisdom to be on guard that we neither stray into the sort of
existence characterized by the old saying, "eat, drink and be merry,
for tomorrow we may die" or on the other hand to be so wrapped up with
our earthly cares that we miss spending our days in the gentle
companionship of our Lord and friend. What is the best way to
remain faithful? Let's place each of our days into the hands of
Jesus, so that when we meet him in glory, he will be no stranger to
us. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!
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