A week until Christmas - are you ready?
Jesus is coming soon - are you ready?
Both are coming - whether we're ready or not.
Both call for preparation but the to-do lists are different. Christmas will come and go. Our lives will most likely return to normal after the festivities have died down and a new year begins. Not so for Judgement Day! What we can expect before this big day and how our lives will be forever new after can be seen by what we've read so far.
We've been given perspective.
We've been given a gift.
I love how in this last book of the Bible we have so many references to the Old Testament and many parts of Scripture that are familiar and dear to what we know and have learned! We remember how God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and delivered them miraculously through the Red Sea. We recognize "the Lamb" who was slain and recall the OT sacrifices offered that all pointed to our need for His ultimate sacrifice. We "saw" that tabernacle taken down and set back up every time the Israelites moved to a new location in the desert and that God's presence in it was always faithful and consistent despite the strange surroundings of where they may lay their head down that night.
We join the saints of old in singing hymn 195:2 as we look forward to joining them in eternity and basking in the full glory of God!
3 comments:
Confession: I'm a little behind in the readings. So when I went to read Rachel's post for December 17th, this post for Dec 18th was already there. I saw the first lines, and they led me to post the following on my own Facebook page:
A blog I'm following says this:
"Christmas is a week away - are you ready?"
I feel a wave of panic sweep through my gut and tighten in my chest...
No, I'm not ready. I've been keeping a "to do" list for weeks but it's only getting longer as my available time gets shorter.
The next line of the blog:
"Jesus is coming soon - are you ready?"
At this, a wave of peace sweeps through my soul and I take a deep breath, releasing the tension in my shoulders. I am ready. There is no "to do" list to tackle before Jesus' second coming. He did it all FOR me.
So now moving on to my comments after I've actually done the reading... :-)
This reading got me thinking about the parallels between the OT story of God's people the Israelites. There are a group of people who have been victorious over the beast standing in front of a sea that is glowing like fire (red? A Red Sea?). They are the ones who are victorious because of the blood of The Lamb (have just eaten the Passover meal - a lamb?). And they sing the song of Moses (who, through the power given to him by God, parted the Red Sea). Like God's OT people, the victorious saints in heaven will walk through the sea of God's wrath unharmed. After that, God's judgment will wash over his enemies. They will no longer oppress God's people, who have entered the eternal Promised Land.
We are his people, and he will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom... The Promised Land. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Tim 4:18)
Clarification: In the 2nd to the last paragraph above, the people are standing in front of the sea. The beast is not standing in front of the sea.
A beautiful witness on your Facebook page! Jesus did indeed "do" everything so that we can look forward to that day that we will not be judged by what we have or haven't done but by what he has done for us! Merry Christmas:)
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