The Story Isn't Over Yet

If world history were boiled down into one thriller of a modern novel, the end of the story would have happened a long time ago. For thousands of years people looked forward to the coming of a prophesied Messiah...a rescuer for all mankind. Many thought they would see him in their lifetime, but they waited in vain. Years came and went, hundreds and hundreds of years. The build up to the climax of the story was filled with harrowing tales of people who believed, until finally one day the King of Kings and Lord of Lords made his way onto the scene. This was the moment all of mankind had been waiting for!

(Merry Christmas.)

Jesus lived a short life before revealing who he really was to the public, and then he had an even shorter ministry. The groaning pains of a broken world were calling out for a savior to relieve this build up of pressure that had been mounting since the first sin all those years ago. As Christ hung on a cross, the weight of that pressure was literally placed upon his shoulders and the cries of our Lord were much less from the physical pain he was feeling and much more a megaphone siphoning the horrific shrieks of the consequences of sin.

He was laid in a tomb and it seemed that all was lost. Would sin and death win, or would the Son of God rise triumphant? As the pages grow thin, we see the misty dew of a Sunday morning. A stone is rolled away - Christ lives! Ring the bells and queue the music! It’s a celebration of epic proportions! Evil loses, love rises victorious!

The End!

But it wasn’t the end. The time clock of history kept ticking. All of humanity was not somehow restored overnight, tied up neatly in a nice little package and tagged with a happily ever after. Clearly, there would be more to this story.

Christ isn’t finished yet. The father is now graciously giving the world time to repent. How much time, no one knows. But Jesus has promised that he will be returning again someday. 

(Merry Christmas x2)

If you believe in the first Christmas, then you should also believe in the next. Only, the next time Jesus comes, he will not be a cherubic little lamb wrapped in swaddling clothes and humbly assuming the life of a poor man. Christ will return in all of his glory, quite literally on a white horse, and with a fanfare no one has ever seen before. Those who have placed their faith in him will cheer triumphantly! 

Once Jesus returns, we realize that some of the most incredible things in this story haven’t even happened yet. Events will take place that we cannot even begin to wrap our minds around. Those who prophesied the second coming of Christ did not even have the words in their vocabulary to describe the things that will be seen and heard in those chapters yet to come.

We do know the end to the story - the grand finale! After battles of many kinds, Christ ultimately reigns, of course. Evil is finally chained for good. Full restoration is complete. Everything will be made new and better than the wildest imagination! There is hope, and someday, there truly will be peace on Earth...a shiny new Earth designed for all of the restored people whom Christ died for. That will truly be the end to this story and just the beginning of a long awaited eternity.

For now, we wait. For now, we are in the lulling chapters of anticipation that our forefathers experienced before the first coming. While we don’t know when he will return, we do know that with each passing moment, with every breath we take, the time is drawing nearer.

The most important Christmas message I could share with my friends this season is this: Your moment is now. It’s not tomorrow, because Jesus says tomorrow isn’t promised. It’s right now. Now is the time to pray for wisdom. Now is the time to seek the truth. Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to accept Jesus for who he says he is. You may not have tomorrow.

I feel so blessed that God has placed many intelligent and reasonable people in my life. I truly enjoy hearing others’ points of view, and I hope my friends don’t mind hearing mine sometimes, too. If you consider yourself a reasonable person, I implore you not to gamble your future by thinking none of this matters, or that maybe you have plenty of time to make things right. When Jesus returns, he is coming like a thief in the night. You won’t expect it. No one will. And then it will be too late.

As we take a moment to think about the first Christmas, about the peaceful scene of a baby lying in a manger surrounded by braying animals and shepherds and a loving earthly mother and father, we need to remember that this was just part one. The Christmas story that we know so well finishes with a "To Be Continued." It was simply a necessary step in a much greater plan. 

We are all, somehow, miraculously, a part of that plan. Your existence, no matter how insignificant you may feel, is vastly important. The enemy of this world would like to do anything he can to convince you otherwise. You were created in the image of God and he has a plan for your life. He said so himself.

This Christmas season, realize the significance that the creator of the universe knows who you are and made you for his glory. That baby you see in all of the images, that very same one who walked the earth over 2,000 years ago knows who you are. He loves you enough that he came to earth and died for you. He wants you to hear and know the truth before it’s too late. 

I was about 13 years old when God graciously opened my eyes to truly see him. My life has taken some serious twists and turns since then, each one doing EXACTLY what God promised it would...they all brought me closer to him. He has never, not once, broken a promise to me...and he is the only one. His promises are true. Everything that was prophesied about the first coming of Jesus came true exactly as it was foretold. So what I know for sure is, if he said he is coming back, he is coming back.

Jesus wants you to be prepared for Christmas Part 2, and so do I! It’s going to be something else, let me tell you. I’m ready and waiting. Are you?

From a friend who loves you, Merry Christmas “part one,” everybody! I pray you all find the everlasting joy and peace that comes from the true meaning of Christmas! And when this is all said and done, I hope to share a long eternity with you that’s even better than the thrill of a single Christmas morning...because we'll be celebrating every day!