Voice from Eternity

November 27, 1994

Luke 21:25-28; Psalm 50:1

The Passage in Luke 21

We begin the Christmas watch with a word of HOPE from Jesus. He is speaking about the Second Coming. He is saying that even though there is distress, and bewilderment and troubles and people actually fainting and dying from fear, the last word to his people is "When these things begin to occur, stand up! Hold up your heads! Don't be afraid because I will be there for you!"

The Second Coming of Jesus isn't a large item in evangelistic circles any more, especially since all too often people that do preach about it either set dates and make fools out of themselves, or else they emphasize prophetic details that have no real spiritual value. But all the same, there it is: the word from eternity: this world will answer to ME!

Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem prophets said they could hear God speaking. Sometimes it almost seems to us that they got mixed signals. Sometimes they said God said Messiah was coming in great pomp and glory with an army to establish peace by force. Sometimes they told of a Suffering Servant, a Branch, a Root out of dry ground that would be despised and rejected. But they were certain of one thing. God has something to say to all mankind. God cares very much about us, and how we treat each other, and how we respond to Him. The word from eternity is a summons for all mankind to come and stand before God. The Psalmist Asaph wrote:

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.

This summons of God, ushered in by the Second Coming, has often been used as a threat. Like a baby-sitter saying to a child, "If you don't stop that when your parents get home you'll be sorry!" We have used the threat of the Second Coming as a source of fear.

[ I recall more than one afternoon coming home from grade school to an empty house and worrying just a little bit about whether or not I had been left behind. On at least one occasion I called Pastor Watkin, because I thought if he was still here I was safe. I wonder who I would call now? ]

Certainly there are sobering aspects of this eternal summons of God. We ought to think very serious thoughts when we realize that God will call the earth to answer for their lives. But if we have learned to call God "Father," and if in any personal way we have come to know Jesus Christ, then the word we hear from eternity ought to be a great source of encouragement. Jesus tells us that when the going gets difficult, and the outlook is dark, we are to try the UP-LOOK. "I'm closer than you think!," He says.

Still, to hear God's word with HOPE requires the help of faith. In an utterly absurd way God looks at our pain, and not just yours and mine, but all the injustice and hatred and war and sin and death of all the ages of all time— and he sends us a Baby. It is the Baby that is his Word of HOPE.

We know the story of Bethlehem. We have heard it again and again, and we love it. What we need to remind ourselves again today is the power that is in this word from God. It is not only wonderful, and beautiful, but it is the word of God.

God's Word is an eternal word. The Baby is the Son of God, the Eternal Word. That means that our salvation is not an afterthought. It also means that while the Second Coming will be a particular event at a particular time, we are called to face the judgment of God on our sins when by the Holy Spirit we are brought to conviction for them.

It is possible to worry about a Rapture somewhere in the future, and put off getting right with God here and now until it is everlastingly too late. It is possible to worry about the "unpardonable sin" and forget that every sin is capable of separating us from God until it is under the precious blood of the Cross of Christ. With God the time is always "NOW." From eternity God's voice reaches to where we are in time and space.

God's Word is a personal word. God makes covenant with men and women. He never breaks covenant. He honors those who seek him, and who make him the center of their living. He warns severely those who claim to know him but who are not fair to their brothers and sisters.

[In this Psalm God particularly zeroes in on the malicious use of the tongue:

You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. (50:19-21)]

God cares how YOU respond to Him. If you will take time to listen, you will understand that God is not just summoning "the world" to Himself; God is speaking to YOU, and to ME! He is asking us to remember our covenant, or, if you have never made covenant with God, God is inviting you to hear His Word.

God's Word is an adequate word. It is all we need. Against all the bad memories, the loneliness and fears, the distress and fainting for fear and foreboding that Jesus tells about— against this dark background Jesus says:

"Now when these things begin to happen, stand up, and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing hear!"

Conclusion

What are the enemies of hope in our world today? What are the things that would destroy or faith and fellowship right here in the church, the Body of Christ? And how can this 'word from eternity' make any difference?

We are very much pressured by the culture in which we must live. We live at a dizzy speed; we are more and more efficient so that we can cram more and more activity into our days. The result is we are pushed until we feel ISOLATION. I am over-worked, and tired of the rat-race. No one really understands how I feel! I am "unique" in my invisible isolation booth. ISOLATION AND LONELINESS are some of the devil's very prime weapons.

God's WORD calls his people to the place of worship. In the place of worship God listens for our cry for help. God warns us about thinking that we "pay our way" by our sacrifices, or our rituals. He says:

"If I needed food, would I tell you? I don't need the flesh of bulls, or the burnt offerings you give. What I want is your LOVE, your THANKS, and your LOVE. And when you CALL on me I promise I will deliver you, and you will honor me.

In the act of worship God's WORD makes it clear that we will see the salvation of God. The world will tell us that we are insane to put our HOPE in the integrity of a covenant we have made with an unseen God who says both that he is with us now, and that he is coming when we need Him the most.

And that integrity is all we have to rely on. Either we will believe God's Word, and live— or we will believe the words that come from the darkness and die. We begin the Christmas watch with a word of HOPE from Jesus. He is speaking about the Second Coming. He is saying that even though there is distress, and bewilderment and troubles and people actually fainting and dying from fear, the last word to his people is "When these things begin to occur, stand up! Hold up your heads! Don't be afraid because I will be there for you!"

The word from eternity, the word from God is I LOVE YOU!

Prayer

#289 - Soon and Very Soon