Sunday 18 December 2016

God will come

The Mighty One, God the LORD, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. – Psalm 50.1-3

Our world certainly seems like it needs a God intervention. I was talking to a friend recently and sharing the gospel with him for the first time. When I told him I was a Christian his first response was one that I hear a lot. He asked me something like ‘are all of the bad things going on in the world a part of your God’s plan? Why doesn’t He do something about it?’ Even the world knows that it needs a God that they may not even really believe in.

We can find comfort in the words here – ‘God will shine forth. God will come. God will not keep silent. God is the perfection of beauty.’

This is not going to last forever. God is still on the throne and He still steps in and intervenes in the affairs of men today. But that is not all, one day Jesus, God in the flesh, will return to sort out this sordid mess. I don’t know when it will be, no one does.

But it is going to happen ‘in such an hour as you think not.’ We think in time and God thinks in eternity. Jesus will come in the ‘day of the Lord’ and not in the ‘day of man.’ When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he did not write to tell them about the coming on Jesus, but that we should stay faithful and keep serving and living for Christ until he does come again.

Hold on. Have faith. Keep on keeping on. God will come.

Thanks Philip Bliss for your wonderful old gospel song:

Ho, my comrades, see the signal, waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh.

Refrain:
“Hold the fort, for I am coming,” Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to Heaven, “By Thy grace we will.”

See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on;
Mighty ones around us falling, courage almost gone!

See the glorious banner waving! Hear the trumpet blow!
In our Leader’s Name we triumph over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near;

Onward comes our great Commander, cheer, my comrades, cheer!

No comments: