Today is all
about Promises.
The Grand
theme running through today’s readings and indeed through the entire Bible –
the golden thread that joins everything together - are Promises made and
Promises kept.
The Golden
thread that binds the whole of the Old Testament together is that God has made
promises to the whole of humanity, in fact the whole of creation, that in the
end, Justice will prevail, Good will overcome evil, Death itself will be
defeated and a glorious future of Life love and peace awaits those who keep the
faith and the whole of the New Testament is a record of those promises of God
having been kept.
Today in
Hebrews we are given the start of a long list of characters from the Old
Testament who believed the promises but never saw them fulfilled. For faith as
the author writes (v 1) is this “the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen”.
Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and then a whole host of minor
characters, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.
They all
believed the promises given by God and they all acted in faith but never saw
the promises being kept. They trusted God despite not seeing the light at the
end of the tunnel.
That same
Golden thread that weaves its way through the Old Testament emerges in the New
Testament which is the record of all the people who saw that light shining in
the darkness, recognised the light and realised that God had acted decisively
to fulfil his promises made.
In short, Christian
faith is trust that the promises of God have been fulfilled in the man Jesus
Christ.
Let us
remind ourselves of those promises. The promises of God are that in the end,
evil would be defeated, Justice would prevail, the righteous would be saved,
there would be a new heaven and a new earth, God’s Spirit would be poured out
on all flesh, and we would be brought close to God and live with Him together
in paradise. God would be all in all.
On the cross
Christ defeated evil and opened a door to give us direct access God. Jesus
described himself as the “gate” to the sheepfold as well as the shepherd. No
one comes to the Father except through Him.(John 10:9)
Jesus asked
the Father to pour out his Holy Spirit on all flesh on those who respond in
faith and Pentecost is the festival on which we celebrate that fact. (Joel
2:28, Isaiah 44:3, Acts 2:17)
Jesus rising
from the dead is the supreme sign given to us that the new Heaven and the new
earth have been inaugurated. Jesus is called the firstborn from the dead.
“Firstborn”(Colossians 1:18), meaning that many are going to follow and live
forever in the new heaven and the new earth.
In the cross
and resurrection we have seen the promises of God inaugurated but without being
totally consummated.
We the
church, the standard bearers and witnesses to the resurrection live in the time
between the promises being announced but before the final end when the whole of
time and history will be brought to an end only in order that the new beginning
is known and seen by all and God will be all in all and every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
So there is
a gap and the church is living in the gap between the Kingdom being started and
finally being fulfilled, so just like all those characters in the Old
Testament, Jesus tells us to have faith.
Jesus tells
us in Luke’s gospel not to get complacent or lose faith for our reward is
coming. He tells us “stay dressed for action, and keep your lamps burning and
be like men who are waiting for their master to return home from the wedding
feast so they may open the door to Him when he comes and knocks.”(12:35)
This will
happen when we least expect it.
None of us
knows when our life will be taken from us and Jesus implores us to be ready.
Any one of us could die today. We can die safe and certain of our own salvation
and be at peace in the knowledge that Jesus is with us always and forever, or
we could die as a stranger to God and be conflicted, frightened and alone.
So faith is
still important even though we, as believers are witnesses to the resurrection.
We
occasionally sing a hymn in church which is apt for today which goes
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When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way; While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. |
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Trust and obey,
For there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey. |
