When God created the universe, He declared it very good (Genesis 1:31). Unfortunately, mankind managed to mess it up. We introduced sin into the world. Sin has not only affected us, the Apostle Paul tells us that the whole of nature has been subjected to futility or frustration because of it (Romans 8:20).
When God pronounced judgment on Adam and Eve because of their sin, He also gave them the first promise of a Savior. Someday one of Eve’s offspring would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15). I’m sure that Adam and Eve must have wondered when this would happen. If they asked the question, the answer was, “The time hasn’t come.”
Hundreds of years passed. Sin increased. The spiritual condition of mankind continued to worsen. Many must have wondered when the promised Savior would come. It must have been discouraging to wait year after year without the promise being fulfilled. From time to time God would send another reassurance. Every so often another prophet would renew the promise and give a little more detail about the coming Savior. But still, the Savior didn’t come. Peter writes, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven…” (1 Peter 1:10-12 NIV) Without the reminder of the promises, it would have been extremely discouraging to watch mankind’s slide into darkness. “The time hadn’t come.”
Finally, “…when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5 NIV)
During this Christmas season, people all around the world are preparing to celebrate the coming of Jesus, the Savior of the world. We recognize the importance of Jesus’ birth. We recognize the hope we have because He came. Yet, at the time, hardly anyone knew of His birth. Even fewer understood the importance of it. From their point of view, life went on as normal. Spiritual darkness continued to spread. For those who still clung to the prophecies, they still appeared a long time coming.
Even after the Savior came to this world, it still took time for God’s plan to be accomplished. There’s a phrase which shows up repeatedly in John’s Gospel, “his time had not yet come.” Even the Apostles didn’t understand what Jesus had come to do. In the words of the Christmas Carol, Ring the Bells, Jesus was, “Born to die that man might live, Came to earth new life to give, …God the Father gave His own Beloved One To this wicked, sinful earth, To bring mankind His love – new birth!” But the disciples didn’t understand that Jesus had to die in order to bring salvation.
It wasn’t until Jesus met in the upper room with His disciples the night before His crucifixion that John records that His time had come. Jesus died. He was buried. He rose again.
In one sense, the redemption and salvation God promised for so many thousand years, was completed and accomplished. Yet in another sense, it is not. We’re still waiting. We still wonder when the time will come.
In some ways, our situation is the same as the prophets of old. They were waiting for the coming of the Savior. We are waiting for His return. Just like them, we have the promise, but we don’t know when. As we look around us and see sin and degradation it’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to get discouraged when we look at ourselves and see how far we still fall short of God’s standards even though we’ve been Christians for many years. Without the promise that Christ is coming again and that some day we will be like Him, it would be easy to lose hope and give up.
One of the reasons we gather each week is to remember the promise. At the last meal Jesus ate with His disciples before His death, Jesus gave them bread and wine as a memorial, “do this in remembrance of me.” Connected with the memorial is a promise, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26 NIV)
It’s the reminder of that promise which keeps us from discouragement. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11, “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (NIV)
Today, as we eat the bread which reminds us of Christ’s body, and as we drink the cup which reminds us of His blood which He gave for us, let us also be encouraged by the reminder that just as He came to save us, He’s coming again to take us to live with Him.
