For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
—2 Peter 2:16-18 (TNIV)
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.'” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
—Matthew 21:12-14 (TNIV)
Yesterday I began a series of Advent reflections, and this week we are focusing on Christian hope. I spoke of the hope that is ours in the Cross of Jesus Christ, the very symbol of God’s justice in which he suffered and died for us so that we would have a chance to live with him forever.
Today I want to address the future dimension of our Christian hope: Christ’s Second Coming. We Christians believe that on the Cross, God has dealt decisively with the problem of sin and evil, but that his work has not yet been consummated. Advent is therefore a season of anticipation in which we await with hope the return of our Lord to finish the work he started in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. While his return will be a fearful time for the world because it will involve God’s final judgment on sinful humanity, Christians can look forward with hope to the end time inaugurated by Christ’s Second Coming because we believe in the saving power of the Cross. This is not because we think we are special or more deserving or “holier than thou.” To the contrary, we Christians are quite aware of our sinfulness. We understand that we do not deserve to live forever with the Source and Author of all life. Instead, we believe that we have a merciful God who entered history and acted decisively on our behalf to make the impossible possible.
Yet there is even more to hope for because the NT writers, especially Paul and John of Patmos, offer us a wonderful and compelling picture of God’s finished work. When Christ returns again in power and glory, the dead will be raised and those still living will have their mortal bodies transformed instantaneously. Heaven and earth will be fused into a New Creation and we will get to live directly in God’s Presence forever. Our new resurrection bodies will be immortal and not subject to any of the awful things that can happen to our mortal bodies. God promises to wipe away all of our tears and sorrows, and we will not have to live in a broken and fallen world any longer. It is a wondrous vision of hope. Who could ask for more? If you cannot find hope in this vision, then either I have done a lousy job in depicting it or there probably isn’t anything that can provide you with hope.
We believe this promise to be true, in part, because of the Apostolic testimony. In today’s Epistle lesson, Peter testifies to this truth. He reminds us that the Gospel is historical fact, and not some made-up fantasy, because he himself witnessed Christ’s Transfiguration (see, e.g., Mark 9:2-8). And we have hope in God’s mercy, in part, by reading remarkable stories like the one from today’s Gospel lesson. Notice that even as he was cleansing the temple in his righteous anger, hurting and broken people came to Jesus and he healed them. He healed them! He did not stop and castigate them or forbid them from coming to him. He healed them because they had faith in his power to heal and because he loved them. Likewise, we can expect Jesus to have mercy on us if we turn to him in faith and ask him to heal us.
This is the basis of our Christian hope. It is not about us. It is not about how good (or bad) we are. It is about a God who loves his creatures and wants us to become like him so that we can have the kind of relationship with him that he created us to have. Our bodies will die someday and this world will eventually end. But we have something to look forward to, an eternity with God where there is no more suffering, sickness, sorrow, fear, alienation, infirmity, deformity, or death.
If life is beating you down (or you are beating yourself up, or both), then stop and reflect on this two-dimensional basis of the Christian hope and ask God to help you develop and embrace it. Read Paul’s great exposition on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 and John’s vision of the New Creation in Revelation 21-22. Do not take the apocalyptic language in Revelation literally. Read it with the idea that it is getting you to imagine the unimaginable: a time when we will get to live directly in God’s Presence in a New Creation. Remember God’s promises to you each day and give thanks that they are true, that his great love and mercy for you are great, and then resolve to live your life in hope, even in the midst of your dark valleys. Make this your Advent discipline. You will not be disappointed.
Are these reflections helpful? Feel free to add your own thoughts and comments. I would appreciate your feedback.
Tomorrow: Living in the hope of the New Creation.