So
ends the last book of the Old Testament. The one we desire, delight in, dearly
love, is coming!
But
what is this: “I will come and strike the land with a curse”? Why such
warnings: “Who will endure the day of his coming”? Why, in the last book of the
New Testament too, such sadness: “all the peoples of the earth will mourn
because of him” (Rev 1:7)?
The
context answers: it is because love is “preparing the way”, “turning the hearts
of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their
fathers”, so that this curse of a self-obsessed society can be stopped and His
beloved people can be refined like gold and silver. Then their life offerings will
be acceptable, pleasing, a delight to his eyes.
When
his name is hallowed, when hearts and societies are truly his (3:16), he
promises to “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing
that you will not have room enough for it” (3:10). “They will be mine,” he
says, “my treasured possession” (3:17).
When
his name is hallowed, the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his
wings, and all the terror, the dashed hopes, the helplessness, will melt away
like the morning dew. Then his now so restrained people will suddenly “go out
and leap like calves released from the stall” (4:2).
And
his own words say it most clearly of all, for they speak most directly to the
context. People will “faint from terror” because of all the terrible things
happening on earth, but then they will see him coming “with power and great
glory”. So “when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-27)
“Don’t
let your hearts be troubled,” he says. “Trust in God, trust also in me.” “I am
going to prepare a place for you… and I will come back and take you to be with
me, that you also may be where I am”. (John 14:1-3)
“I
am coming soon,” he promises to the end. “Amen, come Lord Jesus!” is the reply
(Rev 22:21).So ends the Bible. The one we so desire, so delight in, so dearly
love, is coming!
James Pitts
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