5/3/2016 1:45:29 PM
Unchanging Promise
This week, First Lutheran will bury its oldest male (93) and oldest female (100) members. Just think about what life was like 93 to 100 years ago. Imagine the changes there have been since then: women having the right to vote, the life expectancy increasing on average by 30 years, the use of motorized vehicles, air travel, indoor plumbing with toilets and water, electricity in the home, not to mention all the technology run on electricity, the increase of minimum wage above 25 cents an hour, and with that the increase in price for all the necessities. Virtually everything has changed in our society to some degree, except one. That, more accurately, he which changes not, is the Lord, his Word, and his promises. Consider the one who is the beginning and the end.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:4-8
The Apostle John, at the end of the first century was given a vision of the future. And at the beginning of this vision he sees his Savior Jesus. Do you recognize the description: the one who loves us; who has freed us by his blood, his sacrifice on the cross; the one who has made us part of his kingdom by giving us faith through his Spirit, to serve him now and forever? Do you recognize your Savior?
John saw in this vision of the one coming with the clouds, the one who was crucified and the one to which every knee will bow in humility. He is coming back. He is coming back just as he said, and just as he left. This Thursday is Ascension. Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, after appearing to hundreds of eyewitnesses, he visibly left this world, in full sight of his disciples.
He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11
Jesus’ work in winning our salvation was complete. All the promises God made were true in Jesus. Nothing had changed since the first promise in Genesis 3:15. After thousands of years, God’s promises were true. God’s promises still ring true today. Even though everything else has changed, God’s Word has not. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, and believing in him we are forgiven, we have eternal life.
The Word of the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Christ, has not and will not change. Even though the sinful world and popular culture will try, even though false teachers try to add and subtract, twist and distort the Word, the Word will not change. Thanks be to God for this wonderful truth. God’s promises will not change.
And this is true of our departed brother and sister, the church body they were baptized in and grew up in still teaches the unchanging Word today as it did 100 years ago. God’s promises to them so long ago were still believed and trusted. The promise will not change. Can you imagine how much may change in the span of your lifetime? It will change. Amongst all the change of life, God’s promises to you remain the same. God’s Word declaring our salvation in Jesus will not change. Keep Christ First!
Pastor Chris Christenson