Christmas Still To Come
Christmas stands as a monument to a tremendous fact: God came
to earth in human flesh, but the
greatest Christmas is still in the future. Actually the First and
Second Comings of Christ are component parts of a whole. There is
a "Christmas Day" that is yet to come.
When Christ came the first time it was to settle one question and
only one - the question of sin. He did not come to solve the
problems of government nor to set before the world a philosophy
of living. He came the first time to settle the sin question, to
die for the sins of the world. He came as Saviour.
When He came the first time the door of the inn was shut in His
face, slamming so loudly that after 1900 years it still can be
heard. He is still being shut out today. Even during the
Christmas season that commemorates His birth, He is shut out. The
cash registers have been ringing so loudly that you may not have
heard the slamming shut of the door, but it is slamming, shutting
Him outside.
Scripture refers to His coming in glory, the Christmas yet to
come. References to it appear again and again throughout the Old
Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself reaffirmed the promises
during His earthly ministry.
Before He left this earth to return to heaven, He said, "I
will come again." These words have been the hope and the
comfort of millions of believers for the past twenty centuries.
He, as the glorified Christ, repeated these words to the apostle
John on the lonely island of Patmos. Here He sharpened His
promise and delivered it in a dramatic way, "And, behold, I
come quickly; and my reward is with me," (Rev. 22:12).
He did not mean that He was coming soon - that is not what He
said. He said that His coming, with all that is entailed, would
occupy a very brief time - "I come quickly." This is
the last promise that has come to us from heaven.
The Second Coming of Christ will be the completion of His First
Coming. He must come again to
complete the work of His First Coming. "But", you may
say, "He said on the cross, 'It is finished.'".
Yes, the work of redemption was finished. He had wrought out for
you and me a way of salvation. As Paul very definitely says,
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Christ Jesus," (I Cor. 3:11). He put down the
foundation for your salvation and mine. But the towers have not
yet been put on.
Actually salvation is in three tenses. I can say that I have been
saved; I can also say I am being saved, and I can say I shall be
saved. I have right here and now eternal life. The moment I trust
Christ, receiving God's gift of eternal life, I am as much saved
as I will be a billion years from today - complete in Him, saved
in Him.
Also I am being saved. There needs to be a continuing work within
me. But it is equally true that I
shall be saved. In a very real sense my salvation will not be
complete until that wonderful day, the day when you and I will be
like Jesus! Let us be patient with one another. Though we are now
the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be.
What are YOU going to get for Christmas? I'll tell you what I
shall receive - perhaps not this
Christmas, but whenever the great Christmas comes - I shall get a
new body! It will be a body that will not have pain or disease or
weakness, nor will it be subject to all the limitations of this
life. But we do not have it yet. The package He gives is labelled
"Do not open until Christmas." The redemption of the
body is in the future. What a gift that will be!
Someone may be thinking. "I would like to have a stake in
this which is coming. I would like to have a part in the
Christmas of the future."
You may. The vital thing is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as
your own Saviour - now. Christianity is not a religion. It is a
relationship - a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. "The
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,"
(Rom. 6:23). This can be yours in 1994, if you repent of your
wicked sin. "I say nay, except ye repent ye shall all
likewise perish," (Luke 13:3).
Christ came over 1900 years ago to be your Saviour. The Bible
states the fact that offers a promise: "He came unto His own
and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name," (John 1:11-12).
He came yesterday as the world's Saviour. He will come tomorrow
as the world's Sovereign. Will you share the great Christmas
still ahead? "Even so, come, Lord Jesus".