If You Have Knelt Before Him

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever.  Revelation 22:1-5 NASB

The illumination of Christ that we will one day live under can be experienced even now, as God gives us hope of it through the reassurance of Holy Spirit in our hearts.  God is never obscured by the darkest night. Whatever our eyes are unable to see, God sees with undimmed clarity.

Maybe we just took one wrong turn, and maybe, we barely remember taking it because at the time it didn’t seem that serious. It was just one small decision and now we look around in confusion, despair, and hopelessness and wonder if there is any way back, the choice to sin and not to follow Jesus costs far more than we knew and far more than we’re prepared to pay.  Yet Jesus, the Shepard, the Messiah, who has defeated evil and ransomed His creation from the power of sin and death calls you His own.  God promised to send a Savior into the world. The Savior would overcome sin, brokenness, shame, and depression.  He reconciled God’s people to the creator. Jesus the Christ is the Saviour whom we all long to meet, He is the way that you can take right now. This moment!! All you have to do is turn to Him. Repent. Call on the name of Jesus. In fact run to the Lord and surrender your life to Him, accept and acknowledge Christ as the Lord over your life. 

Acts 3:19-20 NASB ”Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,“

From the book of Genesis through the book of Revelation the rising and setting of the sun it's crystal clear that something big is going to happen - Jesus is coming…

An unmistakable observation is the way He is coming back. At the first advent, Jesus came as a baby, lowly, meek, and mild, and relatively unnoticed by the world. The next time will be majestic as taught in Revelation 22:3 and universally obvious in Revelation 19:11. When Jesus returns, He will not come empty handed. His recompense is with Him (read Revelation 22:12). As a result, there will be a lot of wrath, weeping, death, and even a second death noted in Revelation 20:14. Wherever your mind’s eye takes you when you read such passages in the Bible, one thing is perfectly clear: the return of Jesus Christ will truly be an awful and dreadful day for the enemies of God. 

Yet that same day will be a wonderful day for the people of God. On that day, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” (Revelation 21:4)  But the greater part of the blessing for the people of God is that “”Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.  This has been the promise all along Leviticus 26:11-12. Only now, all things will be made new. 

If you have knelt with the shepherds and seen God's Son, our good News of great Joy; if you have stood with John at the Savior's cross and heard the Lord cry out in redeeming triumph, "It is finished"; if you have run with Peter to peer inside the empty resurrection tomb, then you will begin this year and every year in the light of the Lord. If you have heard the Lord speak in His inerrant, inspired word; if Holy Spirit enables you to say, "Jesus is my Savior and Lord"; then the mania and the madness of this world will be minimized.  The great day of the Lord’s return is not only about the just rewards for the wicked and the gracious gifts for the righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will receive what God the Father has promised. On that day, He will be united with His Bride, the church, and there will be a great supper (Revelation 19:6-9). On that day we will be happy to be numbered among the saints. Come Lord Jesus, come.