Digging Deeper – We Serve a God Who Will Return
As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings. 2 But he responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”
3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”
Matthew 24:1-3 (NLT)
WE SERVE A GOD WHO WILL RETURN
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of his spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
As I sat in prayer this morning, the Lord kept bringing me back to this hymn familiar to my childhood. Blessed assurance- the hope we have found in salvation through Christ. The meaning in this hymn, as I interpret it, reminds us of what is promised to us. We are given assurance in our salvation. What a rich word! We are given assurance that we are heirs of God’s inheritance. It reminds us that we are to live in this hope and in expectation of His promises- that we are to delight in them and praise Him for them. We are to watch and wait – looking above to Him, submitting to Him, and expecting His return.
Luke 21:27 says, “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Jesus “will appear a second time.” We see reference to His coming again in Revelation 1. And, of course, we see Jesus Himself speaking of His return in Matthew. These are prophecies not yet fulfilled but promised. How do we know that we can have assurance in these promises?
According to different scholars, the coming of Jesus and His time here on earth fulfilled somewhere around 300 prophecies foretold in the Old Testament. A prophecy is a God-given message or knowledge of a future event. What confidence that gives me, that a message straight from the mouth of Jesus Himself will surely be fulfilled. Therefore, we can have assurance in the great number of prophecies already fulfilled. Not only that, but many of us can look at our own lives, or the testimonies of those we know, to have assurance of the promises of God. So many times in my life, the Lord has graciously fulfilled promises, though not always in the way I expected. Most notably to me, would be through my children.
I dreamed of being a mother as a child. It was then, and is still, one of the greatest passions of my life. When my husband and I married, we immediately wanted children. Little did I know that this passion and promise the Lord had placed on my life would be such a journey. I clung to Luke 1:45 throughout my infertility journey, “And blessed is she who believes that the Lord will fulfill His promises to her.” It took time, but I began to understand that even if that promise didn’t look exactly how I pictured it with children in my home, that somehow the Lord WOULD fulfill that promise. Here we are 11 years later with two children and a third due in just over a month. Our journey even to this third has not been easy, but I know with great confidence that the Lord DOES indeed fulfill His promises. And I look ahead with great expectation to the return of my Lord and Savior!
Reflection: Reflect this morning on promises the Lord has fulfilled in your life or someone near to you. Thank the Lord that we are given assurance in our salvation and what He did on the cross for us.
Courtney Miller is the Special Needs ministry Director at NorthStar Church. She was born a Texas girl, but has lived in Georgia the majority of her life (Go Dawgs!). She married her husband, Chris, in 2012. They have two children with a third on the way.