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“No one knows what lies ahead, or what it will mean”

“No one knows what lies ahead, or what it will mean”

Last updated on: December 5, 2024 at 6:14 am by Jim Denison

“No one knows what lies ahead, or what it will mean” 2024-12-05T06:14:42-06:00 Jim Denison

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Three stories are dominating the news this morning: yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on transgender hormone regiments for adolescents, the continued fallout in South Korea over its president’s brief martial law declaration, and the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson yesterday morning outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

Each, in its own way, illustrates the unpredictability of the future, whether in cultural, political, or personally tragic ways.

After psychologist Philip Tetlock evaluated several decades of predictions about political and economic events, he found that “the average expert was roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee.” The recently-deceased Lance Morrow, one of my favorite journalists, said it this way:

As mankind penetrates further into the twenty-first century, the future becomes ever more difficult to manage or even to imagine—politically, biologically, electronically, environmentally, existentially. No one knows what lies ahead, or what it will mean, or where it will wind up. The possibilities are extreme. At the far edge of the moral imagination, we hear the future’s sucking sound, pulling the world toward God knows what.

Morrow’s closing colloquialism is actually good theology for these unpredictable days.

“God knows what,” indeed.

The four “comings” of Christ

Jesus rode into Jerusalem the first time on a humble donkey (Matthew 21:1–11); he will return on a conqueror’s white horse (Revelation 19:11–16). St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313–86) observed:

At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels.

We look then beyond the first coming and await the second.

However, with all due respect to the great theologian and everyone who refers to Jesus’ return as the “second coming,” I’d like to suggest that his ongoing engagement with our world should actually be understood in four “comings.”

At his first, he entered the world for the purpose of purchasing our salvation by his death on the cross (1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 13:8 NKJV).
At his second, he enters humans individually when he becomes our Savior (John 1:13) and his Spirit takes up residence in our lives (1 Corinthians 3:16).
At his third, he comes for humans individually when he takes us to heaven (John 14:3).
At his fourth, he will return to the world as the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16).

Let’s think about these monumental events for a moment. Would you agree:

That Jesus’ first coming and his atoning death for our sins is a transforming gift to the fallen human race?
That his third coming, his transportation of humans through death to heaven, is a transforming gift to us personally?
That his fourth coming, his ultimate redemption of our fallen planet (Revelation 21:1–5), is a transforming gift to our world?

Why, then, would we not equally celebrate his second coming for our personal salvation and its present-tense, transforming significance for our souls?

Why Easter predates Christmas

Many people are surprised to learn that Christmas did not become a Christian holiday until the fourth century. The date when Jesus was physically born was less consequential than the fact of his atoning death and triumphant resurrection, which is why Easter predated Christmas as a holiday by centuries.

The abiding relevance of Christmas is not just that Jesus was born into a human family, but that because of Christmas each human can be “born again” into the family of God (John 1:12–13, 3:5). As St. Irenaeus famously noted, he became one of us that we might be one with him.

As a result, each of us can—and should—experience the living Lord Jesus as personally as those who were present at the Bethlehem manger. He longs for us to encounter him every day in prayer, Bible study, and worship, practicing his presence with transforming intentionality.

When we do, predicting the future becomes less important because the One who holds tomorrow also holds us (John 10:28). And we know that whatever comes to us in this life, our Lord’s third “coming” will one day take us to the eternal reward he is preparing for us now. Or his fourth “coming” will turn this world into “a new heaven and a new earth” where “death shall be no more” as he makes “all things new” (Revelation 21:1, 4–5).

Either future should fill us with present joy and transforming hope.

“A mind through which Christ thinks”

In the meantime, our lives are Jesus’ manger, our worship his shepherds, and our witness his angels as the Child of Christmas continues his transforming work in the world through us. St. Augustine observed,

“A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.”

Will you be such a “Christian” today?

Thursday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The same Jesus who turned water into wine can transform your home, your life, your family, and your future. He is still in the miracle-working business, and his business is the business of transformation.” —Adrian Rogers

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