I wish I could say that massive change is coming to our country. For us, our lives in South Africa are teetering on the brink of disaster. From our human perspective, it all depends on who can shout the loudest, those who made the mess but think they can still rule, or those who think they can do better. Some are proving they can do better. Others think they can but have neither expertise or experience to do it.
For us who have a hope far greater than what our fellow humans can offer, we know that massive change is coming. When? We hope soon but have no idea when.
What is the source of our hope? Not the empty promises of fickle humans. Not the grandiose words of fools. Not the nauseating repetition of hot air by lying, thieving politicians. Not even the well-meaning hopes of fallible men.
We pin our hopes on the infallible word of a faithful and all-powerful God. How do we know that His promises are reliable?
He said it and He proved it.
Numbers 23:19 NLT
[19] “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”
This claim has been tested and answered innumerable times both in His Word and in human experience.
His Word has promises, from beginning to end, that He will restore what was broken and defiled. Included in that promise is the coming to earth of the person on whom all our hopes are pinned.
This person, Jesus, came exactly on time and in the way God had predicted, and did precisely and perfectly everything that God said He would do. Jesus has spoken God’s final word. He set the entire universe on a new course to restoration, which will happen instantly when He returns to set up His eternal kingdom on earth.
Peter warned his readers that some people would laugh and scoff at this promise. Why should they believe that anything will change, they say, when nothing has changed in thousands of years? Of what value are the words of the scoffers when we measure them against God’s words?
2 Peter 3:3-7 NLT
[3] “Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. [4] They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” [5] They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. [6] Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. [7] And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.”
Ungodly people think that God is as fickle as they are, that His Word is empty and unreliable. Trouble is that they don’t understand that God measures time differently from the way we do. He is outside of time and views every event in our timeline as “now”. When He has said something, it’s as good as done.
2 Peter 3:8-10 NLT
[8] “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. [9] The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”
However, time will run out, just as He has said.
[10] “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.”
Did you get Peter’s point? There is mercy in God’s delay! He is giving people as much time as possible to repent and turn to Him but…
Even God’s patience will run out because He has a goal to reach and a purpose to fulfil. Finally, time will end. Massive change will happen in an instant. Man has taken thousands of years to mess the earth to the state it’s in now. God will fix it faster than we can blink.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT
[51] “But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! [52] It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.”
Not only will we shed our mortal bodies and be clothed in immortality, but the universe itself will also be transformed.
His Word, like a fire, will consume every thought, word, and deed that belong to this world system, extinguishing, in an instant, every philosophy, world view, and belief that is based on th devil’s lies since he is NOT God.
Satan and his minions, together with every person who has bought into his lies will be summarily removed and banished forever from God’s realm.
Revelation 20:1, 10, 12, 15 NLT
[1] Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand.
[10] Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever…
[12] I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books…
[15] And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Unlike “hope” in human experience, hope in God’s promises is secure and infallible. Look at the end result of the massive change that is surely coming.
Revelation 21:1-5 NLT
[1] “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. [2] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. [3] I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. [4] He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” [5] And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
Did you get that? John saw, in a vision, everything that God said He would do. DONE! From heaven’s viewpoint in eternity, it’s already finished. From earth’s perspective, God said it will be done so, it will be done.
Revelation 21:6-7 NLT
[6] “And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. [7] All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
What of us, God’s children,
who struggle with our imperfections in this life. How can we ever be perfectly holy as He is as long as, we are by our old sinful nature? We have God’s promises, first, that He is working in us to prefect His holiness and, second, that He will complete the process in an instant when we see Jesus. Imagine that!
1 John 3:2 NLT
[2] “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”
Instant transformation!
What should our response to these infallible promises be?
1 John 3:3 NLT
[3] “And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.”
Oh yes! Massive change IS coming. We can lean on God’s promise, we can pin our hopes on His Word, we can live in this mess knowing that, without a doubt, God will press the “reset button” and begin again. How we revel in this hope!