PASTORAL PONDERINGS

January, 2005

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last"

(Rev. 22:13)

Happy New Year!

If you listen to the pundits and those in the press you may wonder at the greeting. Undoubtedly we will be presented with dire straits. It may be the Greenhouse Effect or Global Winter. We are about to undergo a massive "Super-Storm" that will in days begin the next ice-age. Nuclear war could still break out and leave the world to the cockroaches. Computers are either going to all crash causing civilization to collapse or take over and do away with humanity. Killer bees are continuing to more north and soon we will all be stung to death. Pollution is going to get totally out of control and wipe us all out and the cockroaches are going to take over. We're going to run out of fuel and civilization is going to grind to a halt. We're not going to run out of fuel in time and the environment will be destroyed and the cockroaches are going to take over. Crime and violence are going to destroy us. We're destroying all out youth by establishing too harsh of criminal penalties. Some disease is going to come along and wipe out most of us, and again, the cockroaches win.

If I predict enough bad things, I'm bound to get at least one of them right!

I don't want to belittle any genuine concern for any of the issues mentioned or not mentioned above. The time ahead is bound to have its share of problems and terrors.

Are you afraid?

You should not be as long as you are in a right relationship with Jesus. Jesus warned His people, "Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors  of wars do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry before hand about what to say, Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

"Brother will be tray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Mark 13:5-13)

Yet Jesus also promises, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b). You are not in this game alone, nor are you relying upon a mere human being for help.

In the book of Revelation the title, the Alpha and the Omega, is used three times. The first two times it is used by God for Himself. The third time it is used of Jesus for Himself. He is the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), the First and the last, the Beginning and the End. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, was there for us before time began and will abide with us even after time itself ceases to exist. His promise to be with us is greater than time, greater than evil, and greater than sin.

Romans 8:31-32 asks, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Put aside your fears of all that is ahead. The world may perish but the Word of God remains and His love has no end. The only terror that should be is that Christ will return or we will die and find us still undecided to follow Jesus, still unrepentant, still living in our sins, and still unwilling to give up the things of this world to follow Him. If he finds you thus, you have the right to fear for hell will be eternally for you.

On the other hand, if you've given your life to Jesus and striven to live as He would have you then the only thing that lies ahead is eternal life in the love of God. What can the world do to us in comparison to that?

Happy New Year! May the Savior guide you in all ways!