Yesterday, as I searched for a parking space in the West End of the city of Glasgow (finding the crock of gold at the end of a rainbow is marginally easier!) that I noticed the very large sign that proclaimed "The Messiah has come"! Well, as I had just celebrated the annual Christmas season, when many of us remember the incarnation of Almighty God as a helpless infant, more than 2,000 years ago, I couldn't disagree. However, what was surprising was that the sign was on a building that is used as a mosque! It also had a picture of a bearded male who, it would appear, was the "messiah" to whom reference was made.
A few days ago, a newspaper made the statement: "The Bible indicates that the Rapture could come at any time and you will not be expecting it, ..." With that statement, I had no problem at all. My difficulty is with those who claim to know the date and time of the Rapture!
At this time of year, many people make predictions about the year that is about to commence (and has already commenced in some parts of the world!). However, many predictions have been shown to be totally wrong. For example, almost 150 years ago, the Chief Engineer of the British Post Office, stated that while Americans may have need of the new-fangled telephone, the British had no such need - because there were plenty of message-boys! One wonders what that gentleman's reaction would be today when, it seems, no-one is able to go anywhere without a mobile telephone!
Another prediction from the past (the only ones that we can truly 'judge'!) was that "Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures, after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." It's hard to believe that those words were spoken by Daryl Zanuck, a film producer and co-founder of 20th Century Fox!
We are living, of course, in a time of greater change than has been experienced in, almost certainly, the recorded history of mankind. As we look around, we are made aware of great changes in the natural world - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis. In social life, I am informed that one's birth-gender is irrelevant, as one may "choose" one's gender! The outcome of that kind of change is biological men competing in women's sports events; biological men using female changing rooms; insisting on being transferred to female prisons. I see the political élite being challenged by the "ordinary" people. I am reminded of the words of the hymn-writer: "Change and decay in all around I see" - and I wonder what Henry Francis Lyte would think in our contemporary situation!
However, there is that which is unchangeable! The author of the New Testament Letter to Hebrews disciples of Jesus noted that: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). In the Tanakh (the Old Testament), we read the words of Almighty God as given to the prophet Malachi: "I the Lord do not change." (3:6).
The other "tradition" for many, at this time of year, is that of making "new year resolutions"! The only such resolution that I ever made, and kept for more than a few weeks, was many years ago when I resolved never to make another new year resolution!
If you are going to make a resolution for 2019, and have not yet accepted the salvation from sin, and sins, that is offered through the Lord Jesus, the Christ, may I encourage you to come to Him, in repentance and faith; receive the new life that is available through Him; and discover that His words are true: "I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt 28:20).
A very happy New Year to all.
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