Day 293

As we wind down during the final quarter of 2020, and the final moments of this earth’s history, what do you have to look forward to? If you’re in America there’s a high chance that you are dreading the outcome of the next presidential election, regardless of which “party” that you claim. Because the reality is that this circus show is a distraction from what is going on in the world, in our homes in our lives. So many people are putting in their “prediction” of who they think will win. On a microscopic level, it doesn’t matter who wins on that fateful night in November, because what can they honestly do for you? For your families? For your loved ones? Whoever gets sworn-in January 2021, your bills will keep coming, the sun will rise again, and your life will not come to a halt. But there was one event in history that affects our future and impacts our present. And that was the first coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The reason why He came had to do with the outcome of humanity. We would be lost for eternity. One of the saddest things that happen in life is the death of a loved one. But after they have gone and are passed, their memories live on in the hearts and minds of those they shared their lives with. Gravesites carry their name, date of birth and death, and something unique about that individual. But what about the unmarked graves? The ones that no one knew who died here or why? That was what earth was heading towards, a bleak existence without hope in a world consumed with hate and filled with unmarked graves. But God would not allow it to be so, AMEN! And the only way He could address this problem was to get in the mud with us. He had to experience what we experienced and be tempted in the body of degraded humanity. God could have chosen to come when human beings still lived hundreds of years on this planet. When their bodies were close to perfection. Instead, He waited until 4000 years had passed and human beings who were once made in the image of God, were now unrecognizable.

So in the book of Daniel, the prophecy is given as to when the Messiah would come: Seventy weeks [of years, or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and for your holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make atonement (reconciliation) for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness (right-standing with God), to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy. So you are to know and understand that from the issuance of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until [the coming of] the Messiah (the Anointed One), the Prince, there will be seven weeks [of years] and sixty-two weeks [of years]; it will be built again, with [a city] plaza and moat, even in times of trouble. Then after the sixty-two weeks [of years] the Anointed One will be cut off” Daniel 9:24-26.

The prophecy in that I just quoted, explains that in the year 457 B.C. when the walls and temple of Jerusalem would be built, that 490 years later the Messiah would be anointed in 27 A.D. and “cut off” or killed in 31 A.D. By the time we get to the end of the prophecy the Gospel now be available to the entire world beginning at 34 A.D. Now, if you want to see how this is all broken down from the Bible and history, here is a FANTASTIC link. But 500 years before the Messiah came and gave His life, it was predicted down to the year of when this was going to happen. And when God had made that promise about 6000 years ago to a lost and scared couple, He looked down the timeline of history and He inserted Himself to stop the freight train of hopelessness.

And I praise God, that He inserts Himself in our lives, in ways we may never know on this side of eternity. Perhaps it doesn’t always make sense to us with all the dangers and problems happening in this world. But I know that the few decades that we spend on this side of the Jordan will not compare to the ceaseless ages of life we will soon live. But before then, we have to get through today, and the next day and the day after. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if we lived life the way that He did: Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” John 21:25. He was only on this planet for 33 and a half years, but His impact was so powerful it changed the course of humanity. He told us what He was here for: For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:10. And He is still seeking and willing to save us. And for that, I will be forever, eternally grateful.