The birth of Jesus Christ is only the beginning of the story of God's magnificent gift to us. God, without ceasing to be God in any sense, became a true human being in every sense -- just like us, except the Lord Jesus never sinned.
In the course of time, the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again. In this way he conquered death and defeated him who has the power of death, that is the devil.
After his resurrection, the Lord Jesus walked the earth for 40 days, proving to his deciples that he had risen from the dead. Then he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of his Father, from where he gave the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday and where he is still waiting to return to earth and consummate his victory over our last enemy, death.
At the death of death, when the Lord Jesus has purged the earth of all evil, the Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, will descend from heaven to earth.
What will it be like? What will we be like?
Lions will lie down with lambs, nations will no longer know war, and death will forever be banished from our planet. In the New Heavens and New Earth, we will walk through gates of pearl and walk on streets paved with gold.
God's gift to us is this New World Order, brought about, not by humankind, but by the Lord Jesus at his return. It is a wonderful gift that we have not yet received, but we can pull back the wrapping paper and peek into the box, as we read the last two chapters of the Bible. |
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