“Good things come to those who wait.” Or so the saying goes. That’s not always the case, but there is occasional truth to it.
There are some things that are worth the wait; worth the effort; worth the suffering and pain. Some things that you can endure when you know what the end result will be.
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Luke 21:28
Building a home; working out; extra hours at work for the promotion or uprooting your life for a big move to accompany a new job; enduring surgery and recovery for a now-working knee or chemo so you can ring a bell; years of intense study for that degree and accompanying job in your selected field; or the big one, the pain and suffering from pregnancy and childbirth for the precious baby that comes from the result.
Our text for today gives us another, bigger picture one: some of the things that will take place in the End Times. Pain, suffering; betrayal; war; death. So many terrible things that are a part of the Last Days.
Are we are in the “now and not yet” times. The things prophesied exist now and will continue until Christ returns.
These are not things to look forward to, but they are things that we can and will endure because we know what the End is: utter and complete consummation of the victory of Jesus and a New Creation where pain, suffering, crying, mourning, and death are no more. Ever!
When Jesus gained the Victory on the Cross and through the empty Tomb, that victory was and is real for all time – but the full realization and consummation of it is not yet. There will still be more pain and suffering. There will be more crying and pain. There will be more war and death.
But those will end!
Forever!
And that’s what we look forward to! That’s why we can endure and do all things through Christ Who strengthens us!
We can see all the bad that is and will happen and still, as God’s redeemed and save, “straighten up and raise [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
We can (and should be) bold and confident facing all the challenges and sufferings now and to come because we know the End of the story. The End because of His story. The Beginning through what He finished on the Cross and in the empty Tomb.
“Straighten up and raise your heads” because He’s got this and will get you through! Jesus’ victory is proof. His victory is key. His victory has already happened over all these things to get us through all these things.
Scriptures
- Luke 21:5-28
- Psalm 98
