The Promise of Jesus’ Return
Once more we wait.
As we have seen throughout this journey of promise and hope, the Old Testament looked forward to the Day when God would come and rescue His people, and with that rescue bring peace, justice, and joy. That Day has come! And yet there is still more to be fulfilled.
Theologians speak of this as the already, but not yet reality in which we live. God’s kingdom has already been inaugurated – Jesus has defeated death, He has poured out His Holy Spirit, and He has begun to gather His people and build His church all over the world. And yet His kingdom has not been fully and finally consummated. There yet awaits a future Day of Judgment and Righteousness when Jesus will come again in all of His beautiful glory.
Revelation 22 provides us with a picture of what that final Day will look like. It is a picture that should remind us of Genesis 1, for in it we read of what Jesus called ‘the new world,’ – literally, ‘the new genesis.’ Thus, as the first chapter of the Bible informs us that God made the world, this last chapter of the Bible informs us that He will remake it. Because of Jesus’ life death and resurrection, there will no longer be any darkness or death, for the presence of sin will be finally and fully eradicated. As a result, God’s people will live in the light and joy of His presence forever.
And so now, once more, we wait.