Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Revelation 21:6-7 - David's Son Reigns
(Part 5 of 5)
The Saint’s Place in Christ
Since it is the same all encompassing God, the Alpha and the Omega of the promises and of History, who makes us stand firm in Christ (2 Cor 1:21), the saint has full assurance that these promises given Christ are most surely his or her own. That is to say that the nature of God’s character, his covenant, his promises and the sure means by which he both obtains these for us and redeems us for them give us great hope to know that we who are in Christ will indeed prevail as overcomers to the very End.
In the Russian Context, На Русском Контексте
To apply this passage to a particular people group, I would encourage my Russian brothers and sisters in light of the aftermath of all the failed and hollow promises of the former communist regime and their tendency to view America as a salvation. Communism, Socialism and Democratic-Capitalism are all snowflakes on the furnace of history. They are not all encompassing nor can they do much of what they promise to do. Legislated capitalism may provide more sustenance than communism did and much more than the poorly legislated (unlegislated?) capitalism that exploits the Russian people now. However, that sustenance will perish, and ultimately leave a person from any country in a wasteland of emptiness.
What has a Russian to hope for? How can one who has sold her soul to the Party, only to see the Party die and fail her now have any hope that the promises made by some other ideology (e.g., Christianity) are worth the risk of so great a humiliation again? The Bible’s answer is profound. Communism and Capitalism have not the sovereignty over history and humanity that God Almighty does. Human Politico-Economic systems have hope in what depraved people should do, but do not do. In Christianity, the promises of God are placed fully on God’s ability to fulfill them in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Where Human systems hope in an uncertain (and unattainable) future of fallen people, the Promises of God are secure in Messiah’s historic accomplishments of the past and his sovereign rule over all that was, and is and is to come.
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