Your Redemption Draweth Nigh

And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, And when these things shall begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth night (Luke 21.27,28 KJV).

Christ is speaking of his second coming here. This statement encompasses our hope and the promise of the gospel. We hope that this life is not all there is; that there is ultimate meaning and purpose to our existence; that there is a God who created all things and who is working all of history to a conclusion and summation in Christ; and that he loves us intimately and has gone to prepare a place for us, "That where I am there you may also be" (John 14.3, ESV).

The key sign that the end is here will be when we see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. This is the fulfillment of the promise. Lift up your heads, O followers of Jesus Christ, stir in your graves, O Christian who has died before the coming of the promise, for as surely as God's promises are true, your redemption draweth nigh.

Grace as a Gift

I was struck this morning by the verse after Romans 3.23. Have we heard the message of Romans 3.24? We are justified by his grace as a gift. Certainly as followers of Christ this is a concept that we've heard again and again...and again. Has it sunk in? We cannot earn grace. We cannot work for it. It is given. A gift. A gift is given and received, not earned. May we receive the gift of God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, with wonder and thanks and God-glorifying excitement, but without thinking we earned it.

Grace is the glory of God, not the merit of him who has been freed. Prosper of Aquitaine