Needless to say, 2020 was a challenging year. Yet, despite it all, we take comfort knowing that neither Covid-19, nor scientists, nor politicians and government leaders are in control of things. Rather, it is our sovereign Triune God who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:10), and who works all things–even the many distressing and turbulent things that we have seen over the past year–to the good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose, and central to that purpose is our conformity to the image of Christ. (Rom 8:28-29)
So, as we bid 2020 goodbye, let us ring in the new year holding fast to the old (i.e., eternal) promises that are held out to us in the gospel:
– The promise of redemption that God has fulfilled in the person of His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself to come into this sin cursed world so that He might die the death of the cross to save sinners like us from all over the world by His grace alone, through faith alone, in, by and because of the finished work of Christ alone. (John 1:1-18; Matt 1:23; Phil 2:5-11; Eph 2:1-10; Rev 5:8-9)- The promise that our suffering now is nothing compared to the glory to be revealed at the promised return of King Jesus. (Rom 8:18)
– The promise that our Lord is the same, yesterday, today, and forever; He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5,8); and the promise that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:39)
– The promise that our Lord will return in glory to consummate His kingdom and destroy every rule, authority, and power that exalts itself over God, and finally death itself, and He will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. (1 Cor 15:24-26; Phil 3:21).
– And the promise that as we await our Lord’s return, He is with us always–even to the end of the age–as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death in the wilderness of this world. (Psalm 23; Matt 28:20; 1 Pet 2:11). Therefore, as He tells us John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Happy New Year!
Heart, Soul, and Mind 