DAILY DEVOTIONAL – July 19, 2019
“Now, But Not Yet”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as we patiently await that wonderful day when You return in final judgement on this world, strengthen us in the Truth and in the sure hope of salvation that is for all who believe and confess You as Lord and Savior. We entrust ourselves to You alone. Amen.
Scripture: John 5:25-29
25 “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. 26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. 27 And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, 29 and they will rise again.
Devotion – “Now, But Not Yet”
I’m no financial expert, but I do know that one of the keys to successful investment is time. When you make an investment into a financial product like a CD, bond or the stock market, that money needs time to mature. Some products even prevent you from being able to withdraw your money and earnings until a set future date. The money in the account is yours now, however, you cannot yet take it out. Even in accounts that don’t restrict access, advisors will tell you it is always best to let the money work over time. In order to get the most out of the investment, it is important to understand the money is yours now, but not yet.
This paradox of being now, but not yet is most true when we consider the inheritance that Christ has purchased for us with His blood on the cross. There is no investment in this world that is guaranteed. As we have seen throughout history through events like the Great Depression, no money is ever guaranteed safe…especially in today’s world of technology that is moving faster than many security experts say we can keep up with. However, unlike the volatility of any financial market, the eternal investment Christ made on our behalf is 100% secure. Through the cross, Jesus invested His own priceless, innocent blood. Christ promised that through His death and resurrection, He would earn and gain salvation for all mankind. Jesus not only made the investment we could never afford to make, but He also secured the eternal dividends of God’ mercy and grace and forgiveness by rising again from the dead just as He said He would.
There is nothing we can or have to invest in order to receive the riches Christ has purchased for us. We could never afford the cost necessary to earn the eternal dividends of heaven. The only investment Christ requires us to make in order to inherit the Kingdom of God, is that of ourselves – to lay our sins and brokenness and our lives in the hands of Christ, trusting in His worth and the security of His death and resurrection.
Although all of heaven is ours in Christ now, right now, we do not yet fully realize the salvation that is in fact ours. The Kingdom of God, the full salvation that Christ has purchased for us, is both now, and not yet. Jesus said in our text from the Gospel of John today, “25 “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.” You see, for all those who hear the voice of Jesus that calls to each and every person all day every day, we have already been raised from the dead. All humanity is dead in their sins…all have earned eternal death. But God has already raised all who believe and put their trust in Christ from the dead, with Christ. We are alive now, and yet still eagerly await the full realization of our life that is hidden in Christ; the life we will fully inherit on that final day when He returns.
We read this time and again throughout Scripture:
Hebrews 2:8-9, ““At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death”
1 John 3:2, ““Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Ephesians 2:5-7, “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and [God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Our salvation is eternally secure in Christ my friends. For now we live in the paradox of that salvation that is both now and not yet. But we can be sure that not yet, will one day be now…because Christ Himself as the Son of God, fully man and fully God, became a paradox for us.
Jesus began His ministry by being hungry, yet Christ said He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our eternal rest.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet as the risen Savior He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.
And as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
Rest securely in the joy of Christ’s salvation that is both now and not yet, and remember friends, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
