Jesus Has Come for Days Like This

“Apocalyptic” was one of the major news outlet’s headline words today.
Charts and graphs with curveless curves.
Numbers doubling every 3 to 5 days.
Growing numbers of those not making it - death.

Maybe you are asking where God is in all of this. Maybe you are doubting there is a God because of all of this. Easily, we become so confused and hurt that we forget the big story. We forget how things got this way. And we forget what God has done to fix things like this.
He sent his son.
Jesus came for days and weeks just like this.

The Bible isn’t just a collection of various stories written by various authors scattered through cultures and times. In all of that, the Bible comes together to tell one amazing story. At New City we talk about this grand narrative in the framework of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration.

Let’s walk through it, maybe as a reminder, maybe as your first time hearing and seeing this:

Creation

The Bible opens in the book of Genesis, just before creation. There was nothing of the universe that we know. There was, however God. God spoke into existence all that is - the stars and planets, the heavens and the earth. On the earth God created animals and birds and bugs and plants. He filled the earth with water and land, plants and fish. God created a beautiful garden and there he placed the crown of his creation, humanity - Adam and Eve.

It was all theirs to enjoy - creation. All but the fruit of one tree. God commanded them not to eat of that tree and told them the consequence - in the day that you do, you will surely die.
God looked at his creation and it was GOOD.

Fall

Almost immediately in our story, Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit of the tree that was forbidden. After a brief dialog, Eve takes of the fruit while Adam watches on. She turns and hands the fruit to Adam and he too takes of the fruit. Sin enters the world for the first time and there is immediate brokenness. Shame and guilt and hiding are among the first signs of the dramatic change. When God confronts Adam he blames Eve and even blames God. In Genesis 3 we read the results of sin and humanity’s fall. Nothing will be the same. Even the earth will be broken by the weight of sin - thorns and thistles will choke out life.

Sadly in the pages that immediately follow the Fall we see those results. One brother murders another. There is fighting, jealousy, wars, rape, floods, famine and every genealogy ends with these terrible words, “and he died.” Because of sin and the Fall, death had entered God’s good creation.

The disease and death we are living with today was not a part of God’s good creation. It is a consequence of the Fall, when sin entered the world and with it brokenness and death.
Covid-19 is not what God intended. It is a sad result of a world broken.

Redemption

God was not satisfied that we should be separated from him forever, suffering the consequences of the Fall. As early as Genesis 3:15 we have a hint that God would send someone to fix the brokenness. One who would crush the head of the serpent. The Old Testament is filled with promise after promise from God, through the prophets that a Redeemer would come. He would redeem God’s people from their sin, washing their sins away and making them holy and clean. He would establish a Kingdom of peace, prosperity and justice. He would right every wrong and fix all that is broken including disease and death.

The New Testament books open with the fulfillment of the promised one coming as a baby - Jesus.

He would live the life that Adam and every other human him failed to live - he would be perfect, pure and holy. He would live without sin. His ministry and miracles were glimpses of the Kingdom he came to establish, the Kingdom the prophet foretold. Sadly, though he lived a sinless life, humanity would abuse and kill him, nailing him to a cross. He was dying the death that we deserve. On that cross he bore God’s wrath against sin, our just penalty. Then on the third day he was raised from death, defeating death and sin and Satan, that serpent of old.

The Bible tells us that when we stop trying to earn our place with God and instead, see and believe that Jesus has done all that we cannot - when we trust in his work of forgiveness and redemption, then we are forgiven of our sins. Remarkably, through this faith in Jesus, God no longer sees our sin! In his eyes, he sees us as the very righteousness of Jesus. Redeemed, we are now sons and daughters of God, forgiven and free!

Restoration

In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God set in motion the process of restoration. He is, through Jesus restoring all things as they were intended to be in beginning, before sin. Those who now love and follow Jesus are not only forgiven but we are being shaped now into the image of Jesus. Our hearts are made new, our desires becoming more and more his desires. So, there is, now in Christ much that is being restored - our hearts, our minds, our desires, our relationships…
But there will be much more. When Jesus ascended to his place with the Father, he promised his disciples that he would return. And when he returns he has promised that evil will be fully and finally defeated, that sin will be eradicated and not just sin but all of the effects of sin!
No more striving.
No more fighting.
No more wars.
No more famine.
No more floods.
No more hurting.
No more sickness.
No more disease.
No more death.
And he will wipe away every tear.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth and God will have his people, and we will have our God - forevermore. (Revelation 21)

This is why Jesus came.
To fully and finally bring an end to days like this.
And he will.
THIS is the Good News!

Believer, remember that good news! Your hope is secured in the son of the most faithful God!
Unbeliever, this is our story. The story of the world. This is your story. Believe today. Jesus is your hope.
Romans 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Jesus Has Come for Days Like Today
If you want to talk more about trusting Jesus, email me, Pastor Keith.