Dear Friends,
It would make an interesting and rewarding study to go through the New Testament, noting all the different ways in which Christian believers are described. In fact, here are two already: “Christian” and “believer”. And there are more than single word descriptions. Here is one I found while preparing for last Sunday: Christians are “those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28). Who are we waiting for? The full verse makes it clear: “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Does that describe you? Are you someone who is consciously, confidently and gladly waiting for Jesus to come a second time? And what are we waiting for him to do? Not to bear sin; he’s already done that when he died for us. It only remains for him to bring us the fullness of the salvation he won then.
Will we, then, be like Anthony Ashley Cooper, the nineteenth century Earl of Shaftesbury? Towards the end of his life, he said, “I do not think that in the last forty years I have lived one conscious hour that was not influenced by the thought of our Lord’s return.” And on his tombstone he had inscribed this verse from Revelation 22: ‘”Yes, I am coming soon”. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.’
Yours in Christ,
Chris Hobbs