January 2023 - What do you need the most ?
I heard a noise at the letterbox. It was the postman on his usual mail round. The post is rarely exciting at this time year. What I am normally bombarded with is advertising from local companies promising me that their product is the thing that I need most for the year ahead. Everything from the latest exercise regime to an espresso machine is guaranteed to make my life that little bit more enjoyable in 2023. So this week, as I picked up yet another flyer through the door, I asked myself; what is it that I really need most this year?
That morning my Bible readings took me to the early chapters of Revelation. John is writing to some of the early churches based in Asia Minor. Given everything that is going on in the first century we can be assured that their Christian lives are anything but easy. However, it is not his message that John is delivering to them. He is simply the post man. It is Jesus who has a message for these churches. Indeed, Jesus knows that what these churches need most of all is a big vision of him.
A Jesus to fear…
John does his best to describe the glorious risen and reining Jesus who he’s encountered. He is no meek and mild Jesus; he is victorious Jesus! His pure hair, flaming eyes, shining feet, mighty voice, strong hand, sword filled mouth and glorious face all display his incomparable majesty. This is the death-defeating, glory-displaying, ever living Jesus who will one day soon return to rescue his people and judge his enemies. Truly there is no-one else worth bowing before! Indeed, that is exactly what John, like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel before him, does!
A Jesus who’s near…
As John bows prostrate as though dead, this same ‘to be feared’ Jesus stoops to lovingly reassure him. Indeed, this is the Jesus who knows his people. He knows their struggles. He knows their failures. He knows their endeavours. He knows their hopes and aspirations. And here he is through John delivering to them truthful words that will both convict and inspire them towards greater allegiance to him. Indeed, he is the one who is coming soon!
Rico Tice in his little book Honest Evangelism writes;
‘There are lots of people who have authority, but not much compassion. And there are many with compassion, but little power to effect change. One of the most wonderful things about the Bible is that as we read of Jesus, we meet a man who had more of both than anyone who has ever lived, and who never compromised on either – a man of complete authority and overwhelming compassion.’
Indeed, it is so important that we know and grasp both of these truths! We don’t have a Jesus who is fearsome yet absent. Neither do we have a Jesus who is near yet powerless. He is gloriously both!
The strap line of Revelation has often neatly been summarised as ‘Jesus Wins!’. Now that sounds succinct and snappy, however, I think there’s more to it than that. The message of Revelation is that Jesus has won and that through him we will overcome.
So what do you really need most of all in 2023? What will sustain us through the highs and lows that another year will inevitably bring us? Surely the timeless truth of the unchanging Jesus is!
Indeed, let’s make the words of Timothy Dudley-Smith our prayer as we enter 2023;
‘Here on the threshold of a new beginning,
by grace forgiven, now we leave behind
our long-repented selfishness and sinning,
and all our blessings call again to mind:
Christ to redeem us, ransom and restore us,
the love that holds us in a Saviour's care,
faith strong to welcome all that lies before us,
our unknown future, knowing God is there.'
