LOOK AHEAD
Old Testament Persecutions
During the reign of King Ahab in Israel, a prophet named Micaiah warned him that his campaign against the Arameans was futile and his army would be destroyed. And in appreciation for that warning Ahab locked Micaiah up in a house and allowed him only bread to eat and water to drink until the day when Ahab returned safely from his war. Ahab never returned; and we don’t know what ever happened to Micaiah. Years later, a man named Hanani told the King of Judah that since he had relied on the country of Aram for support instead of the Lord, he would be at war for the rest of his reign. Hanani was promptly thrown in prison for repeating God’s Word. 300 years after that the famous prophet Jeremiah was beaten and put in stocks for proclaiming the words of the Lord, he was put on house arrest with almost nothing to eat, citizens from his home town plotted his death, and he was once thrown into a muddy well and left for dead. Fortunately, Jeremiah’s friends pulled him from that hole and he survived, but only to be forced down to Egypt with the remaining Israelites against his wishes and against the wishes of the Lord. Of course, he fared better than Isaiah did. Isaiah, one of the great gospel prophets of the entire Old Testament, is said to have been sawed in half at the command of King Manasseh. His death is not recorded for us in Scripture, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that Isaiah could have died that way at that time and at the hand of that wicked king.
And it was the same for many more prophets, many more servants of the Word, many more Christians during those days. Living at that time as a believer in the one true God and the Messiah he promised was not only unpopular, it was dangerous. Many Christians were martyred; many more were imprisoned; many more were attacked. And we haven’t even mentioned the more well-known of these believers like David or Daniel, Elijah and Elisha, the two Zechariahs we talked about a few weeks ago, Esther’s uncle Mordecai or the three friends in the fiery furnace: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The lives of Christians in Old Testament times were in constant danger and if it weren’t for the constant help and protection of their Lord, they never would have survived as long as they did.
It was men and women like these that the New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews was certainly thinking about when he wrote the end of his eleventh chapter. It was Christians like these whom he commended for looking ahead to the promise that awaited them despite what they had to endure on this earth: “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
These Christians, stoned, sawed in half, put to death by the sword, persecuted and mistreated in every conceivable way, held firmly to their faith in their Savior. And no matter what they had to go through here, they patiently and eagerly looked ahead to what was to come.
New Testament Promise
Of course, they never received what was to come when they were living on this earth. They were waiting for and longing for and looking for the Savior, that Messiah who was supposed to arrive from the line of David and save his people from the awful effects of their sins. But he never came. At least not until all of these Old Testament believers had long passed away. They never saw Jesus. They never had the chance to actually witness the promise fulfilled. But they still believed as strongly as ever. And as they were being tortured, in the middle of their pain, at the height of their agony - whether it was physical or mental or psychological - you can be sure that they continued to look ahead. They didn’t despair over the situation they were in. They didn’t give in to the enemies that surrounded them. They didn’t fall into the cesspool of self-pity wondering why the Lord was doing this to them or what they had done to deserve this treatment or how unfair this was for them to undergo. No, they simply looked ahead. Through faith they set their eyes on the future promise. They did not know when it would be accomplished; they didn’t even know all of the details of exactly how it would work out; but they knew that it would. Because it was a promise from God himself. And so they were content to suffer all of the pain and all of the persecutions that this sinful world could throw at them because, as far as they were concerned, the promise was as good as done. And one day - in this life or the next - they would see the God of this promise face to face.
Looking Down instead of Looking Ahead
And so will we. One day we will see the God of this promise face to face. In the meantime, we live here on the same earth that those early Christians did, surrounded by the same sinful world, enticed by the same kinds of temptations, dealing with the same kinds of pains and unpleasantries that they had to endure. And although we have not been thrown in prison for our faith or physically abused simply because of who we are, there are plenty of troubles and problems that we still have to deal with. And they aren’t easy! Lying in a hospital bed is not easy. Dealing with a death of someone you love is not easy. Handling the stressful family relationships in your life is not easy. Paying the bills is not easy. Remaining happy is not easy. Life is not always easy. We experience countless disheartening and discouraging difficulties throughout our lives - some worse than others. Things that unsettle our peace of mind. Things that disrupt our happiness and take a swing at our sanity. You know what problems plague your own life. You know what issues affect the way you act and the way you talk and the way you live. You know how difficult some of those troubles can be to deal with. Unfortunately, we don’t always deal with those troubles in the way the Old Testament believers so successfully dealt with theirs.
Because instead of looking ahead we tend to look down around us and take inventory of all the problems that we have to handle. And we start feeling a little overwhelmed. And we start feeling a little outmatched. And we start feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we don’t know what to do and we don’t know how long it will last and we don’t know how we’re going to get ourselves through it all in the end. And we look down behind us at that reoccurring and nagging problem that follows us everywhere we go and we look down at our side at the unexpected problem that has just popped up and we look down at our feet at the unavoidable problem that we realize is inevitably going to trip us up. And suddenly we notice that we are completely surrounded, our hands are full, our shoulders are weighed down, and it’s even difficult to keep our heads above water. And in those moments when that one big problem or two big problems or 20 big problems seem to almost permeate every aspect of your life what does your Lord say? He says, “Stop it. Look ahead. Stop trusting in yourself to fix the problem and look ahead. Stop relying on your own abilities to get through it and look ahead. Stop worrying about how you can handle the situation and look ahead. Stop driving yourself crazy about what has happened or what is happening or what might, should, or could happen and look ahead to what will happen. Because what will happen is my promise and guarantee.” The Lord does not like it when we fail to trust in him to take care of us. The Lord is not happy when we allow the problems in our lives to overwhelm his promises. But he is also sympathetic of our situation. He understands our weaknesses. And so he points us ahead to the very same thing that he pointed his Old Testament children to: he points us ahead to the promise of a Savior.
The Promise Remains
Because no matter what horrible things may happen in this life, the promise he gave to his Old Testament believers still remains true for us today - just from a different angle. The coming of the Christ that those Old Testament Christians believed in has happened. The salvation they sought has been accomplished. The forgiveness they looked forward to has been won. You have what those ancient believers could only imagine! You have a full understanding of what those battered and beaten believers could only partially piece together! You have Jesus presented to you in the pages of Scripture as a real human being in every sense of the Word. You have Jesus displaying his power and majesty as only the one true God can. You have Jesus carrying out your salvation in vivid detail and unmistakable acts of mercy and love. You have Jesus presented as the only way to eternal life in four thorough gospel books of the Bible and 23 others sections of what we now call the New Testament. You have the crystal clear picture of the Old Testament Shadow. You have the facts and the proofs of the vague prophetic visions of the past. You have the privilege of reading about and hearing about the actual accomplishments of Christ instead of just trusting in the unclear possibilities. You have not just been given the words of the promise; you have been blessed with its fulfillment. And no matter what you have to undergo in this life, the fulfillment of that promise still stands. Jesus came; Jesus lived; Jesus died; Jesus rose; Jesus reigns; you win. You win. You win. Every time. In the end, when it is all said and done, you win. No trouble can crack you. No problem can drag you down. No accident, catastrophe, or failure can gain the upper hand because Jesus already has. He has taken care of everything for you. Nothing has been left undone.
That is what the writer of the book of Hebrews meant when he said, “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” The better thing he had planned for us was the fulfillment of the promise that had been given to them. And together with those believers long since gone, we will join the angels in heaven, singing the praises of our God for fulfilling yet another promise to us - that promise of eternal life in heaven.
Reach Back, Face Forward
And so face forward and look ahead. You can reach back of course! Reach back and grab hold of that cross and steady yourself on that offset rock from the empty tomb, but face forward and look ahead. Because that promise of Christ’s first coming that you already know has set the stage for the promise of Christ’s second coming that you waiting for. And that is what we look forward to as we live this life: a life to come, a perfection never before experienced, a Paradise to enjoy for the rest of eternity. And when we have that Paradise in our minds and in our hearts, all of those troubles that are floundering around at your feet, all of those pains that are poking you in the side, all of those troubles that are bothering you, all of those worries and stresses and uncertainties that are grabbing your arm and begging for attention… they aren’t even worth looking down at. Deal with them as a faithful Christians would, but don’t let them get to you. They’re inconsequential. They’re nothing when compared to what waits for you ahead. Just ask those Old Testament believers mentioned in the book of Hebrews. The flames that caught their clothing and the swords that pierced their flesh and the saws that cut them apart were temporary, painful but passing, unpleasant at the time but pointless in the end. Because they continued to look ahead to the Savior who was to come, the one in whom they hoped with joy, the one in whom they trusted with confidence. Look ahead with them. Reach back, face forward, and look ahead. Because the promised Christ that has already come for you once is one day going to come for you again. And nothing else matters. And it’s as good as done.
Amen.
“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” - Rev. 22:20
Old Testament Persecutions
During the reign of King Ahab in Israel, a prophet named Micaiah warned him that his campaign against the Arameans was futile and his army would be destroyed. And in appreciation for that warning Ahab locked Micaiah up in a house and allowed him only bread to eat and water to drink until the day when Ahab returned safely from his war. Ahab never returned; and we don’t know what ever happened to Micaiah. Years later, a man named Hanani told the King of Judah that since he had relied on the country of Aram for support instead of the Lord, he would be at war for the rest of his reign. Hanani was promptly thrown in prison for repeating God’s Word. 300 years after that the famous prophet Jeremiah was beaten and put in stocks for proclaiming the words of the Lord, he was put on house arrest with almost nothing to eat, citizens from his home town plotted his death, and he was once thrown into a muddy well and left for dead. Fortunately, Jeremiah’s friends pulled him from that hole and he survived, but only to be forced down to Egypt with the remaining Israelites against his wishes and against the wishes of the Lord. Of course, he fared better than Isaiah did. Isaiah, one of the great gospel prophets of the entire Old Testament, is said to have been sawed in half at the command of King Manasseh. His death is not recorded for us in Scripture, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that Isaiah could have died that way at that time and at the hand of that wicked king.
And it was the same for many more prophets, many more servants of the Word, many more Christians during those days. Living at that time as a believer in the one true God and the Messiah he promised was not only unpopular, it was dangerous. Many Christians were martyred; many more were imprisoned; many more were attacked. And we haven’t even mentioned the more well-known of these believers like David or Daniel, Elijah and Elisha, the two Zechariahs we talked about a few weeks ago, Esther’s uncle Mordecai or the three friends in the fiery furnace: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The lives of Christians in Old Testament times were in constant danger and if it weren’t for the constant help and protection of their Lord, they never would have survived as long as they did.
It was men and women like these that the New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews was certainly thinking about when he wrote the end of his eleventh chapter. It was Christians like these whom he commended for looking ahead to the promise that awaited them despite what they had to endure on this earth: “They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
These Christians, stoned, sawed in half, put to death by the sword, persecuted and mistreated in every conceivable way, held firmly to their faith in their Savior. And no matter what they had to go through here, they patiently and eagerly looked ahead to what was to come.
New Testament Promise
Of course, they never received what was to come when they were living on this earth. They were waiting for and longing for and looking for the Savior, that Messiah who was supposed to arrive from the line of David and save his people from the awful effects of their sins. But he never came. At least not until all of these Old Testament believers had long passed away. They never saw Jesus. They never had the chance to actually witness the promise fulfilled. But they still believed as strongly as ever. And as they were being tortured, in the middle of their pain, at the height of their agony - whether it was physical or mental or psychological - you can be sure that they continued to look ahead. They didn’t despair over the situation they were in. They didn’t give in to the enemies that surrounded them. They didn’t fall into the cesspool of self-pity wondering why the Lord was doing this to them or what they had done to deserve this treatment or how unfair this was for them to undergo. No, they simply looked ahead. Through faith they set their eyes on the future promise. They did not know when it would be accomplished; they didn’t even know all of the details of exactly how it would work out; but they knew that it would. Because it was a promise from God himself. And so they were content to suffer all of the pain and all of the persecutions that this sinful world could throw at them because, as far as they were concerned, the promise was as good as done. And one day - in this life or the next - they would see the God of this promise face to face.
Looking Down instead of Looking Ahead
And so will we. One day we will see the God of this promise face to face. In the meantime, we live here on the same earth that those early Christians did, surrounded by the same sinful world, enticed by the same kinds of temptations, dealing with the same kinds of pains and unpleasantries that they had to endure. And although we have not been thrown in prison for our faith or physically abused simply because of who we are, there are plenty of troubles and problems that we still have to deal with. And they aren’t easy! Lying in a hospital bed is not easy. Dealing with a death of someone you love is not easy. Handling the stressful family relationships in your life is not easy. Paying the bills is not easy. Remaining happy is not easy. Life is not always easy. We experience countless disheartening and discouraging difficulties throughout our lives - some worse than others. Things that unsettle our peace of mind. Things that disrupt our happiness and take a swing at our sanity. You know what problems plague your own life. You know what issues affect the way you act and the way you talk and the way you live. You know how difficult some of those troubles can be to deal with. Unfortunately, we don’t always deal with those troubles in the way the Old Testament believers so successfully dealt with theirs.
Because instead of looking ahead we tend to look down around us and take inventory of all the problems that we have to handle. And we start feeling a little overwhelmed. And we start feeling a little outmatched. And we start feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we don’t know what to do and we don’t know how long it will last and we don’t know how we’re going to get ourselves through it all in the end. And we look down behind us at that reoccurring and nagging problem that follows us everywhere we go and we look down at our side at the unexpected problem that has just popped up and we look down at our feet at the unavoidable problem that we realize is inevitably going to trip us up. And suddenly we notice that we are completely surrounded, our hands are full, our shoulders are weighed down, and it’s even difficult to keep our heads above water. And in those moments when that one big problem or two big problems or 20 big problems seem to almost permeate every aspect of your life what does your Lord say? He says, “Stop it. Look ahead. Stop trusting in yourself to fix the problem and look ahead. Stop relying on your own abilities to get through it and look ahead. Stop worrying about how you can handle the situation and look ahead. Stop driving yourself crazy about what has happened or what is happening or what might, should, or could happen and look ahead to what will happen. Because what will happen is my promise and guarantee.” The Lord does not like it when we fail to trust in him to take care of us. The Lord is not happy when we allow the problems in our lives to overwhelm his promises. But he is also sympathetic of our situation. He understands our weaknesses. And so he points us ahead to the very same thing that he pointed his Old Testament children to: he points us ahead to the promise of a Savior.
The Promise Remains
Because no matter what horrible things may happen in this life, the promise he gave to his Old Testament believers still remains true for us today - just from a different angle. The coming of the Christ that those Old Testament Christians believed in has happened. The salvation they sought has been accomplished. The forgiveness they looked forward to has been won. You have what those ancient believers could only imagine! You have a full understanding of what those battered and beaten believers could only partially piece together! You have Jesus presented to you in the pages of Scripture as a real human being in every sense of the Word. You have Jesus displaying his power and majesty as only the one true God can. You have Jesus carrying out your salvation in vivid detail and unmistakable acts of mercy and love. You have Jesus presented as the only way to eternal life in four thorough gospel books of the Bible and 23 others sections of what we now call the New Testament. You have the crystal clear picture of the Old Testament Shadow. You have the facts and the proofs of the vague prophetic visions of the past. You have the privilege of reading about and hearing about the actual accomplishments of Christ instead of just trusting in the unclear possibilities. You have not just been given the words of the promise; you have been blessed with its fulfillment. And no matter what you have to undergo in this life, the fulfillment of that promise still stands. Jesus came; Jesus lived; Jesus died; Jesus rose; Jesus reigns; you win. You win. You win. Every time. In the end, when it is all said and done, you win. No trouble can crack you. No problem can drag you down. No accident, catastrophe, or failure can gain the upper hand because Jesus already has. He has taken care of everything for you. Nothing has been left undone.
That is what the writer of the book of Hebrews meant when he said, “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” The better thing he had planned for us was the fulfillment of the promise that had been given to them. And together with those believers long since gone, we will join the angels in heaven, singing the praises of our God for fulfilling yet another promise to us - that promise of eternal life in heaven.
Reach Back, Face Forward
And so face forward and look ahead. You can reach back of course! Reach back and grab hold of that cross and steady yourself on that offset rock from the empty tomb, but face forward and look ahead. Because that promise of Christ’s first coming that you already know has set the stage for the promise of Christ’s second coming that you waiting for. And that is what we look forward to as we live this life: a life to come, a perfection never before experienced, a Paradise to enjoy for the rest of eternity. And when we have that Paradise in our minds and in our hearts, all of those troubles that are floundering around at your feet, all of those pains that are poking you in the side, all of those troubles that are bothering you, all of those worries and stresses and uncertainties that are grabbing your arm and begging for attention… they aren’t even worth looking down at. Deal with them as a faithful Christians would, but don’t let them get to you. They’re inconsequential. They’re nothing when compared to what waits for you ahead. Just ask those Old Testament believers mentioned in the book of Hebrews. The flames that caught their clothing and the swords that pierced their flesh and the saws that cut them apart were temporary, painful but passing, unpleasant at the time but pointless in the end. Because they continued to look ahead to the Savior who was to come, the one in whom they hoped with joy, the one in whom they trusted with confidence. Look ahead with them. Reach back, face forward, and look ahead. Because the promised Christ that has already come for you once is one day going to come for you again. And nothing else matters. And it’s as good as done.
Amen.
“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” - Rev. 22:20
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