December 20, 2023

Matthew 11: 2, 3 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” (NIV)

No one governing some little part of this earth for a blip in the grand continuum of eternity offers us the promise that comes only from God.*

Author Phillip Yancey describes John’s question as the “question of the age.”* Indeed, for the Jews it was always on their minds. For centuries they had been looking for the Messiah to come and deliver them. Sadly, they so misunderstood the nature of his deliverance that when he came they totally disregarded him.

Our world today is also in need of a deliverer. So, are we any different from the Jews? In the U. S., Christians are looking for someone to return our country to God. Sadly, we have forgotten that the Messiah has already come – and that it was never his purpose to deliver America (or any nation) from ungodly leadership. Jesus, the overlooked Messiah, came to deliver us from the penalty of sin, not to solve our political problems.

Does God care about the decline of morality in our country? Yes – because he cares about lost souls. Should we care? Yes – because as we lose our religious liberties, it becomes harder to fulfill our mission to seek and save the lost. But, I ask you: Are we taking full advantage of our freedoms now? Are we concerned about limitations on our ability to share the gospel – or are we more worried about inconvenience and lack of popularity?

So, John: Yes. Jesus is the one who was to come. He came, fulfilled his mission, and left us his Spirit so that we could carry on. Shall we expect someone else? Maybe we aren’t exactly expecting someone else, but we live as if we are at least hoping for someone to come to our rescue. Here’s the thing: that someone else is us. God’s people are the expected ones. The ones who can change the world, one soul, one heart at a time, if we do the job we were called to do – while we still have the freedom to do it.

Our greatest fear should not be losing our rights. It should be missing this opportunity to show God’s peace to an angry and anxious nation.*