He's Coming Back

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” (Jer 23:5 AV)

 

We live in a world that is controlled by leadership we would not have.  I believe this is the case almost everywhere.  Here, in the U.S., we have the leaders which the majority of people have chosen.  Either directly, through elections, or indirectly, by not requiring accountability.  Either way, passively or actively, we have the leaders with which we are content.  However, this is not true for the rest of the world.  Most non-western style nations have leaders with whom they are stuck.  These leaders ascended to power by nefarious means.  They rule their nations for their own profit and interests.  The world is clamoring for righteous rulers who will lead for the welfare of the people and not the interests of self-serving profit.  What mankind cannot grasp is the only leader qualified to lead them in the manner in which they wish to be led is God Himself.  All human leadership will disappoint.  Jeremiah gives us the promise of a coming King who is God Himself and will rule from love and not from self-aggrandizement.

Don’t laugh, but one of the YouTube video types I enjoy watching is in-cab train journeys.  The poster simply mounts a camera on the windshield of the engine and shoots the entire trip.  There is no narration or music.  The only sounds one hears are the sounds of the train.  I watch videos that are hours long.  No plot.  No storyline.  I watch these while I am studying or working.  Every once in a while I will look up from my computer monitor to enjoy the scenery going by.  It is a way to escape the cruel and sin-sick world without leaving your own home.  When I watch these videos, the handiwork of God’s creation impresses me more than words can say.  In particular, the train rides through mountains is what floats my boat.  I also like the open prairies.  The wilder the terrain and the less evidence of mankind, the more enjoyable it seems to me.  I know it sounds weird, but in a virtual way, I can escape that which the sin of mankind has marred.  There are no cities of sin to see.  There are no governments to oppress.  There is no tarnish of evil to avoid.  It is the finger of God’s work on the canvas of earth that speaks of God’s wonderous omnipotence far and above what man can do.  The tracks upon which the trains rides are a good metaphor for mankind’s effect on God’s decree.  Minimal at best.

This is how we need to see our present human governments.  In the whole scope of God’s eternal plan, their impact is minimal, at best.  Jeremiah encourages Judah as they are about to go into captivity.  No doubt, this change would be radical and permanent for some.  Their world would be turned upside down because they were disobedient to the LORD.  However, the correcting hand of God is not without encouragement.  As cruel as Babylon would be, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and the Medes and Persians might have been, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and Egypt, Greece, and Rome would be, the Messiah is coming.  As cruel and Germany was and the Antichrist will be, the Messiah is coming.  The same promise is given for all the people of the earth.  As unjust as rulers might be, the Messiah is coming.  All this will come to an end because the impact they will have on the plan of God is negligible at best.  Jesus is coming!  No force on earth can stop Him!  He is coming and He will set up His kingdom in righteousness and holiness.  However, to enjoy this blessing, it requires the sinner first to make Jesus the King in one’s heart by accepting His free gift of salvation.  I am on a train ride.  The train must conform to the terrain which it travels and not the other way around.  If the train tries to make the terrain conform, it will wreck.  And wreck it will.  Jesus is coming and the train will ride as it should!