SCRIPTURE
REVELATION 22:20-21

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

It's often been observed that Christians live in the tension of the now and the not yet.

Death has been swallowed up in victory--but for now we still live in a broken world.

God has won, is winning, and will win--but for now we still endure the sharp edges and broken pieces of a world that just doesn't work right.

Today, we celebrate the fact that Christ has come! As our Eastern friends remind each other when they celebrate Christmas Day, Christ is born; glorify him!

Yet we still live in anticipation of that day when he will return in absolute, undeniable triumph.

Christmas Day is a wonderful day of celebration, of joy, of love, and of life. But we can live in sure and certain confidence that it is only the foretaste of what lies ahead for God's people.

As C. S. Lewis put it, when we compare Christmas Day to that day, it is only "the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."

That reality also brings incomparable hope to those for whom Christmas Day may be tinged with sorrow, with pain, with grief-because we are pressing on to a day when every tear will be wiped away by the hands of God himself; when every wound will be utterly and perfectly healed; when everything sad and broken and spoiled is finally restored and redeemed, once and for all.

Wherever this day finds us, may we remember that it is only the first-fruits of what lies ahead.

Christ is born; glorify him!

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.