Not an Empty Promise

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’  He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”(Revelation 21:3-5 NIV)

When I was a child, I spent many a day at a friend’s house listening to stories of their travels.  Every summer they would take a long, two to three week, vacation to various parts of the U.S.  Upon their return, I would listen to their stories, look at their pictures, and long to travel to distant places like they did.  

Unfortunately, I had a father who hated to travel.  For many years, I begged my father to take us on a vacation.  His answer was always the same: “Maybe next year.”  And for a long time, I believed “next year” was going to be the time we would finally go.  Then, one year, when I made my annual request and my father gave his annual answer, my mother said in exasperation, “Owen, stop telling him ‘maybe next year.’  You know you’re never going to go!”  

It was the end of a childhood dream and a realization I had been on the receiving end of an empty promise.  My father was trying not to crush my dream, but he had no intention of fulfilling it and never did.

As we look at our lives and our world, we dread the suffering and pain that life seems to eventually bring.  We long for a day when all that vanishes like the fog when the morning sun finally burns through.  And we hear the promises of the Lord that one day all of it will go away.  But it hasn’t yet, and many of us begin to wonder if, like those of my father long ago, the promises of the Lord are empty ones.  

As an adult looking back, there was no reason to trust my father would follow through on his promise.  He never ventured far from home or expressed interest or curiosity in faraway places.  He was a homebody through and through.  Nothing about him or in his life suggested he was ever going to be the family tour guide on trips around the country.  There was just no basis in fact that he was going to follow through.  My mother knew that because she knew him.  

The Lord has made a promise to us to eliminate suffering and death.  The question is, can He be trusted to follow through?  His life gives us a glimpse that He is able to do so, for He healed many from devastating diseases and afflictions, and He brought several back to life.  But the empty tomb is by far the strongest evidence that not only can He fulfill the promise, but will do it.  He said He would die and would rise to life again (Luke 18:31-33).  The empty tomb proves He is a man of His word.  So when He proclaims to John in the heavenly realm that one day all suffering and death will come to an end, we can count on it.  

Today, in a world of suffering and sorrow, know that one day the pain will end.  That is the Lord’s promise and it is not an empty one because everything about His life, His death, and the vacant tomb point to it being fulfilled.  

© Jim Musser 2014