New Year

“All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.”
– C.S. Lewis

Here we stand at the dawn of a new year.

In my mind’s eye, I picture the doors to a great hall thrown open wide. The light inside is too bright to make out details. I imagine the room to be magnificent, full of hope, full of promise, but I can’t see for sure. I’ll have to continue on inside to find out.

That’s a fair representation of what the early days of a new year looks like to me – laden with questions, burgeoning with hope, both tainted by experiences pasts.

Hopefully you see the new year as anticipation of a fresh start. Many of us find it to be a starting point for stiffening one’s resolve. Mostly I view it as a time for a little extra incentive to bring a few extra pounds under submission.

My point? Oh – right… Have you noticed how the arrival of the new year always seems to come with greater and greater promotion and glittery promises? Advertisements for a near infinite variety of products and services, each pushing FOMO to bring us to capitulation.

Some resist. Some don’t. Some don’t have resources to submit at all. Some fall captive to it all. Either way, we are shaped by all those incessant advertisements, images and noise pressed upon us. It’s true. Advertising strives to rule our future. The holidays marched steadily toward year’s end with ads steering us toward lights and excess. They want us to believe we’ll find love and laughter is we just buy ‘X’.

I once told my kids that ads were tools of the devil. They are because, with rare exception, they deal in lies. No expense is spared to separate us from our dollars just to leave us drained and chained in the cold new year’s light.

And our comprehension of the future isn’t affected only by advertisements. For many of us, ‘church’ has had its own version of advertising that shapes us. And that, too, affects our outlook on the year to come!

I shared a mental picture earlier. Now, let’s try this little exercise:
Choose a mental picture of Jesus. I’ll bet He looks like a gentle shepherd to you. Or perhaps he’s that long-haired guy in a white robe standing outside a door. Most of our images return something similar, don’t they? Keeling or looking skyward or holding a lamb or sitting and softly teaching with wisdom and gentleness. Or we see Him as if defeated, beaten and bloodied, carrying the cross. Or still hanging there, lifeless and dead – these are pictures that have long been pressed onto our minds.

When you first think of Him, does he look like a fearsome warrior arrayed for battle, dripping with blood? Do you first envision standing Him in triumph having defeated his enemies? Probably not. The enemy of our souls doesn’t want us to picture Him as He really is – mighty and victorious, as One who, with a mere breath, brings complete destruction upon His foes.

The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. (Isaiah 42:13 ESV)

That’s right. The Bible isn’t the place where we find the image of gentle Jesus passively glowing in soft, heavenly light.

Isaiah gives us a strong and clear picture. He tells us the truth about our God: Our God is a very mighty warrior indeed! In fact, Revelation reveals what He looks like as He “shows Himself mighty against His foes”:

“His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God…From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation 19:12, 13, 15, 16 ESV)

For the past month we sang about an ‘infant, so tender and mild’. And now I’m telling you that’s not a valid picture of Jesus? You even might think this battlefield image of Jesus contradicts our call as Christians. After all, it was Jesus who taught us to do this stuff, right? For example, as Christians, we aren’t supposed to:

turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39),
go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41),
give up our coat (Matthew 5:42),
love our enemies (Matthew 5:44),
show mercy (Matthew 5:7).
and forgive 70x7 (Matthew 18:21-22)

I understand the conflict. How can we do this and still see our God and Savior called “a man of war” whose robe is dipped in blood?

Because we are free. We can do the things He taught us because it isn’t our job to pronounce judgement on God’s enemies nor is our job to make them pay for wrongs against us, or to cough up the wages of their sin!

Once we grasp that, a whole new avenue to experiencing a new year comes alive!

We can weather hardships, trials, and injustices because we know that our God is coming back to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1), and He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). And we learn to love them so that they may come to worship this mighty, victorious warrior God. While our He is holy and just, He is also merciful. Merciful, even to the point of sacrificing His only Son that we, His enemies, could be made into friends.

That is a great way to launch a new year. Take a look… how do you see Jesus?

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