“I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have proposed it; I will also do it”. Isaiah 46:11 

In 1854 the Russian poet and diplomat Fyodor Tiutchev described the frightening world conditions as he saw them then. In a letter to his wife he wrote, “What is bewildering is the conviction. And it’s becoming more and more general, that all the perils that confront us, the direction of affairs is given over to a way of thinking that has no longer any understanding of itself. It is like being in a carriage, descending an increasingly precipitous slope, and suddenly realizing that there is no coachman in the box.”

The world does seems to be traveling in a runaway vehicle, hurtling widely through the dark night towards a terrible destruction. Racial tensions, religious conflicts, new diseases and continuous could force us to feel as if the world is reeling wildly out of control.

But the Christian views this frightening scene differently. We believe that even though Satan is called the ruler of this age, God is in ultimate control. We confidence in Isaiah’s promise that what God has spoken will come to pass. God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11). His hand “is stretched out over all the nations,” wrote Isaiah, and “who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:26-27). Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure.

The disasters, heartbreaks, and injustices all around us prove the truth of Hebrews 2:8. We live in an imperfect world in which many things are beyond our control. A 30-year-old farmer, unable to make his mortgage payments, wishes something could be done to prevent drought. A young mother of three children, widowed by a car crash of a commercial vehicle, can’t understand why modern technology can’t prevent such tragedies. A well educated successful professional man, convinced that we are headed for a nuclear holocaust, talk about suicide.

It is obvious that we humans are not properly exercising dominion over the earth, as we are created to do. But knowing this does not fill Christians with dismay and hopelessness. We look up and “see” Jesus at God’s right hand. We know that he possesses “all authority” in heaven and on earth because of what he did 2016 years ago. He lived here as man, overcame sin, paid the price for our transgressions on the cross, and broke death’s power. He is in ultimate control over everything, even now. Someday He will return to earth and make everything right. Now, however, we see Him through the eye of faith, and we experience inner joy and peace no matter what happens. When we can’t see out, we can still look up.       

On Palm Sunday, 1981, millions of Americans shared a great sense of anticipation as they awaited the liftoff of the manned space shuttle Columbia. More than 80,000 people crowded into Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre to witness the lunching of the nation’s first space plane. Hundreds of thousands drove to the near by roads for the best view they could get. And countless others watched the event on televison. As the countdown reach at least 10 seconds, the nation counted down in unison. Then the flying machine rose up straight up. Orange flames and vapour engulfed the launch site as sound and shock waves thundered through the air. The hopes of all future manned spaceflight seemed to focus on the success of that long awaited mission.

As promising as that event was, it’s nothing compared with another event: the return of the Lord to earth. He will usher the dawn of a new age like we have never seen. When he comes in the clouds with power and glory, all other hopes will look empty and foolish.

The glory of what we put into space is nothing compared with the glory that Christ will bring down when he returns.

The return of Jesus is sure, for what the Bible predicts and Christ promises, God will perform.