SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH DAILY BREAD – A DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR CHILDREN
EASTERN NIGERIA UNION CONFERENCE
CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES
*Theme* : I WILL GO
Monday, June 14, 2021
*Topic* : The promise
_Listen! I am coming soon! I will bring rewards with me. I will repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End… Jesus is the One who says that these things are true. Now he says, “Yes, I am coming soon” Revelation 22:12, 13, 20_
It has been almost two thousand years since Jesus made the promise that he would return to earth for his followers. The people who knew him when he lived on earth are long since dead. We remember only the followers whose names are in the Bible. But this promise to come again remains, and the question is not “Will Jesus come?” but “Do we really want him to come?” What will it be like when he does?
Before they met Jesus, some of the men and women who became his disciples had led routine, uneventful lives. Others were frustrated or unhappy. Night in and night out Peter and Andrew, James and John had fished when the weather permitted and mended nets when it didn’t. their days and nights were always the same. Levi Matthew collected taxes. Avoided by people who otherwise would have been his friends, Matthew’s life was lonely-dull and lonely. Mary Magdalene felt trapped. Unable to change her life style, she was an embarrassment to family and neighbors. Desperate would have been a good word to her feelings. Peter and Andrew, James and John, Martha and Mary were just a few of the people who four years earlier had been leading routine, frustrating, and ordinary lives.
Then Jesus appeared in Judea. He was baptized by John and began His public ministry. The lives of his friends changed. For almost three and a half years they tramped up and down the roads of Palestine with Jesus. They saw miracles, incredible miracles. Jesus calmed the storm, fed more than five thousand people from five loaves and two small fishes, healed lepers, made blind people see, and raised the dead. Some of Christ’s followers even performed miracles themselves. Their lives were totally changed.
There were many days when the disciples must have casually brushed against the coarsely woven garment Jesus wore as they walked together, they felt the fir, touch of His hand on their shoulders as they talked quietly. They sensed the depth of His love and care for them in His eyes. The sound of His voice gave them a feeling of comfort and peace; His laughter brought warmth and closeness. They saw Him heal by His touch, calm with His voice, dispel fear with a look.
They were there each day, watching Him work. Many nights they must have sat around campfires, eating with the Master, telling Him their hopes and fears, learning to pray, to teach, to love, and to live. Each day they loved Him more until being with Jesus was the only thing that mattered.
There had, of course, been arguments about who would be greatest in Christ’s kingdom. How silly those arguments now seemed! For now there was no kingdom. Jesus was dead. There would be no more exciting confrontations with the Jewish leaders, no more travel, no more crowds of people, no more miracles. No more Jesus. That was what really hurt most. No more Jesus.
To give him up, to go back to their former lives was unthinkable, but what else could they do? This was the worst Sabbath of their lives.
Jesus’ disciples were, of course, mistaken. It wasn’t over. On the first day of the week Jesus rose from the dead. A great adventure was just beginning. After his resurrection Jesus appeared several times to his disciples. These times were very special to them. Eagerly they listened to His words. Jesus appeared when they didn’t expect Him. One morning He called to them from the shore of Galilee, where He had cooked breakfast for them. Another time Jesus’ followers met with Him on a mountainside. Each time Jesus encouraged them and talked with them about the work they were to do for Him.
All too soon, it seemed, Jesus was taken from the disciples again, but this time it was different. This time He was not placed in a tomb. This time they saw Him taken up into heaven. In the years that stretched ahead, Jesus’ followers would travel over the known world. They would teach and preach, they would perform miracles, they would confront rulers and nurture the growing churches of Christ. The excitement was just beginning.
One thing was missing in the new life, however, James and John, Peter and Andrew, Mary and Levi Matthew, people who were used to being with Jesus every day, missed being with him. True, they could talk to Him in prayer. The comforter Jesus had sent more helpful than they could have imagined. But it just wasn’t the same. They missed seeing Jesus, Hearing his voice, being able to touch Him.
One thing though encouraged Jesus’ friends in the days and years following His death and resurrection. Jesus had promised to come back to take them with Him. He had given this promise even before His death, but the disciples weren’t listening then. When Jesus ascended to heaven, the angels repeated the promise to the disciples. Remembering it, gave them courage to do the work Jesus had given to them. Tradition tells us that some of the followers of Jesus watched for Him as they traveled up and down the roads to Palestine and beyond. We can imagine them stopping at crossroads, shading their eyes to look into the distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jesus. But He did not come back. One by one Jesus’ eleven disciples died or were put to death. Finally only John was left.
John was a prisoner on the isle of Patmos toward the end of his long life. One Sabbath, in vision, John saw Jesus, not as He looked when He was on earth, but in a glorified form. John fell at Jesus feet. “Fear not,” Jesus said, “I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:17, 18, KJV). John’s heart thrilled with new love and faith. He remembered the promise Jesus gave the night of his betrayal; “Let not your heart be troubled…. I will come again” (John 14:1-3, KJV). As he saw Jesus in vision John wrote, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7, KJV). How much that promise meant to Him! It made John’s life on Patmos bearable.
John wanted His friend Jesus to come back to him. He never stopped missing Jesus. At the end of the book of Revelation John records Jesus’ renewed promise, “Surely I come quickly.” John’s response was immediate, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22;20, KJV).
As we put together the parts of the biblical picture of Jesus’ second coming we begin to catch something of the splendor and the wonder that is to be. The triumphal processions of ancient Rome, the royal procession of London today, the ticker-tape parades of New York or Montreal are dull and lifeless beside the glory of that day. It will be the greatest day in all the history of the universe.
The sky will “(vanish) like a scroll that is rolled up” (Revelation 6:14, RSV), and “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NJV). Powerful angels will gather God’s people “from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24;31, NJV). A vast throng of beings will fill the heavens in that day.
There will be “all the holy angels,” ten thousand, times ten thousand and thousands of thousands” (Matthew 25:31, NIV), as well as all the people who are redeemed, a great multitude beginning with Adam. There will be so many people that it would seem impossible to count them. They will come from every country, race, and language group (Revelation 7:9). In the center of this scene will be Jesus.
The disciples were mistaken if, as tradition says, some looked for Jesus on a road in Palestine. When Jesus comes, everyone will see him. Can you imagine not only seeing Jesus or being a part of the excitement of the second coming? Can you imagine feeling a little strange inside and realizing that suddenly you have become immortal?
Some young people are not sure they want Jesus to come-not now anyway. Maybe when they are older and have experienced life – after they’ve owned a car, had a successful career, traveled, fallen in love, and married – maybe then they would want Jesus to come. Somehow they feel that if Jesus comes before they have lived all of life, they will be cheated. What they don’t realize is that when we actually see Jesus, nothing else will matter anymore. All the good things we want, as well as all the bad things that have happened to us, just aren’t important when Jesus comes.
Your parents are divorced – the empty feeling inside will be gone.
Your grandmother died – she will join you when you rise up to meet Jesus.
You moved away from your friends – you now will be with them forever.
Your parents have promised a trip round the world – what is that compared to a journey in space?
Nothing matters anymore.
*Song*
Sweet promise is given to all who believe–
“Behold I come quickly, Mine own to receive;
Hold fast till I come; the danger is great;
Sleep not as do others; be watchful, and wait.”
Refrain
“Hold fast till I come,” sweet promise of heaven–
“The kingdom restored, to you shall be given.”
“Come, enter My joy, sit down on the throne;
Bright crowns are in waiting; hold fast till I come.”
Yes! this is our hope, ’tis built on His word–
The glorious appearing of Jesus, our Lord;
Of promises all, it stands as the sum:
“Behold I come quickly; hold fast till I come.”
*Prayer*
Dear Lord, thank you for this promise. You always keep your words. Help me to be ready for your coming. Come Lord Jesus, Come. Amen
