Jesus: The King of 2020
The turn of yet another decade. How wild is that?
I remember all the hubbub of y2k. The fear of world-wide computer failure that threatened to change life as we know it. But I also remember January 1st of the year 2000. Well kind of. There wasn’t anything particularly memorable about it because life carried on just as it had the day before. Y2k flopped.
I remember 2012, the year the world was supposed to end. But I also remember 2013 when the world was still here.
Time and time again, the future of our world has seemed uncertain. In fact, I might argue that to the non-Christian it seems uncertain right now. But even if the worst of the uncertainty came to pass, if all the fears of y2k or 2012 had come to fruition, the essence of the Christian’s view of history would be exactly the same. We would still be the only people on earth with a true and real hope.
To anyone without the sure and steady rock of God’s sovereignty under their feet, every tick on the clock presents a new moment for everything to go horribly wrong. I mean consider the fact that there are nearly 8 billion unpredictable people on this world. Someone 15 feet from you could decide to do something that could change your life forever. But the Christian, even knowing this, stands firm.
Now, I could illustrate this with the lives of any number of Old Testament saints. Daniel taken by Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph in Egypt, or every leader that rose up in the book of Judges. God’s sovereignty spills over the pages of history. But let me simply give you one verse from the New Testament that ought to grip us when any uncertainty comes our way:
“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)
Now that sure is a statement. Paul saw our Lord as “the King of the Ages,” not just the King of the Old Testament age, or even simply of the New Testament age. He’s the King of every age.
A high view of God is the bedrock for a Christian’s peace in this world. If indeed Jesus is the King of the Ages, then He’s the King of this age too, and if He’s the King, then every single thing that happened in 2019 and every other year happened because the King allowed it to happen.
Elon Musk presented the new Cybertruck, Disney+ created a whole new reason to spend a Saturday at home in bed, the internet exploded with plans to break into Area 51, President Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives, there were shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, and church bombings in Sri Lanka. But the King of the Ages is still on the throne.
The essence of the Christian’s view of history is simply this: Jesus is the King of the Ages.
So whether or not the year 2020 shuts down all the world computers, or cataclysmic natural disasters take us by surprise, the Christian stands firm because the King who gave His own life for the one’s He loves still sits on the throne.
No wonder Peter told us to “always [be] prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). The Christian life is one of profound hope in the face of hopelessness. Let’s give the world a reason to ask.
