God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
Psalm 68:1, ESV
The promise of Christ’s return is not a matter of “if” but “when.” It is going to happen and stands ever before us as a promise. Those who killed our Lord upon the Cross thought that things were finished once He was buried in the tomb. They believed they would return to the way things had been, but they were not prepared for the tomb opening and the dead Messiah walking out. The Church has always been underestimated as she has been oppressed and mocked. The martyrs have given all for her, and there are those that have thought the cry, “God is dead!” would put things to an end. Yet she still stands. Our Lord has always left a remnant to build up His bride, and we know one day, when the cry, “It is finished!” rings out, that the words spoken on the Cross will come to fulfillment for the entirety of Creation. We know those words fulfilled the promise of salvation for all who believe, but we await the end of all suffering. We will be joined with all the saints of history in glorious song and praise to the one and only Son of God. We will see the fullness of the three-in-one and know the hope is fulfilled, and there will be no more sin or suffering. We will live in the knowledge that death is no more. Until then, we await and proclaim while we suffer. We suffer with hope and a mission as we seek to bring in those whom God has chosen, but they don’t know the promises yet and need to hear the Good News. All God’s enemies will know their folly, but our prayer is for those that are deceived and seek to snatch them from the deceiver’s grasp so that they may know the fullness of life in our Lord.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.