May 4 Reflections
The Return of the Messiah
and the Fulfillment of God’s Kingdom
How does the promise of Christ’s return bring hope to your life?
Does the promise of the return and final judgment of Jesus as King create a sense of urgency in the church’s mission? How so?
What does the vision of the new heaven and earth reveal about God’s ultimate plan?
Consider: From the very beginning of the biblical narrative, God has been working to redeem the story. He created the earth, inhabitants, and mankind with an intentional design of beauty, love, and worship. The everlasting ending of the story concludes with a return to that design. The death and resurrection of Jesus serves as the high point of the story, but its finality completes the restoration of God’s original plan. He will live in relationship with His beloved in a beautiful garden and a holy city with mankind experiencing the life of the tree forevermore. The story ends in the same way that it began with the Lord receiving rightly ordered worship from all of creation.
