I’ve always LOVED everything about Christmas!!! And I’ve always loved Christmas music; but as a child, I didn’t like the song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” because of the final line: “…and a Happy New Year.” Why? Because New Year’s meant returning to school: Christmas was over. I loved Christmas so much, I wanted it to be eternal.

For many, our early Christian life was like that. The first two years of my Christian walk were utter bliss. Life just seemed to get better and better. Then, trials set in; and my Christian life since 1984 has alternated between times of gladness and times of disappointment. Many Christians go through deserts and long for the green lands of their past.

Yes, we were saved in the past; but salvation is a process which won’t be completed until Jesus returns. When we were first saved, we began walking a straight and narrow road from which we’ll never fall due to our security in Jesus’ perfect life; but roads can lead through deserts. Still, a road’s a road, not the destination.

Scripture is filled with images of the believer’s life as a desert journey: the Hebrews, wandering through the desert to the Promised Land, or the frequent calls in the Prophets and Revelation to leave the Babylon of sin and go into the desert. Jesus himself, after his baptism, “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1) Struggling in a desert isn’t fun.

But our purpose isn’t to be permanent desert nomads:

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14 NIV)

We go through the desert to go home!

Our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21 NIV)

Since Jesus rose from the dead, he has no limitations! Pain and death are behind him, and he’s eternally alive! Paul says ours is the same destiny, and our bodies will be transformed to be like Jesus’ forever! The desert of this life first; then Heaven…and a transformed Earth as well:

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing…

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…(Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-6)

Let’s focus on what lies ahead, the new Heaven and Earth! This life is merely the desert road to the real life which begins when Jesus’ returns. Remembering Jesus’ incarnation can be great; but at best, it’s a temporary and imperfect celebration. What I want (and what the young me really wanted) is that Second Christmas, the eternal one that soon will be here.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Andrew

Prepare your heart for Sunday by reading the passage and listening to the songs we’ll sing.