Christian Author: Writing to Raise the Gaze

No Anticlimax ... 

Our friend from England, Joyce, had heard so much about the beautiful colours of fall in Canada, that she wished she could have stayed a few more weeks to witness for herself the full splendour of the leaves with their glorious, contrasting colours.

    Before her flight back home from Toronto, each day she eagerly noted the slight turning of the leaves - the fading green here, the turning to gold there; and a reddish blush amidst the mostly greens and yellows.   

    However, her flight was booked, and she had to get back to her husband Jim, and her poodles! And so, Joyce missed the most vivid colours and glorious scenes of the climactical period of an Ontarian fall.

    Sometimes we must move on before the thing we long to experience comes to fruition. Feels anticlimactic, but that can be OK. Moses led the tribes of Israel through tough times in the wilderness for forty years. The Lord had used him to galvanize these former slaves into becoming a nation under God.

    The period encompassed two generations. The first was to die out before the succeeding one could be entrusted with entry into the Promised Land. Anticlimactic for the former generation, for sure. But remember, they regretted leaving Egypt - the land of their bondage and slavery, and resented the hardships encountered en route to freedom.

    Picture faithful old Moses, at one hundred-and-twenty years of age, standing on Mount Nebo's peak Pisgah, viewing the Promised Land beyond the Jordan river, knowing that this is the end of his earthly trail. He can see the Promised Land, but God won't permit him to enter it; at least, not this side of the grave (see Deuteronomy 32:48-51). Anticlimactic, for sure!

    Some years ago my wife, May, and I were very moved as we stood on Mt. Nebo, situated to the east of the northern end of the Dead Sea, and viewed on the western horizon, as did Moses, the land beyond Jordan. We felt a deep pang for him. Our eyes distinguished the flash of shimmering golds and silvers generated by the sun striking Jerusalem's domes and roofs in the distance. We'd soon be on our way back there, then bused to Tel Aviv airport for our flight home to Canada. No anticlimax for us, since we had been in Jerusalem several days before.

    Many centuries after Moses' death, Peter, James, and John are on a mountain in Israel with Jesus (ref. Matthew 17). What an awe-inspiring scene, as the three witness their Lord Jesus transfigured before their very eyes. His face begins to shine like the sun, and His clothes take on a glistening luminescence, till they appear white as the light. And then, who appears - but Moses and Elijah! In whatever form this was, Moses had gained entry to the Promised Land after all, in God's perfect plan and time!

    He'd played a part in preparation for the coming of Christ, and eventually got to meet Him face to face right there in the Promised Land.

    Joyce, and you and I, and all who have received Him will meet our Saviour, too. Our eyes will behold Him, whether we presently live in the Americas, in Europe, or in other lands across the seas.

    In Jesus we glimpse the gold and silver - the riches of God's grace - in store for those who love Him.  . . . as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

A Prayer

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for allowing us to see, as it were, the golds and silvers of Your purpose and plan for those who respond to Your grace in Jesus Christ. Despite life's disappointments, You have purposed to bring us through into the fulness of eternal life as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven with a place in the New Jerusalem. Help us to lead others from life?s wilderness into the 'promised land' of salvation and life in Christ. In Jesus' Name, Amen.