I was thinking this morning that it seems that most people look ahead when it comes to things pertaining to God. The Jews were caught up in the “future tense” when Jesus their Messiah was walking here on earth and of course they missed Him because of looking for a future Messiah. The Jews of today, two thousand years later are still waiting and looking to the future for their Messiah. We of course know the Messiah has come and their looking to the future for their deliverance is of course a waiting game that will never bring results.

Many sincere Christians of today are doing the same thing. They are looking to the future for a deliverance from this present evil world. Some may be looking to the future because of some personal prophecy someone has spoken over them or whatever else may be the reason. Most are eagerly anticipating the second coming of Christ when all those that believe will be plucked off the face of the earth and terrible judgment will fall on all those that haven’t said the sinners prayer and will remain to be tortured. Some are looking for terrible calamities to fall upon this earth before any of these things come to pass and look at every disaster that happens upon the earth as the hand of God punishing sin that is in the world. They, like the Jews are missing the Messiah because they are looking to the future.

The list could go on and on and I personally believed all these things until a couple of years ago when the Lord began to reveal Himself in me. This is of course an ongoing process and I am seeing more clearly as the days go on as the veil is further lifted off my eyes.

Where should we be looking for this deliverance that people think is a future thing that will happen? Is there a something coming in the future that will deliver us from evil? I believe to say that something is coming in the future to deliver us is either not understanding what happened at the cross or else it is saying that the cross of Christ had no power whatsoever. We must remember that when Jesus said “it is finished” He was not talking about something that was partially finished. He was not saying that He had finished His job and now we had ours to do to complete the picture. No, He said it was finished and that’s exactly what it was…finished.

What had He finished? He had completed the plan of His Father to come to earth and restore mankind back to Himself and the Bible calls that redemption. He had freed mankind from sin and had taken all judgment due to us, upon Himself. He had done away with the law that was keeping us bound. He had taken away the necessity of us performing for any thing in regards to God and being right with Him. The list could go on and on here as well.

So should we look to the future or the present for our total deliverance? No of course not. We are to look to the past as it was all completed over two thousand years ago. I was told almost thirty years ago when I first became a believer that the end of the world was likely less than five years away due to what they were seeing happening around the world at the time. Well thirty years later they are still looking to the next five years and are likely still saying the same thing. When you look to the future for anything that has already happened in the past, the wait is not going to end and you will die still waiting. Let’s look to the proper place and see what has happened and not what will happen. That place of course is the cross of Calvary where Jesus paid the full price and set us totally free from sin, law and judgment. He finished it on our behalf and we are now fully restored back to the Father.

Is Jesus coming back to earth at a future time? I don’t know as I am sure we all understand that He can do whatever He wants to. Where is He now? He entered every heart of mankind after having completed His mission here on earth and we are all His temple. I am not sure He needs to return if He is already here living in His temple which is His body. Has He said He would return? Yes He did but that is another thing that happened two thousand years ago when He resurrected. If He is coming back in the future He has not mentioned it in Scripture as all Scripture was fulfilled in Him at the cross. What a glorious Gospel of Grace and Peace this is. Good news for sure.