Last week we were lighting Advent Candles, in the midst of the Christmas celebration, and now here we are, standing on the brink of the New Year. But even though Christmas Day is past… the holiday music on radio and in the stores has ended, and Christmas items are being drastically marked down in stores, we can still hold on to the true Christmas attitudes and spirit. I can recall Elvis Presley, and several other artists, singing, “Why Can’t Every Day Be Christmas?” Advent helped us remember the birth of Jesus, as well as helping us prepare for the glorious return of our Lord to earth. And what better way for us to begin, and continue into the New Year, than with those Advent preparations still intact.
One of the ways some people begin the New Year is making New Year’s resolutions. I’d like to go on record here by saying I managed to keep 9 of my last year’s resolutions. I kept them…. safely tucked away in the empty journal I also resolved I was going to keep in 2023. I did keep the journal… in my bookcase.
Being on the brink of the New Year is like standing on a mountain, looking into the unknown future of 2024. It’s been said that those who don’t know where they’re going, will never get there. Regardless of our individual plans for our future, though, everyone stepping into the New Year is choosing their path into their future, whether or not they fully realize where those paths lead. So, whether we make resolutions, or set goals, we all begin, looking ahead, anticipating what we hope to accomplish in the New Year. But when the big ball hits bottom tonight, if we’re still awake, or when we open our eyes tomorrow morning, our journey of 366 days into 2024 (we get an extra day with leap year) will begin. What path will we choose?
Choosing our attitude for the New Year may help us choose our path. For those blessed with the hope, peace, joy, and love of Christmas, their attitude helps put them on the Lord’s way. Those who accept Jesus into their lives and are willing to commit to the Lord’s way are given God’s Sanctifying Grace, in Wesleyan terms… God setting us aside for His purposes, on His path to eternal life with Him.
Others may remain firm in their rejection, or even indifference, of Jesus as their Savior. They’ve chosen their own way forward, willing to risk the consequences.
Unfortunately, there are also those who mistakenly feel they haven’t rejected Him, but as in the Christmas story, have no room for Him in their lives, perhaps finding only a convenient place to squeeze Him in.
They may have heard about the good news of great joy, like the shepherds hearing the angels’ message, but really haven’t gone to see about Jesus for themselves, remaining indifferent, or satisfied with their status quo.
Without a commitment to the Lord’s way, though, they’ve inadvertently chosen the wrong way. Our OT lesson from Psalm 1 shows the two distinct paths we face. It’s an appropriate opening for the Book of Psalms, as well as an appropriate psalm to show our choices going forward into the New Year. In the first 3 verses the psalmist describes those on God’s path as happy, or blessed. They don’t walk in step with, or tag along, with the wicked, nor do they stand in the path of sinners, which is putting themselves in places where they are likely to be influenced by sin. I think we all can identify places where people might hang out, and even if they don’t engage in sinful activity, would be badly influenced by the sinful activities around them that may even result in their own evil thoughts and sinful actions. But those who are blessed, on God’s path… don’t listen to their counsel, or the unwise thoughts of the ungodly, or mock, or tear down, others. Their worldview, their ethical lives, and moral decisions are not determined by those in rebellion against God.
These “thou shalt nots” are things we should avoid. They don’t necessarily bring us happiness, but they at least keep us on the right path. But the next verse describes the person who knows God and enjoys His blessings. He delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on it throughout the day. Delight in the law of the Lord makes us want to read, hear, and understand God’s Word. In the Hebrew this psalm was written in, meditating wasn’t just a matter of introspective thinking, but meant bringing to mind the resulting understandings of the Law and speaking it. Although some may scoff at, or degrade God’s Word as too restrictive, it’s much more than that. It shows us God’s will for our futures of happiness, not doing the things that will be harmful, but then knowing the things that will make us strong and healthy. Finding the delight, the joy and happiness God wants for us.
Verse 3 even shows the results of delighting and meditating in God’s Word. A tree, nourished by rivers of water, would be expected to be strong and healthy. The analogy here, that we, like that tree, are being constantly nourished by His Living Water, and thrive, being spiritually healthy, producing fruits, good works, on a regular basis. You can tell if a tree is healthy by its leaves. A healthy tree’s leaves will be green and full, providing shade and beauty for others. Its leaves will not wither. If we are like the healthy tree, nourished by God’s Word, we will prosper. But be careful how we translate the word prosper. Those who promote the prosperity gospel would have us believe we will receive material wealth.
We shouldn’t translate prosperity in terms of physical wealth, but rather as lives blessed by knowing God, surrounded by others blessed by God, finding the joy of being in constant relationship with Him, and equipped with what God knows we need to do well in the lives He created us for.
The next two verses of this psalm address the ungodly – the sinners and the scornful – the opposite of His righteous ones. These are like the chaff blown away by the wind. In Biblical times, the stalks of the wheat crop were gathered onto threshing floors, built on hills, where the wind would blow unobstructed. Farmers would then throw pitchforks of grain above them, so the wind would carry away the chaff, or the outer casing of the wheat kernels, while the heavier kernels would fall back to the ground. Chaff, the remnants of little value, is analogous to sinners who are carried away by the winds of the world and have no meaningful purpose in God’s kingdom.
Like the chaff, the ungodly will be separated from the righteous at the judgement. They will not be able to stand, or be found worthy, in the judgement of God’s absolute justice. The final verse of the psalm is our assurance that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. The word ‘know’ is more than just an awareness, but rather a continuing, deep familiarity that keeps on knowing our way. He is our way, guiding us to be with Him in heaven. But the way of the ungodly shall perish. There’s a slight, but important difference between shall perish and will perish. Both refer to something happening, but shall is the stronger word, implying absolutely no doubt. The ungodly shall perish, sentenced to an eternal death, the destination of their chosen path.
But none of us would be considered righteous, able to meet the standards of
Psalm 1 for the Lord’s path. Even Abraham, David, and Paul had sins that would have made them unworthy. Should we then feel we are doomed to perish as ungodly? There is only one man who has walked this blessed path of righteousness. Christ Jesus, our Savior. And because He did walk that path, and died to save us, God sees us as righteous through the righteousness of Jesus. When we put our faith in Jesus, God no longer sees us ungodly, but as forgiven, as if we are righteous people. We are only vulnerable to the Enemy that lurks, waiting to direct us off the Lord’s path, when we leave His side.
Our NT lesson from Revelation 21 allows us to see the beautiful destination of the Lord’s way. But many people find the previous chapters of Revelation too terrifying to read, and miss the beauty of this chapter. Most of Revelation is filled with terrible times. In Matthew 24:22, Jesus even says, describing the end times, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” But if we take the time to delight in the Law of the Lord, as Psalm 1 tells us, we would understand that those who are prepared for His Coming again, the hope we talked about in Advent, will have already been gathered to meet Jesus in the air before the troubling Tribulation times. In Revelation 3:10, Jesus tells John, regarding the faithful churches “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” In I Thessalonians 4:17, Paul further reassures the Thessalonian church, “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever”. So, those on the Lord’s way, those seen as righteous, will be taken from earth to meet the Lord before the great trials on earth begin to test the remaining inhabitants of earth.
So, it’s important that we understand that those who believe in Jesus, who are prepared and have chosen His path of righteousness won’t have to undergo what the ungodly, those walking their own path, will have to undergo during the 7 years of testing before Jesus returns to the earth. In those tribulation years, there will be pastors still preaching from their pulpits, those giving righteous appearances as elite church leaders, those who had no room for Jesus in their lives, and even good people doing charitable acts but who don’t know Jesus and were not ready to meet Him. There will still be hope though, because many will then realize their failure and elect to confess Jesus as their Savior during that time. We heard Jesus mercifully state in Matthew 22, that, for the sake of these elect, those days will be shortened. It'll be Satan, in his kingdom, that will make these times so terrifying. Those who worship Satan, will bear the torments of Satan’s counterfeit kingdom on earth.
But at the end of those awful times, Jesus leads His army from heaven and meets the rebellious kings of the earth at Armageddon. The ensuing battle is over with just a Word and Jesus begins His millennial reign as the King of Peace, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophesies.
Those of us prepared with the Advent qualities of Christmas will experience the deep beauty of Revelation 21 that Jesus had revealed to John. The new heaven and the new earth come as the first heaven and earth have passed away. Earl’s Prelude this morning, The Holy City, is based on that event. The Holy City of God, the new Jerusalem, will be God’s place among the people, where He will dwell with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, with no death, no mourning, no pain, for they too will have passed away.
Jesus then declares those wonderful words, “I am making all things new!” Those who had chosen His path of righteousness will be His Children. But the ungodly, those he specifically lists, the idolater, the sexually immoral, those practicing witchcraft, and so on, will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. It’s the second death, the soul’s consignment to eternal death.
The terrifying torments in Revelations should scare us enough to want to avoid that path. But we’ve seen the real motivation in following Jesus on His way forward. Letting every day be Christmas, celebrating the humble birth of our Messiah, and preparing for the glorious return of Jesus as our Prince of Peace, when we shall know the love and mercy of our Savior.
So, as we face the New Year, choosing our path into the New Year, choose wisely to ensure you are on His path, the way to eternal life. When the Lord has come again, and earth has received her king. And He has made all things new. Amen.
