THE POWER OF SUDDENLY
Luke 2:10-13 (KJV) And the angel said unto them …, 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord…. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God….
“And suddenly there was….” God is a God of suddenlies. Consider Noah. The world was so wicked that God grieved (Gen 6:6); therefore, He spoke to Noah, letting him in on His plan to destroy the world with a global flood, caused in part by forty consecutive days of rain. Some believe it had never rained before; imagine Noah's difficulty convincing the skeptic. There certainly had never been a global flood, and even if it had rained before, probably not 40 days straight. Can you imagine Noah having to explain why he spent about 75 years building a huge boat on dry ground to prepare for a global flood caused by 40 days of rain? Skeptics, no doubt, remained steadfast, for a global flood is ludicrous, or so it seemed. Day in and day out, no rain and no flood, justifying their cynicism, when suddenly, the first drop falls. Days later every living human perished except the 8 in the ark.
Centuries later, God’s holy people were enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. That’s a while. For context, the United States has only been a country for about 250 years. Imagine asking a young Hebrew child what he wants to be when he grows up. He would think the question odd. His choices are singular. He will be a slave, like his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and so on. The question itself would be bad form. Slavery is all they would ever know, or so it seemed. Suddenly, after 400 years, and a pharaohic edict to kill all Hebrew male children at birth (Exo 1:22), one escapes, grows up, and God uses him to deliver.
Fast-forward another few centuries, the temple had been destroyed and many Jews deported. How to remain Jewish in a Babylonian culture becomes the question of the day. Daniel happened to remember a prophecy by Jeremiah that the exile would only last 70 years (Jer 29:10), so he began to pray (Dan 9:2-3). Persia conquers Babylon, the Jews and their land part of the spoils. Israel as a nation was finished, or so it seemed. Suddenly, the new Persian king takes a liking to the Jews and their God and authorizes them to return to their land and rebuild their temple, supplying them with resources for the task. Fifty thousand made the initial trek (Ezra 1). The Jews had their land back, but would not be autonomous over it. The whole thing would happen again in 1948 after a world war, a UN resolution, a Jewish declaration of statehood, and a US replacement president responding in support within eleven minutes, becoming the first world leader to formally recognize the modern nation of Israel. Suddenly, Israel was an autonomous nation again, its people returning in mass to their homeland.
There is more. After 400 years of no notable prophetic visitations, suddenly, God breaks the silence and speaks to a priest about a child who would prepare the way for the messiah; his wife becomes pregnant with John the Baptizer. A few months later He speaks to a young, Godly, Jewish woman who, nine months later, gives birth to a baby in a manger. Suddenly, God became a man, the Savior, Christ the Lord, the long-awaited messiah. Thirty-plus years pass and that same messiah was on display, pinned to a cross, blood and water flowing, proving the messianic dream was over, or so it seemed. This time it only took three days. Suddenly, the stone made a sound. The curious Roman guards glance. Something was off; then, the event. He’s alive!
Depression, anxiety, temptation, addiction, or whatever our struggle, may cause us to feel overwhelmed and the reality of victory light years away. Defeat may seem like the new norm and hopelessness our lot. Our faith has failed and our salvation cut short, or so it seems. With all the force of a suddenly, truth reemerges. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and our cries for help do not go unheard (Ps 34:17-18; Rom 10:13). Just as when God suddenly grabbed our attention with the gospel and transformed us from our selfish existence, He will do it again and again, bringing salvation to the uttermost, delivering us from our ongoing bout with sin and self (Heb 7:25). We are not hopeless! Jesus never stops being a Savior, and it doesn’t stop there. While people live as if this natural world is all there is, suddenly, the greatest shock in human history (Matt 24:37-39). The clouds will part and a Jewish man on a white horse bearing a sword will emerge, cemeteries will become hot spots as dead bodies break through the hardened soil, leaving dirt and shattered gravestones trickling behind their rise. They join the rider’s quest, the living right behind, and together with the angels, all fall into formation of a procession of great power and glory (Matt 24:30-31; 1 Thess 4:16-17). We will be transformed, like Him, sinless and eternal (1 Jn 3:3; 1 Cor 15:52). Oh, fellow believer, let’s never lose heart with the daily grind and the many disappointments life throws at us, for wonderful suddenlies stand just around the corner.
