The end of tragedy; the promise of Jesus’s return
Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church
It’s hard to watch people die. That’s what many of us did last week as an asylum seekers’ boat was destroyed by the waves and rocks on the shore of Christmas Island. The vision was beamed around the world.
More than 30 people died. Some are still missing.
This is a huge tragedy that highlights the risks people are willing to take for a new start. It also highlights the lack of safety we (as Australians) provided, or were able to provide, for these people in our waters. This is a challenge for our political leaders. Let’s hope it doesn’t get bogged down in politics. Keeping people safe is bigger than politics.
Not that every risk can ever be overcome. We should know that. We who live in a fire burnt, drought ravaged, plain flooded land. We should know that.
Occupational health and safety may be a growth industry, but it will never make our world completely safe. It can’t.
That’s why the Christmas story is so important. Jesus’s birth is rightly celebrated as one bringing peace and joy to the world (even if only seen in limited ways for now). His life, death and resurrection give us confidence in His promise to return. He is our hope for now, and for then.
The First Coming revealed God in His love and showed the extent of that love. The Second Coming reveals Him in His glory. Best of all, this is when God restores all things to how they should be—ever safe. Peace and joy will rule.
So this Christmas, let’s celebrate Jesus’s birth, but let’s also remember the promise of His return. That’s when we’ll never have to watch people die again—ever.