The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever. Revelation 11:15 NIV
History is littered with men who came with the intention and desire to conquer and shape time in their image. The delusion they shared with their followers was that their presence was indelible and undefeatable. But they all passed from the stage of human history, leaving only mentions and mostly dark marks of shame and failure. Standing alone and tall among them is Jesus, the man who will not go away. He did not come to conquer. In His own words, He came to serve, to seek, to save. In so doing, He conquered hearts, sin, and death, and remains an inescapable presence. Empires rise and fall, philosophers die and their philosophies fade. Enemies try to kill Him. Critics try to dismiss Him, yet Jesus persists. His influence only grows.
Jesus is the inescapable presence in history. Think about it. Recorded history shows it. Time itself splits at His birth. Every person dates their own lives by His. The global calendar is structured around the estimated time of His birth. We have BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, a Latin phrase, “in the year of our Lord”). Newer attempts to rename the eras to CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before the Common Era) still use His birth as the dividing line.
Jesus is the inescapable presence in conscience and human ethics. Human dignity was transformed by Jesus and His followers. The concept of universal human equality, individual value, and the worth of the most vulnerable came to us through Jesus. Ancient social norms were transformed as all around the world followers of Jesus and His teachings led directly to the care for the poor, saving babies and disabled people, and the creation of institutional hospitals and charity networks. You can trace them all to Jesus. The moral framework and standards in places where the influence of Jesus traveled changed those environments. Core western concepts of justice, mercy, and caring for the marginalized show the birth and heavy influence of Jesus. Slavery of all kinds ends where He goes. Even when there is a new effort to banish God from public life or personal thought, His voice keeps speaking through personal conscience. Witnesses from cultures all around the world in every generation speak to the inner awareness of a standard of Truth.
Jesus is the inescapable presence of comfort when the world walks away. He is the one person who refuses to abandon us, stepping through the locked doors of our fears and failures with the promise in Hebrews 3:5 HCSB: “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
- Jesus is the only One who will never leave. He is the Man who will not go away. Aren’t you grateful? Praise Him!