Once again (and so quickly!) we have arrived at another Friday when we look forward to our gathering together in the worship of our King and Lord. On Sunday we will complete our series of messages on ‘The Church Under the Cross.’ Our subject will be ‘The Cross and Our Future.’

If I were to ask you to name a book of the Bible that is futuristic in its outlook, you’d likely be thinking of Revelation, the final inspired book of Holy Scripture. It is surely true that this amazing Epistle has much to say regarding the future of God’s people, and the world. The first verse of the first chapter declares to the reader that the book’s subject matter concerns “ things that must soon take place.”

But what is really curious about this Epistle are the numerous references to something that happened in the past. Sprinkled throughout this letter are reminders of our Lord’s death upon the cross. The first of these is discovered in verse 5 of the opening chapter:

“. . . . To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”

And then, another is found in verse 7:

“ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”

And there a many other references just like these that you’ll find as you navigate the twenty-two chapters of John’s letter.

Of course, this raises the question of why, in a book that is presumably all about the future, are there so many appeals to a past event? What does the cross have to do with the future of the Church?

Well, I can’t wait to dig into this theme with you on the Lord’s Day as we consider Revelation 1:1-8.