Now and then was a phrase I heard as a child, and it would mean that things would happen in the present time, and it would repeat in the future. For most of us, we can look at our lives and see a lot of repetition. As a Christian, there is one thing that we can celebrate that is now and then. It is our deliverance from this present evil world. We can be delivered from the power of sin and the penalty of sin “now,” and our “then” gives us eternal deliverance.
In Galatians 1:4, Paul reminds them that Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue and deliver us from the evil world in which we live. This was not the final deliverance we will all one day receive, either by death or at the second coming of Christ. This rescues us from the world having power over us. It separates us from the rule of sin in our lives. In John 17:15-16, Jesus prays that the Father would leave them in the world, but keep them from the evil in the world. He expresses in verse 16 that we are not of the world, just as He is not of the world. He wanted His followers to remain to be a witness of who He is and how others can know Him. While living in this world now, we can still be delivered from the evil of this world. We can be delivered from the evil one, the Prince of the air, Satan.
Galatians 1:4 “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
John 17:15 “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
After spending 33 years on this earth, teaching, preaching, healing, and loving all, Jesus was about to die for the sins of the world. He had told the disciples he would be leaving. They didn’t understand what was about to happen. In John 14:1-3, Jesus reassures them that one day He would come again and receive them unto Himself. Jesus was tenderly filling their “now” with truths they didn’t understand. His words were given to produce comfort for the present time. These truths were also to bring peace and comfort to our own present situations. It was our “now” until we can get to the “then.”
John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
One day we will be delivered from this world forever more. Then we will live eternally with Christ forever. Then we will begin life like nothing we have ever encountered before. I Thessalonians 4:16-17 teaches us that Jesus will descend with a shout from Heaven. There will be the sound of a trumpet and all those who are alive and saved by the grace of God will be gathered together forever with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
One day our “then” will become reality. This gives us great hope for the future. It gives us great joy as we anticipate our life with God and all our loved ones that were saved and have gone on before us. It gives our “now” more purpose as we seek to live for Him and win others to Him. It is extremely important that we allow our view of our “then” to control our “now.” This will help us to be a witness to those who are not saved. Just as we will spend eternity with God, they will spend eternity in Hell with Satan and His demons. We need to get busy now because then it will be too late.
