By David Faust
Don’t you feel curious when you see a sign on a vacant lot that says, “Coming Soon”? It’s natural to wonder what restaurant, store, or church building will be constructed on the site. We like to know what is “coming soon.”
Economists try to predict stock market and housing trends. Sports analysts guess which teams will win their games, and by how many points. Political prognosticators study the polls to predict who will win November’s elections. In movie theaters, before the main feature starts, viewers sit through previews of coming attractions designed to entice customers to return.
Signs of Things to Come
My friend Mark Scott, who writes the Bible study column for Christian Standard each week, introduced me to an intriguing thought. He views Jesus’ miracles as previews of coming attractions—signs of things to come. He calls them “steps in the direction of the healing of all creation.” In other words, God’s past miracles make it easier to believe in future glories yet to be revealed. The Lord’s mighty deeds recorded in the Bible reveal in short bursts what happens when God’s kingdom shows up “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus’ miracles were spiritual eye-openers—purposeful signs of his deity, evidence of his messiahship. “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs” (Acts 2:22).
When he healed the sick, it foreshadowed the perfect health we will enjoy in the new heavens and the new earth. Because he enabled a man whose legs hadn’t worked for 38 years to pick up his mat and walk, it’s a little easier to believe that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” and someday “they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Because Jesus healed the deaf, it’s easier to imagine what it will be like to hear the angels praise God in heaven with perfect pitch and harmony.
His miracles of resurrection foreshadow the comfort we will receive when God wipes away every tear from our eyes and there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). When the Lord gave sight to a man who was born blind, the miracle supported his claim, “I am the light of the world,” and pointed toward the holy city that “does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23).
The Now and the Not Yet
Life is hard, for sin has contaminated the earth with pain and sorrow. Death casts a dark shadow over everything. Fear and woe taint the here and now.
But the signs and wonders John and other eyewitnesses saw Jesus perform truly are previews of coming attractions. They provide glimpses of future glories that go beyond what our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, or our minds have imagined. Yes, we live in the brokenness of “now.” But we serve a God who can heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, and raise the dead. By faith, we embrace the magnificent “not yet” of all that lies ahead.
And do you realize? In Revelation 22:7 the Lord posted a sign that says, “Coming Soon”!
Personal Challenge: What excites you most about heaven? What evidence compels you to believe in it and look forward to it? Read Revelation 21:1-4 and thank God for the new eternal dwelling place he is preparing for his people.
Author: David Faust
David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of Not Too Old: Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years.
