I Heard the Bells

Christmas has come and gone for another year. And with it go the Christmas songs that seem ubiquitous since Thanksgiving. This year, one particular song found me and stopped me in my tracks: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day*. It’s not as popular as some hymns and not heard as often. This was its time. Each of four stanzas ends with “peace on earth, good will to men.” I found myself thinking, “if only.” Then I listened to the last two stanzas:

And in despair I bowed my head:

“There is no peace on earth,” I said

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor does He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

It has been over 2,000 years

since the angels announced the birth of Jesus, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). But just as most of the world missed the message behind Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, so has our present world. There is anything but peace on earth, but it’s coming. I know because it’s in God’s plan for the earth and He cannot lie (Tit.1:2). That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, there is also bad news. Peace will return to earth for 1,000 years, but only after a terrible period of seven years known as The Tribulation. This is a time of worldwide destruction and death with wars, famine, “natural” disasters and further rejection, by most people,  of the only way to avoid it: putting our faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to pay for your and my sin. For all who have made a decision to humble ourselves before almighty God, we will not go through this seven-year period. An event known as The Rapture will remove all believers in Jesus from the earth just prior to the start of The Tribulation.

This is a wake-up call.

To those of us who know Jesus as our Savior, a plea to become evangelists for the gospel of grace, mercy, and elimination of our debt of sin to those in our circle who don’t know Him. To those, a plea to realize life is short and can end without warning. There are many reasons to follow up on this warning with action. Heaven is without sin, sorrow, pain, lying, cheating, etc. A place of wonder and the presence of God, Jesus, angels and more. A place of beauty, peace, everything you wished for on earth but were denied because of the curse brought about by sin.

There is only one way to assure your place at the table: trust in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross to pay the debt of sin we all owe but don’t have the resources to pay.

If you’re just hearing about this

for the first time, visit our Steps To Salvation page (in the back of this book or online by clicking the link). There, you’ll get a good understanding of how God views you on your own without the lens of Jesus’ finished sacrifice. Don’t wait. God is patient, not wanting any to perish (2 Pet. 3:9), but there is a limit to it.

Thanks for reading.

* from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1864