Romans 8:31-39 - The Eternal Date Line - December 31, 2020

In 1522, the Victoria, a Spanish ship originally commanded by Ferdinand Magellan arrived in port at Cape Verde, Portugal. Three years earlier, it had left Seville, Spain and sailed to the west. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean, skirted past the tip of South America, traversed the Pacific and Indian Oceans, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the horn of Africa, and returned home to Spain. This storm-beaten ship had just become the first vessel to sail around the world. But there was a problem. By their careful accounting, it should have been July 9th when they landed. But to the citizens of Cape Verde, it was July 10th. It seemed to them like they had lost a day. It left them scratching their heads. This mystery continued to prove problematic for world travelers for centuries, all the way until 1884, when representatives from all over the world gathered together to solve the problem. They did so by establishing the International Date Line – an invisible line which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole through the Pacific Ocean – a line which helps makes sense of time in every corner of the globe. [1]

In an even deeper and more profound way, we need a base line, or a date line, spiritually. Why? Well, because we live in times that don’t make much sense. Do you have the stomach for a brief review of the past year? The President was impeached by the US House of Representatives (and acquitted by the Senate). Kobe Bryant and his 13 year old daughter died in a helicopter accident just outside of Los Angeles. Jussie Smollet lied about being the victim of a hate crime in Chicago. Actress Laurie Loughlin pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to a college admissions scandal. George Floyd died in police custody – igniting riots throughout the country. The Washington Redskins became the Washington Football Team. That’s not even to mention the pandemic and the election. And those are just the global headlines. On a personal level, you may have experienced troubles with your car or your job or your family or your finances. You may want to describe 2020 the way Paul described his times: Trouble, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. Just as it is written: For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Yep, that about sums up 2020, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t make any sense, does it? Especially for us. Aren’t we God’s people? Isn’t he all-powerful and all loving? Shouldn’t he be there to rescue us before our lives fall apart? Shouldn’t he prevent pandemics – or at least protect his people from them? Where is he when the simple act of coming to church is made to feel like an illegal act of rebellion? Where is he when law-abiding people are punished and rioters are praised? Where is he when government officials advise us not to celebrate Christmas with friends and family? [2] Where was God in 2020 and where will he be in 2021?

Questions like those illustrate our need for something solid, something definite, a date line that can help us navigate the perils of the present and the uncharted waters of the future. Because, to be honest, in all likelihood 2021 will contain just as much trouble and distress and persecution and danger for us. As we look ahead to the New Year, it would be very easy to be afraid – especially with so many voices telling us that the darkest days are ahead of us. Will the lockdowns continue? When will you be able to visit your elderly loved ones in nursing facilities? When will children go back to school in person? Will there be more rioting and looting this year? Will things ever go back to “normal”? With so many apparent reasons to be afraid in 2021, what we need most of all is something solid, something objective, something to make sense of it all.

Thankfully, in the words before us this evening Paul points us to the date – and more importantly, the person – who can make sense of our times. We might call it the “eternal date line.” It is the reference point for all of history. And you know what that date is. It’s the date we just celebrated. It’s Christmas – not Christmas 2020 but the original Christmas that took place in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. While the devil and the world have done their best to obscure the real meaning of this date with reindeer and fat men in red suits, they haven’t succeeded. Christmas is still about one thing: the incarnation of our Lord. Christmas marks the date that the eternal God broke into human history, to begin executing his grand plan of salvation by doing the unthinkable: by taking on human flesh. Even our calendars recognize the supreme importance of this date: every year before that first Christmas is identified as BC “Before Christ” and every year after, until the end of time, are AD, anno domini, “The Year of our Lord.” The world around us may misuse and abuse and ignore what God did for us on Christmas – but even they can’t ignore the fact that all of history revolves around Christmas.

The question is: how does birth of a baby boy, to a poor virgin mother with no human father, in a manger, announced by an angelic army to a bunch of dirty shepherds make sense of our times and provide the solution to all of our problems – past, present, and future. The answer is that the eternal Son of God didn’t just enter our time and space as a tourist, to explore our planet – he did it to take upon himself all of our sins, the senseless rebellious things we’ve done – past, present, and future – and to suffer their eternal consequences on the cross. Paul puts this profound truth very simply: God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Isaiah elaborates, and his words are well worth pondering: surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings. We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the LORD has charged all our guilt to him (Isaiah 53:4-6). Christmas marks the date that God kept the promise he first made to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15) to send a Savior from sin, death and the devil. That’s why Christmas matters. That’s why Christmas is the most important event that has ever happened – and will ever happen – in this world – yes, even more important than Magellan’s ship circumnavigating the globe and even more important than the development of a vaccine for Covid-19. Christmas isn’t just the baseline for our calendars – it’s the bedrock of our eternity.

But still, how does that really help us as we step into 2021? Can Christmas help us understand what the New Year holds? Well, yes and no. No, Christmas doesn’t tell us what 2021 holds for our world, our nation, our state, or for you personally. But Christmas does tell us where God will be in the New Year: what then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! Christmas has profound implications for us in the New Year. Do we fear new restrictions on our freedom to worship or some other form of religious persecution? God is for us – it doesn’t matter who’s against us. Are we concerned that our economy or our personal finances are going to be ruined? We shouldn’t, because the same God who gave us his Son promises to give us everything we need for life in this world. As we turn the calendar over, do sins of the past haunt you? Do you lay awake at night sweating through the accusations of the devil and your own conscience? Those are empty accusations, because God has already justified you – declared you “not guilty” – for Jesus’ sake. Do you fear that 2021 might be the year God calls you or someone you love home to heaven? There’s no reason to fear death, because Jesus rose from the dead, is interceding for you and will greet you by name at heaven’s gates.  

Now, don’t misunderstand, this doesn’t mean that 2021 is guaranteed to be a wonderful year. It doesn’t mean that it will be free from pain, loss, hardship and suffering…or lockdowns and facemasks and virtual learning. This world is still broken. You and I (and all the people around us) are still broken, fallen sinners. There’s no reason to believe that the political and racial and economic divisions in our nation will be healed. There’s no reason to believe that Covid-19 will suddenly vanish. There’s no guarantee that things will ever go back to “normal.” In 2021 we may experience sickness and suffering, injury and illness; we may have family, financial and health issues. We will make bad decisions and suffer the consequences. But Christmas proves that those problems – problems which may appear to separate us from God’s love – will not prevail. God’s love will prevail. No matter what the New Year brings, you can be sure that it is filled with God’s love for you – and for proof you need look no further than Bethlehem’s manger and Calvary’s cross – there God proved his love for us by giving us and then giving up his only begotten Son.

There’s a story about the 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon when he was traveling through the English countryside. He passed by a barn with a weather vane on the roof, and on the weather vane were inscribed the words “God is love” (from 1 John 4:16). Noticing this, Spurgeon stopped and pointed to the weather vane and commented to his companion: “Does he think God’s love is as changeable as the weather?” His companion replied, “Of course not! You miss the point. Those words are on that weather vane because no matter which way the wind is blowing, God is still love!” Yes, he is. And so, in closing, I would ask you to join me in reading Romans 8:38-39 – which can serve as a fine motto for us as we embark on a New Year: I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are living in senseless times. But Jesus makes sense of our times and all times. He’s the reason that no matter what happens 2021 will be a Happy New Year! Amen.  

[1] https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dateline.html#:~:text=Drawn%20up%20in%201884,D.C.%20where%2026%20countries%20attended.

[2] https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/midwest-governors-release-holiday-message-urge-residents-to-avoid-travel-amid-pandemic/2395518/