Incomplete and Waiting (Part 2)

My basic premise in my earlier post is that so long as we are on this earth, living in this flesh, we will be incomplete.  Our hope is set on the return of king Jesus, at which time we will finally live in completion.  No longer will we have to fight sin, imperfections, maladies, disease, or the threat of death.

In the meantime however, we live in a perpetual state of war.  Many authors speak to this war-time mentality (personally, John Piper has had a great deal of shaping on my own mind).  Rather than living a life driven by the goal of finding comfort and ease; living out of our true self in our current reality demands that we see the great war we find ourselves in.  Going back to the analogy found in Tolkien's LOTR, as we await the return of the king, we find ourselves in a similar condition to those in middle earth.  Aragorn could not take his throne again until the war was finished, the ring destroyed, the foes of Gondor put down.  Thus, the white tree could not grow again until the fight was complete, at which time the king would come back to claim his own.

This is our current state.  Not only are we incomplete and waiting upon the return of our elder brother Jesus, but we are in a battle.  Our 'Great War' is not necessarily against terrorists or usurpers of freedom, but rather against the flesh which attempts to live apart from Abba.  Our enemy is self-righteousness which takes the form of either rebellious and independent living, or religous do's and don'ts which attempt to merit our goodness.  The great deceiver is still making war against us, as he has since the lies he bespoke in the garden, and we are to be vigilantly on-guard testing against his lies.

James speaks of having a 'militant patience' in his epistle.  We wait; we fight hard while waiting.

Yet, all this fighting is not in vain, but is rooted in a great promise.  Just as in Tolkien's world, as we wait long and fight hard, our hope is in what the return of the king promises; which is peace, order, relief, complete restoration.  We are in the last part of this epic which has been taking place since the serpent deceived in Genesis 3; was crushed  in Jesus' death then resurrection; and will be finished when the King returns with just vengeance as told throughout Revelation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ~Revelation 21:1-4