It would be a cause célèbre if God put any stock in the predictions of the prophets. From Jonah not seeing eye to eye with his gracious Sender to Ezekiel making the eternal reconciliation complex a function of the Levitical economy, we see a God who needs to take matters into his own hands. Is that not the theme of humanity in Eden? Well, let us see if people have learned the basics about God unfolding the future with strategic hints to those who plot to be seen as insiders without knowing how profoundly they have knotted up the ties that need to be unbound.

Staying focused

It was Apostle J. Simmonds who said, “Stay focused” in the face of (a) unforgettable expired things (b) people who distract and (c) an unknown future.

“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

This pair of couplet sayings establishes a clean break with antiquity.  It is the forgotten configuration; namely, the divine intention and intervention.  It is most notable because the question is stated in a negative framework,  expecting the positive response: OF COURSE WE WILL NOTICE!

The couplet consists of the two imperatives: (a) do not call to mind, (b) do not ponder.

Then follows another couplet: (a) I’m doing a new thing (b) It springs forth.

Then comes the necessary question designed to make clear the line separating the mover of history from the history.

“…Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19, NASB)

I shudder to think that almost all the people we journeyed with through 2024 and trusted suddenly lose their minds as one year gives way to another.  Shudder to see 2025 plastered all over the city and the country as if it were glory.  Shuddering to hear the predictions of good things as if 2024 was bereft of benefits and lasting memories.  I shudder to think that, somehow, the God who says things will get progressively worse until glory dawns has changed his mind.  I am sure that glory has none of the following.

• Teary eyes
• Death
• Mourning
• Crying
• Pain

All the reasons for teary eyes, all the causes of death, all the mourning, crying and pain will be with us in 2025.  By the way, whatever became of “One day at a time”?  At year’s end, everybody seems to be able to predict months and months in advance.  Incredible!

Undoing the effects of the hypnotic mantras that have occupied the majority of believers will require an act of God. “Closer walk with God” ignores the fact that God dwells in our mortal bodies.  It is unlikely to happen to large swathes of the believing community.  Like love’s genesis, discombobulating the false prophecies of prosperity and happiness that fill the air every year’s end, begins at home, one individual at a time.

You shall not tempt God with knots

Are we truly faster than the goodness that pursues daily?  Since we are not, then what are we forecasting on top of divine goodness and mercy? Goodness and mercy do not fade or increase, and we are only contradicting the predictions of increasing distress for our times because we are not focused on the essential work of the Spirit.  Is eternal life getting more eternal? Does eternal life change by day, week, month or year?  The other life we have in common is not getting, even if we contradict the Lion of Judah, whose lifting of the seals to unfold history does (Revelation 5:6-7, 6:1-17) not cover the scenarios of which New Year plotting is made.  Knotting up the ties that we need to unbind have earmarked the people of God from antiquity, but the Church is neither the world nor Israel; she is built for steady growth, never defeated, even when the mountains are crumbling into the sea, as they are right now.