"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth..."
2 Thessalonians 2:8

What a Savior we have. It is so sad that Jesus is depicted the way he is. We walk through Wal-Mart and see the sweet, meek, rosy-cheeked Jesus on a candle or in a picture frame. We have this idea of who our Christ was whilst he ministered here on earth, but we fall short by stopping at that image.

Yes, Jesus was "meek and lowly in heart." He was constantly "moved with compassion" for the people who were suffering and oppressed. He had a heart---a HUGE heart. He was not afraid of emotions like our society's "he-men" are thought to be. But he was still a hardworking man. A blue collar guy who worked with his stepfather as a carpenter day in and day out. This is the incarnation of Christ.

This is the Jesus we see in the Gospels. This Jesus was real; he lived, he died, and then he rose. But, in Acts, the "sequel" to the Gospel according to Luke, we see Jesus ascend into heaven. Then, in the Revelations given to John on the island of Patmos (which the book opens up saying that it is "the revelation of Jesus Christ"), when John sees heaven, he sees a throne, and, on that throne, is seated none other than Jesus Christ. He is now high and lifted up, glorified, and has been given all authority in the universe along with a name that will one day cause every knee to bow and confess him as Lord. This is the exaltation of Jesus.

That is what Jesus is like today. He is far greater than the Jesus we see painted. By no means do I disregard or belittle Christ's incarnation here on earth, because without that piece of the puzzle in history we would all be damned to hell with no hope, for "the wages of sin is death." But Christ came to redeem us; and thank God he did!

The Jesus that is in heaven now is the exalted Jesus who will come back one day and regain all that is his. When he does so, Paul says (as he echoes Isaiah) that Christ's very BREATH will destroy the "lawless one." This figure referred to as "the lawless one" is none other than what is described in Revelations as the "antichrist."

Does the Christ you pray to, the Christ you worship, the Christ you tell others about posses such power as to destroy the most evil thing we can imagine with his very breath?? I think we all too often, myself included, forget how great this God of ours is. What battle is too big for him? What trial is too great for him to get you through? What form of evil can overcome him?

As Abraham Kuyper used to say, "there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, 'Mine!'"

Amen.