Daily Lesson for December 28, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 4 verses 6b through 8:

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

“Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

In Roman mythology, the god of beginnings, transitions, and gates was Janus, whose name is from which we get our word January, and whose symbol was two faces -- one to look backward with and another to look forward.

We are coming now to the gate of the year. As we do, we find encouragement in the knowledge that the four living creatures gathered around the throne of God have eyes to see both in front and also behind. Their mission: to stand stalwart and assuring, and to sing the eternal truth of God, "who was, and is, and is to come."

We are looking forward to the New Year. The Old Year has been a trying one. It has been a scary one. And for many of us it has been a year of transition and loss. But we stand here in the last days, and we look back and we see God has been with us. God has seen us through the hard times. And God has steadied us when we might otherwise have been shaken.

We have no idea what 2021 will be like. What we can see looks promising; the vaccines are encouraging. But the eyes which look forward can never see too far ahead.

But we can be assured by this. The four creatures around the throne can see what is ahead. And most important for us to know, they can see that God is there ahead also.

So, we hear the refrain once more here at the end of the year, and we understand the words in deeper context and a more certain faith in a very uncertain time:

"Holy, holy, holy,

the Lord God the Almighty,

who was, and is, and is to come . . ."

Thanks be to God.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.