“Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again” (Exodus 10:14b, NIV).
Unprecedented times. This is a phrase that has been used over and over and over these past few weeks regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. I have heard it on news channels and read it in news briefs and updates. It comes out in emails and letters as a preparatory statement for the changes that are being expressed in the paragraphs that follow. I opened a letter this morning regarding a church event and there within the first sentence were the words “unprecedented times.” I thought to myself, “I am so tired of hearing this phrase,” and yet I was caught by surprise when a gentle voice spoke back to me, “There was another time that was ‘unprecedented.’”
My thoughts quickly turned to Jesus. His entire life was “unprecedented.” A virgin birth, teaching in the temple at age 12, the calling of 12 disciples, teachings and healings among the crowds, miracles that left people dumbfounded, false accusations and betrayal, sentenced to die on a cross innocent of any wrongdoing, yet taking on that sentence because he was the sacrificial lamb for all sin. His death, his burial, his resurrection, his revealing of himself after he was alive again, his ascension into heaven, his promise of and the Father’s sending of the Holy Spirit, and his continued involvement in humanity yet today – all of it– unprecedented. God’s work through creation and in the lives of his people before Jesus came was/is unprecedented. Even as I write this, I realize there is another day and time that will be unprecedented, and that is when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to claim his bride (the church).
This morning I have been challenged to take something that seemed monotonous and annoying, and see it in a new light. I have also been made aware that these times are not the only unprecedented times, for we have the testimony of Jesus’ life through the written and Holy Word of God, and the knowledge of his promises that are yet to come. Glory be to God!
