January
2022
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
by Tom McLemore
As we begin the new
year, we would do well to consider three important and significant days:
yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The Bible has much to say about these days that should be of great
interest and concern to us as human beings and as Christians.
YESTERDAY
Yesterday speaks to the recentness of
our arrival and its implications. In Job
8:8, 9, it is written, “for we are but of yesterday, and we know
nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.” Still, it will be said by some, “I was not
born yesterday!” Yesterday also
describes the immenseness of God’s existence.
We may proclaim to God what the psalmist declared in Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in your sight are like
yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.”
There are indeed YESTERDAYS which were
once TODAYS, but they also have meaning for the TODAY that is now and for all
TOMORROWS. This would include the day of
Christ’s manifestation as the fulfilment of prophecy.
In Luke 4:21, we are told, “Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”
Also in this category is the day of
Christ’s resurrection and vindication.
Paul announced it in Acts 13:33 (Psalm 2:7). “...[H]e has fulfilled for
us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second
psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” See also Hebrews
1:5 and 5:5.
There is also the day of our Lord’s
triumph. In Luke 23:43, when the
penitent thief asked Jesus to be remember him when he came into his
kingdom. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell
you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Cf. 1 Peter 3:18ff. which
speaks of Jesus’ announcement of his triumph to the spirits in prison).
TODAY
TODAY is the only day of
opportunity. Yesterday is past; tomorrow
is uncertain. Today is the day of
salvation. It is the day of salvation
for Zacchaeus.
According to Luke 19:5, 9, “When Jesus came to the place, he looked up
and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for
I must stay at your house today... Today salvation has come to this
house, because he too is a son of Abraham.”
Today is the day of salvation for all (2 Corinthians 6:2).
TODAY is the day of supplication and
exhortation. “Therefore, as the Holy
Spirit says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice...As it is said, ‘Today,
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...again he
sets a certain day—“today”—saying through David much later, in the words
already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’”
(Hebrews 3:7, 15; 4:7; Psalm 95:7). “But
exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that
none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
TODAY and TOMORROW
In some respects, while we are in today,
we may anticipate what will happen tomorrow, if tomorrow comes. Jesus said, “But if God so clothes the grass
of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30 || Luke
12:28). He also urged, “So do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.
Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34).
When Jesus was warned by the Pharisees
that Herod was intent on killing him, “He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox
for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and
tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.”’ Yet today, tomorrow, and
the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be
killed outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13:32, 33).
When I was younger, I recall hearing a
popular song, the refrain of which said, “Don’t stop thinking about
tomorrow. Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here.
It’ll be better than before.
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.”
However, we may not know with certainty
that tomorrow will come, either for us, or at all. In fact, it is possible that we will not
complete today. “Come now, you
who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend
a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow
will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:13, 14).
Nevertheless, the Christian knows who
holds tomorrow. A Christian may sing, “I
don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day....For I know what Jesus
said, and today I’ll walk beside him, for he knows what is ahead...Many things
about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand; but I know who holds tomorrow, and I
know who holds my hand” (Ira Stampill).
TOMORROW
There is indeed a wrong approach to
tomorrow. In Gone with the Wind, Scarlet
O’Hara said, “I’ll
think about that tomorrow. After all,
tomorrow is another day.” There is an
old adage that has much value: “Do not
put off until tomorrow what can be done today.” The sage of old concurred: “Do
not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring”
(Proverbs 27:1). Tomorrow may be transformed by the gospel. Paul wrote, “If with merely human hopes I
fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the
dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’” (1
Corinthians 15:32). Christ is raised,
and if those who obey him die tomorrow, they shall have served him yesterday
and today joyfully in hope.
Someone wrote, “Tomorrow cannot
be found on God’s calendar. Tomorrow
sounds so innocent, but it is life’s most dangerous word. Tomorrow is the road that leads to the town
called NEVER. Tomorrow
is the barred and bolted door that shuts people out of heaven. Tomorrow
is Satan’s word. Those who expect to
repent tomorrow usually die today. Don’t count on tomorrow. God has promised forgiveness to your
repentance today, but not tomorrow!”
We conclude our consideration of these three days with a
reminder of the continuity of Jesus through all the days. We should have the proper awareness of, and
attitude toward, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But we should never lose sight of the fact
that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews
13:8).
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Christ 2 Crescent Hill Drive Selma, Alabama 36701
334-874-7941. All rights reserved. Revised: 24 Sep 2008.