God of Victory

"In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Jesus spoke these words while He was teaching His disciples about what was to come, about how He would be betrayed, about how He would die, about how they would think it was over, but about how He would come back. 

And we quote these words quite often. We use them to encourage ourselves when life gets difficult. Jesus said we'll have trouble; why are we surprised? But take heart! Trouble only lasts for a night time; joy comes in the morning. 

Then, we turn our eyes to the Cross and the tomb and the stone rolled away. 

Except...

That's not what Jesus said. 

Jesus spoke these words before any of those things happened, and He spoke them in the present tense. He never said - I will overcome the world; He said - I have overcome the world. 

I have overcome the world already. I have overcome the world by being here. I have overcome the world by teaching, preaching, working miracles, coming in flesh. 

Immanuel, God is with you, and in being here, in bridging that gap, in crossing that divide, in reaching out My hand and putting it on the hurting, I have overcome the world. 

The blind see. The deaf hear. The mute speak. The lame walk. The demon-possessed are sitting clothed and in their right mind. The unclean are made clean. The powerful have been humbled. The humble have been empowered. The sinners have a place at the table. The tables have been turned over. The old is made new. The lost have been found. 

I have overcome the world. 

I think it's hard for us sometimes, when we're looking for Jesus, when we're looking for that power and that inspiration and that assurance in our lives, to look to the Cross and to the tomb and to an eternity that is promised to us, but that always only leaves us waiting for a day. As a popular phrase suggests, it's possible to be so heavenly-minded that it does us no earthly good (to put a spin on that phrase), and that's when so many of us start to struggle in our faith. 

Heaven is nice, but Lord, I need you now. 

And Jesus says, you have Me now. It's already done. I am here, God with you, and I have overcome the world by My mere presence in it. The same presence that is with you now. 

How much, then, does it change today for us to know that God is with us? How much does it change today for us to realize the miracle of the incarnation? How much does it change today to know that before the Cross, before the tomb, before eternity, He is and He has overcome the world. 

Just ask the blind man. For he has seen it with his own eyes.