For many of us, thoughts of what we have failed to accomplish or missed opportunities can come upon us like a flood. We look back with sadness at all we wanted to teach our children, all we hoped would happen in our families, and all the frustrations in our country. Is time really going this fast? Are all those hopes lost forever?

These thoughts and feelings can be especially powerful for Christians in America today. We can look back to a time of so much promise and hope – for after all, there was a time before when everything was better, right? – and now we are afraid even to hold on any longer. It has become so common for Christians to lament the state of the world that they have even made depression a positive teaching! “The world is getting worse,” we say, “and that is good, because the worse it is, the closer Jesus is to coming back!”

But the Bible takes a different view. Not, perhaps, about the individual events or conditions of history, but about life itself. The Bible teaches us the perspective that since the Fall of Adam and Eve the world has been stained with sin and events will be dark. But our focus is not to be upon whether our country, our economy, or even our daily circumstances are getting better and better because of Jesus. Our focus is to be upon how the Lord is redeeming His people (including us!) and because of that we can have great optimism about the future. As the saying goes, “We have seen the end of the story…God wins!” 

I. Kingdom Coming (v1-9)
A. The Lord Comes
B. The Nations Come

II. Promise Performed (v10-14)
A. Blessing, Not Battle
B. Glory of Zion

III. Redemption Realized (v15-22)
A. Wrongs Made Right
B. Beyond Our Dreams
C. All We Need

Questions for consideration: (1) What things make you most pessimistic about your life and the world? Why? (2) What are the dangers of focusing on circumstances and our surroundings in order to judge the state of the world? (3) What can you focus on to be optimistic?