Who Will You Kiss when the Ball Drops in Times Square?

It is said that when Christ died on the cross, and in three days arose victorious over death, and walked out alive from his tomb, that God had figuratively put his hand on the flywheel of time, and started it in another direction. This is why the finished work of Christ is called, ‘the good news,’ which is exactly what the word ‘gospel’ means.

The question is not why we would continue to proclaim a two thousand year old event as good news, but how would we dare not to proclaim it? A new year may hold hope, but then produce only more trouble and hardship. Every year is just a notch above a gamble. Christ’s finished work is no gamble, but rather a destination in a place and a state of perfect victory.

At or near the end of any man’s life there is no rush to replenish the riches, the size of our families or our sphere of influence. The thoughts of what our lives have meant take precedence, even among those who don’t believe they will have to account to God.

The overriding message of any good preacher, prophet or messenger turns out to be the cross not just the clock. False prophets will always proclaim a glowing new future, while true prophets will always proclaim God’s immutable system known as ‘reaping and sowing.’ We will get back exactly what we put out.

The proclamation of the cross is a paradigm shift away from mere anticipation of a new and better year, but is a promise of a new life, year by year and into eternity. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Cor 5: 17)

The gospel is not a mere religion but it is an entirely new path. It beckons those who are following the crowd, “…broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” (Mt. 7: 13) to step away from the throng and come into another life, a life so different it is called the Kingdom of God. A kingdom is not a religion.

It is the kingdom that first begins in individuals who submit to the King of the Kingdom (Christ) and his rules, but it doesn’t stop there. This is exactly why Christianity is despised by some. It does not stop until the King returns and is established on earth. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev 11: 15)

The only question that now looms over men is, when? This is where the matter of time comes into play. Just prior to Christ’s first coming, almost all of the 167 Messianic prophecies were fulfilled, and then right on time Christ was born. The second coming of Christ has its own prophecies and any Bible based, conservative theologian, messenger, prophet or preacher of the day, knows that almost every pre-millennial prophecy of the second coming of Christ, is now fulfilled and the few remaining prophecies, are being fulfilled, even as I write these words.

Some people get frightened; others are just cranked, because while man thought he was passing through time and space with plenty of time to discover space; that is not the case. The Bible clearly assigns dominion of only one planet to man and then proceeds to warn us that it is time, specifically, our own threescore and ten or more that we will all be required to account for, no more.

Now, as the ball falls in Times Square each year it becomes clearer that the clock can be a friend or it can be an enemy. Those who believe religions are all the same, who believe the modern world’s call to change the laws to allow for every prurient behavior, and the freedom to abort our own species indiscriminately across the globe, may be partying when the clock strikes twelve, but they would not be, if they knew how close the end of their own kingdoms actually are.

It is the crowd of unsuspecting, complicit and fully distracted, totally secularized people across the planet that will usher in the last days with the help of their elected or appointed leaders at the helm. As long as economies are relatively stable and personal freedoms to indulge in almost all Godless pursuits are not interfered with, the crowd will not even recognize the leaders who mislead them, until it is far too late. For the crowd, time is not on their side.

Those who stand on the sidelines warning of the nearing dangers are all the stock of Noah in the eyes of the unregenerate. They are so many quacks building boats in the desert; they are the off scouring of the planet, not worthy to be given the time of day. How ironic that the Bible calls them, the blessed of the Living God who will be accounted worthy of special recognition and rewards in the coming day. They are the trumpets and messengers of the times we are in, but much more, they are the very servants of the Keeper of Time. These words were penned to a song by the same name in 1997.

I see the time you’ve wasted; I see the time well used

I see when time is on your hands, and when you’ve little time to lose

I pour the hours upon you, for some they seem as years

For those who are suffering, and for those who live with fears

Some say that time is merely, the passage of events

Spending time in idleness, with pleasures they’re content

Some fill the hours with busyness, others labor all the day

But few know who I really am, until I take them all away

I have voices all around the world, which say I’m moving fast

They raise their voices urgently, but they’ll not tell you of the past

They talk of fleeting days, and life’s brief fading hour

Who will hear their messages, of this world’s dying flower

I’m not the spirit of the age; I’m not pop culture’s ace

I’m the driving and I am the rhythm, I’m the setter of the pace

I’ve swallowed up the mighty; I’ve brought riches down to dust

I’ve watched your maiden journeys, and I’ve turned your ships to rust

I’m a teller of stories; I’m a maker of rhymes

I’m a poet, I’m a prophet: I am the Keeper of Time

Keeper of Time © B&S Music, words by Rev Michael Bresciani 1997 all rights reserved

After giving a detailed summary of the events and conditions that would prevail on earth at the brink of his return, Christ leveled a scathing rebuke at those standing by for their hypocrisy in regard to their pet perceptions of time. Men continue to be callous about discerning time, but the clock continues on its unstoppable path as well, without regard to the indifference or the errors of man. In a scene almost as hard to imagine as, when east finally does meet west, the two, man’s indifference and the clock’s persistence, will collide at the second coming of Christ.

“And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, there will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” (Lk 12: 54-56)

It is with measured caution that I will wish all a Happy New Year; however, I would rather wish you a happy new beginning in Christ if you have not already started down that path. As the ball descends downward this year, as you look around for who you might kiss, consider this.

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2: 12 KJV)

Perhaps now I can say, Happy New Year.