Alpha & Omega - When Tomorrow Comes

Do you hear the people sing 

Lost in the valley of the night
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord
They will walk behind the plough-share
They will put away the sword
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward!

Do you hear the people sing
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes!
Tomorrow comes!
Tomorrow comes!

So wrote Claude-Michel Schonberg & Herbert Kretzmer in the Finale of their Tony-Award winning musical based on Victor Hugo's epic, Les Miserables.  As one of the longest running shows on Broadway and London's Westend, and in traveling troops, their haunting music has been heard around the world.  It is likely that more people know the Musical today than have read the daunting 1500 page french novel.  Considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century the book chronicles the life and struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean from prison to redemption.  

Early in the book you come to a critical passage as Jean Valjean, captured by the police, is returned to face Bishop Myriel whose silverware he has stolen in the night.  Facing certain re-imprisonment, the Bishop tells the police that the silverware was a gift and adds his silver candlesticks as well.  Seeing mercy for the first time, Valjean is a changed man which is proved out in the balance of the novel.  

It is in reference to this passage and to the lyrics of the song above that I wish to draw attention.  

In the novel, Bishop Myriel, in typical catholic proclamation, exclaims, "today I have purchased your soul for God."  This dogma of the church as the keeper and distributor of God's grace may well be the single cause of more people going to hell than any other deception of Satan.  The second is the belief that a person can perform enough good works to earn access to God's presence in Paradise.  Hugo spends nearly 1300 pages detailing his character's attempt to earn righteousness and justification.  

In the musical, Schonberg and Kretzmer likewise affirm a dangerous error about the future. Look at the words, "It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light".  The self-improvement of mankind on the basis of his own efforts in overcoming his fallen state is the concealed meaning of the phrase.  

But what can we really expect "when tomorrow comes"?  What is the future of mankind?  What will be man's just rewards?  The answer to these and other critical questions can be found in the book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of John), the last book in the Bible.  Here another Author concludes His Master-work.  Here also are written the lyrics of the songs of angels.

In contrast to Les Miserables (both the novel and the musical) the book of Revelation depicts mankind in outright rebellion against God.  With true believers removed from the earth after the fourth chapter, the world of man, deceived by Satan and his spiritual forces, follows him on a path leading to their destruction and judgment. The book culminates in a final showdown between God and Satan.  In chapter 19, the Word of God - Jesus, mounted on a white horse, with the armies of heaven following, crushes Satan and the kings of the earth, revealing Himself as "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords".

Is annihilation at the hand of an angry God the only future that awaits mankind?  So it would seem if the book of Revelation ended in chapter 19.  But in chapter 21 we see the Alpha & Omega living with the redeemed in a New Jerusalem and making everything new.  In chapter 22, the apostle John is told to write,  

¹⁰"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. ¹¹Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."

 ¹²"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

 ¹⁴"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

Revelation chapter 22 concludes with this statement: 

 ²⁰He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
      Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

 ²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus.  That's the key to the future.  It can be yours if you'll just ask Him.  All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.  The Lamb of God, slain before the foundations of the earth, is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.  He alone bestows living water to all who are thirsty.  It is not a sacrament of the church or the blessings of a priest that secures your eternity.  Nor is salvation to be found in a lifetime's struggle against evil.  It is the grace of Jesus Christ alone. 

Do you hear the people sing?  Say, do you hear the distant drums?  What is the future you will see when tomorrow comes?