SPEAKER_00: We're going to be in John chapter 1 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I think Ron basically just preached the sermon, so we can go home early.
SPEAKER_00: No, you guys have to listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 1, verses 1 through 23.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that you're at home and you're going about your day when all of a sudden your phone goes off.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, everybody's phone in your house, everybody's phone in your neighborhood, they all go off at the same exact time with that loud, annoying federal emergency alert tone.
SPEAKER_00: And you open your phone and you look at it, and there's a message that says, a federal response team is en route to your area, estimated arrival time one hour.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: What's your reaction?
SPEAKER_00: How do you respond to an announcement that someone, presumably somebody with real authority to do something, is on the way?
SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna be here soon.
SPEAKER_00: Because everybody is gonna respond in some form or fashion.
SPEAKER_00: If you're like me, you're gonna tense up a little bit and say, wait, who's coming?
SPEAKER_00: Are we talking FEMA?
SPEAKER_00: Are we talking FBI or ICE?
SPEAKER_00: And why are they coming?
SPEAKER_00: Am I in trouble?
SPEAKER_00: Others might breathe a sigh of relief and they say, finally, help is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And some, especially in the Mount Vernon area, might scramble for their stockpile of guns and ammo.
SPEAKER_00: Some feel hope, some feel fear.
SPEAKER_00: Same announcement, completely different reactions, all of which largely hinge on assumptions made about who is coming and what does their arrival mean for me.
SPEAKER_00: Now it might not be the perfect analogy, but it carries a similar weight to the words that John the Baptist quotes from Isaiah 40 in verse 23 here.
SPEAKER_00: Make straight the way of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And that phrasing might not make much sense to us today, but back then, during both the time it was written and the time that John the Baptist says it, make straight the way was not a poetic phrasing.
SPEAKER_00: It was a common cultural language.
SPEAKER_00: Because when a king or an emperor decided to visit a city, he would send a herald out in front of them who would tell everybody on the route that the king was coming.
SPEAKER_00: The communities would then respond by going out and straightening the roads.
SPEAKER_00: They'd fill potholes, level rough ground, remove obstacles, all to prepare a smooth highway so the king would not be hindered on his way.
SPEAKER_00: And again, everybody in John the Baptist's day would have understood this.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, there would have been an unavoidable tension.
SPEAKER_00: So let's do some quick recap to help paint a picture of what all was going on in Israel during this time.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember, Israel was God's chosen people.
SPEAKER_00: As a nation, they experienced countless miracles and messengers from God.
SPEAKER_00: But time after time they turned their back on him.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually, as an act of discipline, God handed them over to Babylon, where they were exiled as captives.
SPEAKER_00: But God didn't forget about them.
SPEAKER_00: He had mercy and compassion on them, and after about 70 years, the Israelites returned to Jerusalem by the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: They rebuilt the city, they rebuilt the temple, but they're a fraction of what they once were.
SPEAKER_00: The years go by, and once again Israel declines into sin, and finally God sends one last prophet, Malachi, to rebuke them.
SPEAKER_00: After that, silence.
SPEAKER_00: For over 400 years there were no new prophets, no new revelation, no new promises, just waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Some were waiting in faithful expectation.
SPEAKER_00: Some began to abuse or corrupt God's law for personal gain, leading others astray as well.
SPEAKER_00: And by the time that John the Baptist comes, many lacked a true understanding of the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: Also at that time, Israel was once again living under foreign rule, this time by Rome.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't exactly exiled, but they weren't free to do as they pleased either.
SPEAKER_00: They had Roman governors in place.
SPEAKER_00: Harold the Great ruled over Israel, but he got his authority from Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Some sought to cooperate with Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Others desired rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's safe to assume that the nation of Israel would have been a tense, maybe restless place.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, rumors of a new prophet start circulating.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes proclaiming the words of Isaiah 40: Make straight the way of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: A king was coming.
SPEAKER_00: The king was coming.
SPEAKER_00: And to the Romans, this might mean a rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: To Herod, probably a threat to his throne.
SPEAKER_00: To the corrupt, a cause for fear.
SPEAKER_00: To the masses, a solution to the Roman problem, and to the faithful, a long-awaited Savior.
SPEAKER_00: The people's reaction would largely hinge on the answers to the question: who is this coming king?
SPEAKER_00: And what does his arrival mean for me?
SPEAKER_00: And it begs the same question of us today.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who he is?
SPEAKER_00: And do you know what his arrival means for you?
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, the writer of John, John the Apostle, not John the Baptist, starts his account of the gospel by answering this exact question.
SPEAKER_00: If we look at verse 1, he starts with, In the beginning was the Word.
SPEAKER_00: And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
SPEAKER_00: And to any good Jewish listener who should have been immersed in Old Testament scriptures, even if they failed to grasp their meaning, these verses should carry some significant weight.
SPEAKER_00: To start, we have in the beginning, which intentionally should bring your mind back to Genesis chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: John is making a statement that goes all the way back to the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Before God laid the foundations of the earth, before he separated the day from the night, there was the word.
SPEAKER_00: And the word was with God, and the word was God.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, even the use of the term the word carries some Old Testament weight.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout we see things like 1 Samuel chapter 3, where it says, For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 107, he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 23, is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces?
SPEAKER_00: Or Isaiah 55, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout the Old Testament, God's word is his primary means of revelation and action.
SPEAKER_00: Through his word, he reveals his will, he brings life, he guides in wisdom, he executes judgment, and he delivers the herding.
SPEAKER_00: If God was interacting with man, it was primarily through his spoken or written word.
SPEAKER_00: And now, John is saying, this Old Testament idea of God's word, the embodiment of his power and authority, of revelation and nearness to his people, it's not an idea.
SPEAKER_00: It's a he.
SPEAKER_00: He was in the beginning with God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: The word.
SPEAKER_00: He was in the beginning with God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just the use of the noun word that you should be looking for in the Old Testament, but anytime we see God speaking, we should immediately think of Him, the Word.
SPEAKER_00: So again, back to Genesis 1.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And how?
SPEAKER_00: How did He create the heavens and the earth?
SPEAKER_00: He spoke.
SPEAKER_00: He spoke creation into existence.
SPEAKER_00: God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
SPEAKER_00: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 33, 6.
SPEAKER_00: And so John goes on to proclaim, all things were made through him.
SPEAKER_00: And without him was not anything made that was made.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a concept not just in John in the New Testament, but throughout.
SPEAKER_00: We can read in Colossians chapter 1, for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
SPEAKER_00: But by his very being, he sustains all things.
SPEAKER_00: Because in him is life.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
SPEAKER_00: I love the way that John Calvin puts it in his commentary, so I'm just going to read that.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the speech of God was not only the source of life to all creatures, so that those which were not began to be, but that his life-giving power causes them to remain in their condition.
SPEAKER_00: For were it not that his continued inspiration gives vigor to the world, everything that lives would immediately decay or be reduced to nothing.
SPEAKER_00: His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you ever read the news and think, man, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It just feels like the whole world is on the brink of falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know if you know this or not, but it's been that way for thousands of years.
SPEAKER_00: Because in the beginning, God created mankind, and mankind decided that they knew better than God.
SPEAKER_00: And Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, despite God's warning that they would die because of it.
SPEAKER_00: And since then, we have all literally been hellbent on destroying ourselves, destroying the world, all because we think we know better than God.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be our own gods, we want to follow our own rules.
SPEAKER_00: We steal and kill and destroy and we call it good.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's no wonder that the world always seems like it's on the brink of falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: But by his mercy, by his grace, because of who he is, because in him is life, he holds all things together.
SPEAKER_00: The darkness has not overcome the light.
SPEAKER_00: In these first five verses, John is making sure that his readers know right off the bat, he isn't just writing the account of a good person.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't just writing about a wise prophet delivering the words of God.
SPEAKER_00: The one he's writing about is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's the manifest power and authority and comfort and salvation of God Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: He was there in the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: By him, Abraham was called.
SPEAKER_00: By him the law was given.
SPEAKER_00: By him, Israel received wisdom and guidance.
SPEAKER_00: By him, kings were anointed and nations were judged.
SPEAKER_00: By him the promises of redemption were given.
SPEAKER_00: By him all things were brought into existence, and by him all things continue to exist.
SPEAKER_00: In him we live and move and have our being.
SPEAKER_00: The sad reality for most of John the Baptist's audience was that they didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
SPEAKER_00: He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
SPEAKER_00: He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
SPEAKER_00: The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
SPEAKER_00: He was in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
SPEAKER_00: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe the wording here is intentionally a little bit ambiguous about where this falls on the timeline.
SPEAKER_00: Because it was true of the people during John's time, but it has also been a common theme throughout all human history.
SPEAKER_00: The world did not know him, and the world continues to not know him.
SPEAKER_00: Because the first man disobeyed, sin entered the world and into all of humanity, leaving each of us born blind to the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: We live in darkness, even though his life shines as light into the world for all to see.
SPEAKER_00: As Romans 1 explains, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
SPEAKER_00: For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.
SPEAKER_00: So they are without excuse.
SPEAKER_00: Everything he has created, and the fact that it all miraculously continues to exist, shines as a light to all mankind.
SPEAKER_00: And in the darkness of man's depravity, man has neither overcome it nor understood it.
SPEAKER_00: The word overcome in verse 5, depending on what Bible you have, you might also see comprehend, even among the more literal translations of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And both translations are valid, overcome or comprehend, because the Greek verb used here is to grasp.
SPEAKER_00: Either physically, as in seizing, overpowering, overcoming, or mentally as in understanding and comprehending.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe both things are true even in this context.
SPEAKER_00: While darkness, by its very nature, cannot overcome light, darkness also by its nature recoils from it.
SPEAKER_00: It rejects it, it refuses it.
SPEAKER_00: And we, because we are born into sin, we do not merely fail to understand the things of God, but we reject them.
SPEAKER_00: Convinced, like Adam and Eve, we know better.
SPEAKER_00: Even when life itself is set before us, we fail to grasp it.
SPEAKER_00: All of us in this room, every single one of us, we were born with a disposition towards a willful lack of comprehension.
SPEAKER_00: A willful lack of comprehension of the things of God.
SPEAKER_00: Even though, as Romans 1.20 says, we're without excuse.
SPEAKER_00: The whole world has willingly exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worships and serves created things rather than the creator.
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
SPEAKER_00: Are you chasing after the created things?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you chasing after your creator?
SPEAKER_00: In whom exists the very essence of life?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think knows better?
SPEAKER_00: The created things?
SPEAKER_00: Or your creator?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think best knows what you need, when you need it, and how you need it?
SPEAKER_00: You?
SPEAKER_00: Some influencer you follow on social media?
SPEAKER_00: Or does your heart cry out with Psalm 119, your hands have made me and fashioned me?
SPEAKER_00: Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
SPEAKER_00: My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who he is?
SPEAKER_00: Or is the word a burden to you?
SPEAKER_00: Just a list of rules to limit your enjoyment.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis has a famous quote that I'm sure many of you have heard.
SPEAKER_00: He says, We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.
SPEAKER_00: Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
SPEAKER_00: And I would go even further and say, it's not that we just can't imagine it, it's that it's so unlike what we think is good that we reject even the thought of it.
SPEAKER_00: By the nature of our sin, we keep going back to the created things instead of our creator.
SPEAKER_00: The light, the true light who gives light to the world is right in front of our face.
SPEAKER_00: And yet in our sin, we can't even grasp it.
SPEAKER_00: In our sin, we're blind.
SPEAKER_00: And so what should God do?
SPEAKER_00: Should he say, fine, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Let them destroy themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe if he were you, maybe if he were me.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God, his thoughts are not our thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: And his ways are not our ways.
SPEAKER_00: And he does not abandon us.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says in Isaiah 42, 16, I will lead the blind.
SPEAKER_00: In a way they do not know, in paths they have not known, I will guide them.
SPEAKER_00: I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.
SPEAKER_00: These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
SPEAKER_00: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_00: And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
SPEAKER_00: The King has come in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And he has made the way straight for us.
SPEAKER_00: He levels the ground in front of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And these are the things he does.
SPEAKER_00: He opens the eyes of the blind.
SPEAKER_00: He sets the captives free.
SPEAKER_00: He brings out those in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: He comforts the afflicted.
SPEAKER_00: He sets the lonely in families.
SPEAKER_00: He gives strength to the weary.
SPEAKER_00: He satisfies the thirsty.
SPEAKER_00: He fills the hungry.
SPEAKER_00: He heals the brokenhearted.
SPEAKER_00: He saves the crushed in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who He is?
SPEAKER_00: Have you not heard?
SPEAKER_00: Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
SPEAKER_00: Have you not understood it since the earth was founded?
SPEAKER_00: He sits enthroned over the universe.
SPEAKER_00: He stretches out the heavens like a canopy.
SPEAKER_00: He reduces rulers to nothing.
SPEAKER_00: He is everlasting.
SPEAKER_00: He's the creator of the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Lord, and there is no other.
SPEAKER_00: This is the King that John the Baptist came to proclaim.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He came in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: He was born of a virgin.
SPEAKER_00: He loved and he was hated.
SPEAKER_00: He was wrongfully convicted.
SPEAKER_00: He was humbly obedient.
SPEAKER_00: He was crucified on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: He redeemed us from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: He defeated death and he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who he is and do you know what his arrival means for you?
SPEAKER_00: Because friends, it's possible.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to have grown up in the church, to go through all the motions, to check all the boxes, and to still not grasp.
SPEAKER_00: Who he is.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to hear the same Christmas story year after year after year and say, Yep, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus was born a little baby.
SPEAKER_00: He was God's gift to us, so let's sing our songs, let's give our gifts, let's make sure we're extra kind and generous and joyful.
SPEAKER_00: After all, isn't that what it's all about?
SPEAKER_00: It's possible in our consumeristic culture to distill the gospel down to nothing more than a cheap middle school note that's passed around and says, Do you want to go to heaven circle?
SPEAKER_00: Yes or no?
SPEAKER_00: And the result is a Christianity that claims the kingdom while wanting nothing to do with the king.
SPEAKER_00: Wanting nothing to do with his ways or his reign.
SPEAKER_00: In the words of J.C.
SPEAKER_00: Ryle, how little fit for heaven are many who talk of going to heaven when they die.
SPEAKER_00: While they manifestly have no saving faith, no real acquaintance with Christ, you give Christ no honor here, you have no communion with him.
SPEAKER_00: You do not love him.
SPEAKER_00: Alas, what could you do in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: It would be no place for you.
SPEAKER_00: Its joys would be no joys for you.
SPEAKER_00: Its happiness would be a happiness into which you could not enter.
SPEAKER_00: Its employments would be a weariness and a burden to your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, repent and change before it be too late.
SPEAKER_00: If you're still loving and chasing after the things of darkness, what makes you think you're not going to recoil at the light that is heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Darkness cannot grasp the light.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you want to know the king?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you just like the idea of his stuff?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you want to learn from the wisdom of the one who wrote the book of life?
SPEAKER_00: Or are his rules and his way a burden to your heart?
SPEAKER_00: And church, don't hear me wrong.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a condemnation.
SPEAKER_00: It's a word of warning.
SPEAKER_00: It's a wake-up call to all of us who have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_00: Because now is the time of grace and patience.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has come full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't just come to pass out tickets into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He came so that we who were blinded in our sin could see him for who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: No one has ever seen God.
SPEAKER_00: God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just known as an acquaintance, but to literally be adopted into his family.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because he paid the cost for our sin that separated us from him, we can once again commune with our Creator.
SPEAKER_00: And to all who receive him, he gives the right to be adopted into his family, to live under his roof, to take on his name, to inherit his blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize the weight of that statement?
SPEAKER_00: You have no right to be in his family.
SPEAKER_00: You have no right to bear his name.
SPEAKER_00: Neither do I.
SPEAKER_00: But he, slow to anger and abounding in love, says, I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: I will pay the price.
SPEAKER_00: I will give them the right.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, because of that, we can have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: But the life is in him.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from knowing him, from following him, from hanging on his every word, like Peter, who says, Lord, where else are we going to go?
SPEAKER_00: Only you have the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And if we miss that, if we risk, or sorry, if we miss knowing that it's all about him, it's all about knowing him, then we risk living like the prodigal son, who essentially says to his father, I don't want you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to live under your roof, under your rules.
SPEAKER_00: Just give me my share of your stuff so I can go living according to my way.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's you this morning, do you know how that goes?
SPEAKER_00: Because it wasn't the stuff that satisfied him.
SPEAKER_00: When he lived apart from the Father and according to his own rules, chasing after the things he thought he wanted, he ended up desolate and starving, wishing he was dead.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until he was at the end of his rope that he returned and found satisfaction in the loving embrace of his father.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you at this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Are you living like the prodigal son, apart from his father?
SPEAKER_00: Are you at the end of your rope?
SPEAKER_00: Are you beaten down and weary from the things of this world or stuck in the cycle of sin, blindly chasing after things that leave you empty?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be anymore.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he came.
SPEAKER_00: And no matter how far you've wandered, God's call has never changed.
SPEAKER_00: He says through the prophet in Isaiah 55, Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
SPEAKER_00: And he who has no money, come, buy, and eat.
SPEAKER_00: Come, buy wine and milk without money, without price.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
SPEAKER_00: Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
SPEAKER_00: Incline your ear and come to me.
SPEAKER_00: Here that your soul may live.
SPEAKER_00: Are you tired of spending your money and your labor and your efforts all on things that do not satisfy you?
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you like to know the one who does satisfy?
SPEAKER_00: It's free to come.
SPEAKER_00: Every day it's free.
SPEAKER_00: Not because it's cheap, not because it didn't cost anything, but because it cost a price we could not pay, and because he has already covered the cost for you.
SPEAKER_00: And there is nothing you can ever do to add to it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know who he is?
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what it means that he's come?
SPEAKER_00: And do you believe that he's coming again?
SPEAKER_00: Because while now is the time of grace, one day that will come to an end.
SPEAKER_00: He will return, and when he does, the Bible says he will gather the children of God, he will gather his elect, and he will judge the world in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: The time for grace is now.
SPEAKER_00: But a time is coming when there will be judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Again from Isaiah, seek the Lord while he may be found.
SPEAKER_00: Call upon him while he is near.
SPEAKER_00: Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him.
SPEAKER_00: And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
SPEAKER_00: Church, he is full of compassion.
SPEAKER_00: It's who he is.
SPEAKER_00: And trust me, he abundantly pardons.
SPEAKER_00: It's what he does.
SPEAKER_00: And no one is too far gone, and it's not too late for you.
SPEAKER_00: But he is coming back.
SPEAKER_00: The king will come again to judge.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not this year.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not in your lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not for another two thousand years.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: If tomorrow, what will your reaction be?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know him?
SPEAKER_00: He came so that you could.
SPEAKER_00: If he comes back tomorrow, what will his arrival mean for you?
SPEAKER_00: That's right.