Could it be that we are misunderstanding the signs of the times and being lulled into inactivity instead of being stirred to action?
After experiencing the transforming power of God in my life, my great desire in life was to tell others about the joy I had discovered, and to share that Jesus was coming back soon. The school I was working for found an opportunity for me to work as a Bible worker in another state, and I packed my few belongings into the back of my dad’s pickup truck, and headed off to revive the church in that state. At least in my eager zeal I thought so.
Bible working was not as easy as I had expected, and it seemed like the hardest part was trying to get church members excited for the same fascinating truths that burned in my heart. I was young and on fire, and the church was largely filled with older members, so their excitement was subdued and expressed in different ways than mine was, to put it mildly. I was the young, ignorant fanatic who took things to extremes, and I needed to be put in my place, according to a few of the members, apparently.
I so clearly remember one Sabbath, when the subject of the Sabbath School lesson touched on when Jesus would return, and as I was teaching the lesson, I was in a good position to be taught a lesson that one member of Sabbath School thought I needed. An older man read from Matthew 24 words I knew so well, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places, and then shall the end come.” Oh, how easily I fell into the trap, and as I burst out with my hearty, “Amen!”, smirking glances were passed between a few of those present. Then the reader who had intentionally misquoted Matthew 24:8 loudly and clearly announced to the whole Sabbath School class present that I did not know what I was doing, that I was a fanatical and ignorant young upstart with crazy ideas and a mistaken understanding of end-time events. Well, maybe he didn’t say all of that exactly, but I read as much in his voice as he said, smirking, “no, Jesus didn’t say that. He said, ‘All these are the beginning of sorrows.’”
My pride was hurt, but the lesson was not lost on me, even though it seemed to be given in a rude and humiliating way. I wanted the classic signs of the times to be proof that Jesus was soon to return to this earth, but the text did not make it as clear as I had wanted. Jesus did talk about natural disasters and diseases increasing in the end of time, but He did not tell His disciples that these signs of the end are any safe measuring device for us to be able to know when the end is truly imminent. Earthquakes, famines, pestilences, wars and rumors of wars, are not what Jesus is waiting for before He returns. He has said that these events will increase and increase, as birth pangs of a woman in labor, but they will not bring about the end of the world. Only one sign is determinative of the return of Jesus. There is only one thing that Jesus told us will happen, and then the end will come. Until that one event takes place, earthquakes, pestilences, wars, and all the rest of the signs that this planet is falling apart will continue to increase in frequency and intensity, for the Word of our Lord is sure, and cannot fail. Paul wrote, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:13, KJV. This statement also is true, and will continue to be true, even if time were to last another 500 years, as hard as it might be for our imagination to grasp how things can get worse than they are already today.
Have you considered what a picture we paint of our loving God when we make it sound like the wickedness and natural disasters of the world is a sign that Jesus is coming back soon? We are essentially saying that, 100 years ago the world was not bad enough, when we compare our time with the world a century ago, and are thereby saying that God needed to have more evil in the world before the end could come. Listen, 100 years ago, things were plenty bad enough for Jesus to return, but the gospel had not been taken to the world, because of the lack of faith and obedience on the part of the church. When we preach about the signs of the times in an imbalanced way, we are actually stating that apparently things need to get even worse before God will end it all. More people need to suffer, more lives need to be ravaged and destroyed by wicked men and natural disasters, then at some point, when it is finally bad enough, and He is finally satisfied, Jesus will return to put an end to it all. What kind of a God do we serve, anyway? Do we serve a God who is in the business of perpetuating the gruesome suffering of millions of His creatures on this planet? Does all of society need to come to utter degradation and decadence before God decides that enough is enough? Isn’t the fact that one small child has been brutally tortured, raped, or murdered evidence enough to God and to the universe, and to us as well, of how ugly sin really is? Isn’t the history of any war from the last 2000 years sufficiently full of grotesque filth and wickedness and injustice to tell us that the way this world works is perverse, and God’s way is far better? Does society need to crumble to pieces to the point that we can not be safe any time, any place on the planet, in order for God to put an end to it all? Really, just think about it: isn’t planet earth in bad enough condition today for our Lord to come back?
The world absolutely is falling apart, and at a rapid rate, and Jesus predicted that this would happen. We can know that His Word is true, and that we truly are living in the end of time. My point is not to diminish that fact. My point is rather to state that the condition of the world and the decay happening all around us can open up a special opportunity to us to be part of finishing up the work that must be done before Jesus returns. The condition of the world has an effect on those in the world, and it should have an effect on the church, as well. Men and women all around the world are looking at what is happening to the planet, and are concerned. Actually, to say they are concerned is a huge understatement. Some people are scared to death about what is happening in nature. Scientists and politicians are proclaiming the end of the world in more graphic detail than many Christians are willing to do! The thought-leaders of the planet are trying to do what they can to avert the tragedy that they see on the imminent horizon; and movies, books, and theories abound about how the world will end and how mankind can prevent the end from coming. The people of the world need exactly the message that we can give them, the message of the truth of how the world will end, and how we can be prepared for that event. Minds are open, and we, as Bible-believing Christians, have the message that can avert tragedy for each person who will take the steps to be ready for the dissolution of all things. Men’s and women’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after the things coming upon the world, and born-again Christians can plainly declare that there is a way to find peace in the midst of reigning madness and chaos! The world needs our message! The world needs the everlasting gospel as never before! And the world is now being uniquely prepared to listen to that gospel which gives the most-logical explanation possible for what is really happening all around us.
The condition of the world is not designed to have an effect only upon the people of the world, however. It should and can have a dramatic effect on the church of Christ, as well. As we see financial towers collapsing around us, as we see the planet itself crumbling like a rotten cookie, we should wake up! This is no time for us to be enjoying a good life, getting spiritually prepared for the future, while neglecting to help others get prepared for that future. We might think that since the world is falling apart so rapidly, the scientists and politicians are correct in their worse-case scenarios, and we will see Jesus so soon that we don’t have time to finish the work God has chosen to involve us in, but this is exactly what the devil wants us to believe. We know that there are still people in the world, whole societies and language groups, in fact, with no Adventists among them, but surely since the world is falling apart so quickly, we don’t have time to learn a new language, learn to live and function in a different culture, and then go through the time-consuming process of taking months or even years to present the gospel to people in that culture, and then to disciple the converts. Or so we could think.
Instead of looking at the predictions of Jesus which are being fulfilled all around us and concluding that time is too short to allow us to go and preach the gospel to every creature under heaven, God would have us come to a different conclusion. Even though “Christian” financial counselors tell us how we could have millions of dollars saved up for retirement by properly investing in mutual funds and tax-sheltered savings accounts, the collapse of the world economy shows us how fragile the whole financial world really is. Perhaps we could be millionaires by investing our money in the right places, but we cannot be sure. The stable economy that we take for granted could crumble in a matter of weeks, leaving us penniless and bankrupt, while greedy people take advantage of our loss, mocking our choice to lay up our treasure on earth.
While the incessant reports of fresh disasters and exposures of the wickedness of the human hearts could harden us and make our love grow cold, God allows these things to happen so that His sleeping church will wake out of her slumber. Our attachment for the treasures of the world is to be dissolved as we see nature apparently turning against us, and we should realize that this planet is no place worth living anymore. This world is falling apart, there is no safety nor security here, and it’s time for the church to begin to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” It is time for us to invest in another form of mutual fund: building the community of the body of Christ.
Christian, wake up and see what is happening around us! Jesus has given us a work to do, a work that we will find to be the most worthy and satisfying occupation we could ever engage in, if we will lay hold of His strength, making peace with Him, and then seeking to reconcile others to Him. This world has nothing lasting to offer us, and God is letting that become abundantly clear so that His church will arise and shine upon those who have never seen the light.
No comments:
Post a Comment