Wednesday, May 18, 2016

There is a lot of speculation inside and outside of the church these days about the end of the world.  For Christians the debate always seems to come back to the question “when” it is all going to happen?

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

   KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS  - Revelation 19:11-16

This passage is a vivid description of what it will be like when Christ returns at the end of the world.  Far too many Christians are more concerned about when He will come than they are about the impact His coming should have on their daily lives.  Listen to what Jesus Himself had to say about this kind of speculation about the Last Day.

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  – Matthew 24:36

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  - Matthew 24:42-44

I think C.S. Lewis captures well our present situation in regards to the End Times in a letter he wrote to an Italian friend…

The times we live in are, as you say, grave:  whether “graver than all others in history” I do not know.  But the evil that is closest always seems to be the most serious: for as with the eye so with the heart, it is a matter of one’s own perspective.  However, if our times are indeed the worst, if That Day is indeed now approaching, what remains but that we should rejoice because our redemption is now nearer and say with St. John:  “Amen; come quickly, Lord Jesus.”  Meanwhile, our only security is that The Day may find us working each one in his own station and especially (giving up dissensions) fulfilling that supreme command that we love each other. 

- From a letter to Don Giovanni Calabria, July 14, 1952

Jeff Frazier