Southminster Presbyterian Church

I guess it’s inevitable that conversation turns in this direction, given the spate of dangerous weather in St. Louis over the past few weeks, the astonishing outbreak of tornadoes in the South yesterday, the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, the rising unrest and violence in the Middle East, so on and so forth.  It’s only a matter of time before people begin to talk about the “End Times” and the return of Christ.

Nevertheless, I was a bit surprised to find these two blog posts come across Twitter on Monday.  The first is a post by Walt Mueller, president of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, titled Only 26 Days Until Jesus Returns! . . . ..  Walt tells of a billboard (not the one in the picture) he saw over the weekend that promised - no, guaranteed! - Christ’s return on May 21, 2011.  Which is a major bummer, because we’re supposed to recognize and honor our graduating High School seniors the very next day.  Oh well, guess we can return all of those gifts we bought.

The second is a post by Scot McKnight, a professor at North Park University in Chicago.  He writes about an ABC interview with Rev. Franklin Graham (Son of Billy Graham), who wonders if the biblical passages that say ‘every around the world eye will see’ Christ when he returns will come true thanks to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.  I have no idea  if that’ll be the case, and I imagine REv. Graham was just offering lighthearted speculation, but I’m certainly a bit more interested in the interview, now.

What’s most interesting to me in all of this is how quickly we turn to thoughts of Christ’s return whenever the economy crashes, or the weather turns violent, or natural disasters happen back-to-back, or whenever life just gets hard.  This kind of thinking is so prolific that a reporter for The Weather Channel yesterday even said, “This is not the End Times, folks.”  Granted, this isn’t without warrant.  After all, Christ says in Matthew 24 that,

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. - Matthew 24:6-8

Of course, we’ve had wars and rumors of wars innumerable times since Christ ascended into heaven.  We’ve had natural disasters and severe weather outbreaks that make what’s happened so far this year seem almost insignificant.  And the birth pains part?  Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:21-22).  

Unfortunately, we often tend to forget a few other things Jesus and the apostles said about his return.  Things like him coming back like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:2), that we will not know the day or hour (major bummer for the bulletin board dude above, eh? Cf. Mark 13:32), that God’s time is not our time (2 Peter 3:8-9).  So what are we to do?  2,000 years after Christ ascended into heaven and promised to return, what are we to believe?

I think these passages of Scripture provide a helpful guide of what to do in the “already/not yet” of Christ’s second coming.  As we seek to live out the Kingdom of God while we await it’s consummation, these passages can be our guide:

Since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. - 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11

What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. - 2 Peter 3:11-15

Basically, we aren’t to worry about the whens of Christ coming, or even the hows.  But rather we’re to live as Christ calls us to live right now, seeking to invite as many as possible into the Kingdom of God.  We should always be prepared for Christ’s return, whether there are signs of his coming or not.  And we should be thankful that he delays, so that more might be welcomed into his Kingdom.

And all the while, we Christ’s promise and John’s hopeful response:
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” 
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
- Revelation 22:20