Sunday, May 22, 2011

Notes from 5-18-11

Its the end of the world as we know it... but I feel fine


So, you guys have got 3 more days until Jesus comes back.
Isn't that a relief? Don't have to worry about college or credit card bills or etc etc etc.
So, 3 days until the end of the world. How are you going to spend it?

Where any of you guys aware of this? That the date of Judgement day has been predicted a major Christian ministry?



As you can probably tell, I am somewhat skeptical of these claims,
There have been end of the world predictions every single year since 2000, and they stretch back significantly further than that, scattered through the last thousand years of history. One of my favorites:.
In the year 1000 A.D.
King Otto of Germany had the body of King Charlemagne exhumed (removed from its grave) under the belief that Charlemagne would rise up and battle Satan, thus delaying the apocalypse.

Predicting the return of Christ is a long and misguided tradition among the church.

So, I say its misguided, why do I say that?

Well, there are these verses in Matthew:

Matthew 24:35-36
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.



Matthew 24:39-42
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.


Actually its that entire chapter of Matthew that Jesus talks about the end times and one important detail that we can pull from these two passages is that we cannot know the day that Lord is coming, but there is a second part to this and that is that while we cannot know the day, we are supposed to watch for it.

Matthew 25:1-13
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.
4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.
5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.



If I could make my own example:

Have you ever been at the beach, just hanging out, walking along the tideline, dodging the waves when they come up to your feet and all of a sudden you hear this crash behind you and you turn around and you see this huge freak-of-nature wave coming tearing toward you waist high?

We can't know the time and the day but the message of the parable is clear. Watch, be prepared, the Lord is coming.

And we don't have the comfort of being able to say that the Lord's coming is years away either, I don't think it will be Saturday, but it could easily be tomorrow.

Like the wave, like the bridegroom, If you aren't watching it could destroy you.

So be prepared, be watchful. Seek the Lord, prepare your heart, reach out to your loved ones.

The end of the world will happen, how are you going to spend your last days?

No comments:

Post a Comment