A Word
Now, tell me, did you really think I could let this day, May 21, 2011 go by without a word? The talk of the late night news is 'The Rapture' or 'The End of the World' or 'The Apocalypse' and since this topic is very dear to my heart, I do feel I have to say something. Actually I would love to hear it talked about more.
Truthfully though, I am at a loss for words regarding this important theme. I long, truly long for it to happen. But I am one of those folks who is leaving it in the hands of God. He knows when He should come and how it will really all shake down.
So in my quandary for words I fished around in my brain and my hand just happened upon a wonderful quote book from my friend, CS Lewis. Clive has a few things to say about this in his straight forward, inimitable style.
"The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply uncongenial to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that 'progresses' or 'evolves'. Christian Apocalyptic offers us no such hope. It does not even foretell (which would be more tolerable to our habits of thought) a gradual decay. It foretells a sudden, violent end imposed from without;
an extinguisher popped onto the candle, a brick flung at the gramophone, a curtain rung down on the play...'Halt'!"
"Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments."
"For my own part I hate and distrust reactions not only in religion but in everything. Luther surely spoke very good sense when he compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it the next time on the left...If it (the doctrine of the second coming) has recently been exaggerated, we must now take special care not to overlook it; for that is the side on which the drunk man is now most likely to fall off."
"It (the second coming of Christ) is the medicine our condition especially needs."
So, God bless you all and be well.
Truthfully though, I am at a loss for words regarding this important theme. I long, truly long for it to happen. But I am one of those folks who is leaving it in the hands of God. He knows when He should come and how it will really all shake down.
So in my quandary for words I fished around in my brain and my hand just happened upon a wonderful quote book from my friend, CS Lewis. Clive has a few things to say about this in his straight forward, inimitable style.
"The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply uncongenial to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that 'progresses' or 'evolves'. Christian Apocalyptic offers us no such hope. It does not even foretell (which would be more tolerable to our habits of thought) a gradual decay. It foretells a sudden, violent end imposed from without;
an extinguisher popped onto the candle, a brick flung at the gramophone, a curtain rung down on the play...'Halt'!"
"Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments."
"For my own part I hate and distrust reactions not only in religion but in everything. Luther surely spoke very good sense when he compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it the next time on the left...If it (the doctrine of the second coming) has recently been exaggerated, we must now take special care not to overlook it; for that is the side on which the drunk man is now most likely to fall off."
"It (the second coming of Christ) is the medicine our condition especially needs."
So, God bless you all and be well.
I concur with that alarmist preacher on a few things. I certainly do believe in the soon return of Jesus Christ... and there just may be something to this idea that He will return at the end of 6,000 years.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem is that there has been some terrible record keeping over the past 6000 years... and some years were lost. The calendar got reworked... so who now is able to pin point the exact date with certainty? Me thinks that little muddle up was God's way of confusing and shutting down the date setters.
Furthermore, how can any serious Bible student overlook the caution about setting a date for His second coming? Matt. 24:36 clearly tells us that no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, but Jesus said only My Father knows.
I like to look on the bright side. Even though Christ did not return today as many hoped, it brought the issue to news all around the world. No doubt it has got some people looking into their Bibles and asking questions... and that is a good thing. We need to study and know in our heart what is right and wrong... and how best to live for Him.
I like the CS Lewis quote you used... since we don't know when He will return, we need to live so that we are ready whenever He does come.