The Bible is full of prophesies. The future is foretold to those who believe
to give them critical insights into the plans God has. The entire Old Testament is full of
prophesies related to the Messiah. When
Jesus walked this earth, He fulfilled every prophesy in scripture that preceded
Him. But prophesy did not end at the
cross, or for that matter only with Biblical writers. The “gift of Prophesy” is one of the gifts
God’s Holy Spirit gives to certain believers throughout all of time and
memorial. It has its place in the
building of His church.
But how do you interpret the prophesies of Christ’s second
coming within the Bible itself. And even
if you could accomplish that, how do you tell the folks with real prophetic
gifts from the just-plain-nut-balls out there?
Is there any point to knowing the future anyway? Herein lies a difference between the casual
observer, and the true believer in our creator God – those who have learned who
God is, are able to trust Him, and rest and find peace in knowing Him. Prophesy transitions from impending warnings
of doom and coming condemnation to merely news reports chronicling the nearing
of our last journey home.
Prophesy itself presses the fear button in so many believers
hearts because they cherish the sins they currently commit. The idea that this behavior must end, or they
must end with it, frightens them. People
who call themselves Christians spend every waking moment digging for answers
from prophesy, trying to correlate news stories from CNN with scripture texts. They anticipate this political outcome with
that prophetic message. And most often,
the end result of their study is the “end of all mankind”. This strikes fear in them.
When you understand what salvation is, prophesy becomes
something entirely different. When you
see your NEED of a savior, sense your own unworthiness, and find yourself
changing through God’s awesome power despite your own failures – prophesy
becomes something else. Fear
subsides. Trust and peace replace it. And the need to interpret every minute detail
into the next “sign” of the time simply goes away. Not because we do not want Heaven to come,
but because the Kingdom of God is at hand – it is here already – it begins to
live within you – right now. The “life” we
seek is not a far away goal, it can start here and now. Mind you, the perfection we seek may still
elude us, but the basis of how we live can change today.
So what truly is the end of days? Is it really an end of human life? No.
Scripture does not teach that mankind itself is to become an extinct
species. Not because we don’t constantly
try to kill ourselves and our planet with behavior that defies all logic and
embraces evil with both hands. No, if it
were up to us, we would face a true end to our species. Al Gore’s warnings of global catastrophe are
real. They are predictable consequences
of what we do today. But despite our
suicidal desires, intentions, and actions; God will not allow us to destroy
ourselves completely as a species. He
will intervene to preserve us from ourselves and from the one who desperately
seeks our destruction.
But the end of days is no less real. An end of days is coming, scripture teaches
that as well. But it is not an end to
our days, it is an end to the days of the evil one. It is Satan who sees the writing on the walls
as omens of his own destruction. It is
his last days. It is he who is to die,
to burn, to cease to exist for all eternity – to be no more. It is he who feels the weight of the clock
ticking away at his own life. While he
may not age, he senses his impending demise.
And there is no escape from it.
This knowledge drives his furor into a frenzied pitch and focuses his
anger on the beloved followers of his enemy God. He seeks to inflict as much pain on them as
he can, to punish the one who will finally put him out of existence. Before he goes, he wants to spread pain as
far as possible.
This is the true nature of evil. Evil is not content to hurt only itself. It loves no one. It cares for no one. It seeks only to hurt anyone and everyone it
can. Evil wishes to spread itself like
malignant cancer through every nerve ending it can find. It is evil that must end. It is evil itself that faces a true end of
days. So in an ironic twist, evil seeks
to have man believe he must share his fate.
Evil seeks to have man believe there can be no hope for him. Evil seeks to have man choose to follow it to
the grave, and therefore positions the end of days as our end, instead of his.
Motive counts. God
does not use fear to illicit allegiance.
Satan does. God uses only love to
lure. He uses the power of love to
change, forgive, and overcome – as only love can do. For after all God is love. This great controversy that has plagued the
universe since the discovery of self, and the love of self, has had one clear
truth; it would not last forever. The
war will end. There will be a winning
side. And it was always going to be
God. The reason for the duration of the
conflict has been for the participants to be able to see clearly both the
nature of evil and the nature of love.
We are all that is left in the universe who still needs to see this
difference and decide for ourselves who to serve.
Those poor misguided believers who look to apply the war in
Iraq or Afghanistan to a particular biblical text are missing the point. Whether it is a “sign” or part of a prophesy
or not, is only marginally relevant.
What is keenly important is beginning to understand who God is. What love is.
And how Salvation works. These
things are of utmost importance. They
supersede prophesy.
Embracing the Kingdom of God now, makes prophesy become like
watching a news ticker on TV. We replace
all fear, with eagerness. It is not
death we are embracing, it is eternal life.
It is not the end of this world we are looking forward to, it is the
beginning of the next one. It is not
leaving our loved ones we wish to avoid, it is embracing them, all of them,
even the ones we have lost to death in this world, in a perfect world to
come. And most of all, it is the end of
the hell of separation from our God, that will truly come to an end. We will be able to be with Him. Right next to Him. Sitting at His feet. Listening.
Worshipping. Loving. And learning to live in a way we cannot now
even begin to comprehend.
When I see a handwritten sign carried by some sayer-of-doom
declaring the end is near, I respond by saying, I sure hope so. It is time for evil to end. And it is ONLY evil that faces an end. Not us.
We are saved through the blood of Christ; a gift from the only God who
was willing to save His own creation and define love forever by doing it. There is no enlightenment, or reincarnation,
or alien ascendency in our future as those false gods offer nothing to us but
empty words and painful repetitive cycles.
There is however a real salvation occurring right now in hearts of men
by a real God, the only real God, the only God who saves. This is yet another reason to find Him, know
Him, and respond to His love. The only
future worth knowing is one with Him in it …
No comments:
Post a Comment