Ground Zero ...

Back on 9/11 in New York City; ground zero, was at the base of the now destroyed twin towers.  The most destruction inflicted on that day happened there.  The most deaths occurred there.  The circles of pain would ripple out from there touching and impacting so many other lives.  Even to this day, the effects of trying desperately to save others have brought toxic aftershocks to those who tried to rescue the fallen.  The ripples of pain still circle out from that event.  So we tend to think of that site as ground zero.  And as we shift our minds forward to the upcoming second coming of Jesus Christ where no more events like 9/11 will ever occur again – there is in this world another site that is ground zero for that coming event.  Some might say it is the city of Jerusalem in the state of Israel.  Others might think it will be Rome just over the Vatican.  Still others might say it will be Washington D.C. where so much has been done to keep freedom in the world today.  But those sites are not to be ground zero for the second coming.  There is a far more important site, a site you will care far more about.  Ground zero for the second coming will be directly in your heart, whether that is for salvation and redemption, or whether it is for destruction.

You will note, I did not say ground zero will be in your head or your brain.  What you think may matter, but often what you do, and what you think, are keenly influenced by how you feel about a given matter.  For instance, when you love something, or someone, you tend to focus on it.  The object of your affections matters to you, and your actions, and your thoughts, tend to reflect that.  We humans like to think we are governed completely by logic.  We imagine ourselves to be more like Vulcans from the program Star Trek than would ever be truly possible.  For example, we refrain from speeding while in our cars, because we do not want to get the traffic ticket that comes from disobeying the speeding laws.  That is the biggest deterrent.  Rare is the person who refrains from speeding because of the wisdom of keeping his speed down in order to keep himself and others safer on the road.  Most of us are in too much of a hurry to even think that way.  We have no time for that kind of thinking.  We reason that we are good drivers and can still keep safe even at a higher speed.  Until the red lights come on, and the feeling of dread in our stomachs begins to overwhelm us.  Speeding has little to do with logic, and is more driven by a feeling of impatience than anything else, deterred only by the dread of the consequences.

So it is any wonder that Jesus focuses His discussions about the second coming right back to the ground zero of your particular heart.  All the signs and wonders are meant to affect your heart, and remind it, who is important to love, that love itself is critical to your very salvation.  Even if God the Father were to whisper in your ear the very day and time when the second coming were to occur, would that knowledge impact your head or your heart?  In the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 21, Jesus has just laid out a series of predictions regarding both the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, and of His own second coming, an event the locals have no reference point to understand.  After all, the local believers think that once the Messiah comes, He comes forever, so what need would He have to return, if He is supposed to be there all the time?  But that mistaken belief, you could call it a doctrine, was a misinterpretation of scripture combined with desperate circumstances in living conditions at the time.  And beliefs are all in the head.  Jesus does not bother to correct their thinking, that will come over time.  Instead He zooms in on what is most important about what He is saying, that all of this is meant to impact their hearts, for it is in their hearts where salvation will come to rest, or be rejected.  It is your heart, that is ground zero, for you.

Jesus picks back up speaking in verse 29 saying … “And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; [verse 30] When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. [verse 31] So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”  The people of His day could predict the nearness of summer by examining when the fig tree branches, leaves, and shoots began to grow and become visible.  They could not tell you the exact day.  But they could tell you that summer was close.  Tree science is not supposed to be exact, but nearness was the point.  All the warning Jesus has given above for both key events, for the destruction of Jerusalem, and for His own Return to Earth, are meant to show us the nearness we are to each of these.  They are not meant to be exact science, that is not the point.  Jesus has already said nobody knows the exact day, not even Jesus, only the Father knows that.  But to understand we are near is meant to change our perspective.  It is meant to shift what we find important in our lives, in our hearts, to what is truly important.

He continues in verse 32 saying … “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”  This needs to be understood in context.  The primary audience for the event to come in the lifetime of this generation was the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem (both His Temple body, and His Temple located there).  The people listening would largely live long enough to see both Temple’s destroyed.  Coincidentally they would also see the body of Jesus rebuilt in three days as He would ascend from the grave as He prophesied as well, though they would not see the rebuilding of their Temple building happen in their lifetimes.  The location would disappear.  But the Lord would not.  The second coming however obviously did not happen in their lifetimes.  It may happen in ours.  As noted earlier all the signs listed to occur before that event have all occurred.  The only thing left, is for Jesus to come back and take us home.  This nearness Jesus describes is again meant to impact the hearts of His listeners.

Jesus continues in verse 33 saying … “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”  Yet another prediction.  Our world will one day pass away, it will be recreated.  But the words of Jesus will not pass away.  They will be recorded in Scripture and compiled into a Bible, that will live on down through the centuries, even to our day and beyond.  It took no small effort on God’s part to insure those words remained accurate, and survived the onslaught against it that Satan would never stop.  Even in our day Satan’s attacks continue, and God’s preservation continues.  Our freedom to read the words of Jesus comes at no small price to our forefathers.  Some laid down their very lives to see us have this word.  Yet we treat it so casually.  But Jesus said His words would endure, and endure they have, as witnessed by the very Gospel we are examining today.

Jesus continues in verse 34 saying … “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. [verse 35] For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  And here is where ground zero is fully identified by Jesus Himself.  Take heed, or pay attention, says Jesus, lest at any time “your hearts” be … and then Jesus lists a variety of common conditions that plague the lives of men and women.  It is your heart that Jesus focuses on.  Keep in mind, Jesus is obsessed with saving you.  It is His primary mission, His love for you drives Him to want to save you.  Because Jesus so wants to save you He zooms in on the mechanism for your salvation.  Your salvation will occur in your heart first.  Before you think differently, you will love differently.  Before you let go of selfishness, you will learn to love others first.  Before you will lose the desire to even consider committing a sin, you will learn to love like Jesus loves.  All of that based squarely in ground zero of your heart.  And because the “nearness” of something does not mean it is here now, or perhaps even here tomorrow, it is easy to get distracted by other things.

It is not just pointless entertainment that can perhaps distract you, and mold your heart the wrong way.  Your heart can become chemically addicted by booze, or drugs, to seek escape than to seek Jesus in sobriety.  We look for escape from our problems in the wrong places, not finding escape, only finding further burden.  And those hard workers among us, who do not spend their time on frivolous things, nor do they drink or abuse drugs, look down their heads and ridicule those that have embraced these weaknesses.  Surely hard workers are not at risk.  But Jesus says plainly that they are at risk.  The cares of this life are equally able to distract the sober away from Jesus, as anything the drunkard may face.  Same disease, different cause.  Hard workers come to think, they carry the burdens of the world on their own shoulders.  They think themselves indispensable, either to their families, or to their companies, or both.  They come to think that what they do working, is more important than any other kind of time or love they could be doing.  Until words and memories of feelings of love are all they have left.  And age or burden will one day close the eyes on lives spent in toil, not living they way Jesus intended for us to live, not doing the work He intended us to do.  That work is to love one another.

So what should we do, to escape this fate?  Jesus does not leave us without hope, even though He knows all of us may be afflicted by these common conditions of life.  He continues in verse 36 saying … “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  Watch.  Keep an eye out for these signs, and for the nearness you may be living in.  And as you keep a watchful eye, stay in prayer literally always.  Pray when you are alone.  Pray as you work.  Pray as you eat.  Pray as you watch TV or listen to music.  Talk to God like He was a friend sitting with you in your car, or listening to the same music, or watching the same TV show, because He is.  He is with you when you spend your time in all of these things.  Keep the channel of communication with Jesus open literally all the time.  When you face a problem, pray about it first.  Pray for your own heart to change on the matter, not just the other guy’s heart, but your own heart.  Pray to find the humility you need to find to put an end to a fight.  Ask no repentance from others, but be repentant on your own.  Forgive generously.  Put aside the pains of the past, and embrace the hope of the future, the potential of now.  Come to see how much ground zero of your salvation is your heart.

It your prayer and your open channel with Jesus that will come to change how you love others.  And in loving others, you will change who you are.  To be worthy to escape all the calamity that is coming, and to stand before the Son of Man, we must become like the Son of Man.  Ground zero for that transformation is the battle zone of your heart.  If you are constantly busy, constantly distracted by work, or knee deep in chemically altered states, how will you ever come to hear the still small voice of God?  Jesus longs to save you.  Open your heart, and find that salvation, and make love the most important priority of your life both now and forever.