The End is Coming

"While He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached Him privately and said, 'Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?'

Then Jesus replied to them: 'Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines [and epidemics] and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of birth pains." -Matthew 24:3-8, HCSB

Headlines on CNN, from the moment I am writing this post, include:

 

Nation mourns Boston bomb

 

Explosion hits fertilizer plant north of Waco, Texas

 

U.S. intel works on new N. Korea nuke assignment

 

Casualties mount in Pakistan quake

 

China bird flu count rises to 83

In the context of that passage I started with, these headlines should get our attention. Wars? Um, dozens were just killed in an Iraq bombing today. Syria is still wracked with civil war. Israel and Palestine are fighting, as usual. Rumors of war? The US and North Korea are currently looking to negotiate some peace, as escalating threats from both sides over the past month have threatened the safety of citizens in both nations, as well as anyone near them. Iran is constantly releasing threats of war.

China and the United States, the two biggest "kingdoms" on the geopolitical map as of today, are not the best of friends. A war with Chinese neighbor North Korea could be all it takes for these two "kingdoms" to rise up against each other.

Famines? Ever seen a picture of Somalia, or Sudan, or North Korea? People in these countries are starving. Literally. 

How about epidemics? Bird flu is slowly spreading in southeast Asia. Tuberculosis has developed incredible resistance to antibiotics in parts of Russia and Peru, among other places. Other killers, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and cholera, are claiming lives daily.

Earthquakes? Pakistan has 35 dead from a quake a few days ago, with several more in Iran dead from the same quake. Need I even mention the Japanese or Sri Lankan tsunamis, or the Haitian quake a few years back?

The fact is that these things are coming true, and have been for quite some time now. These are, as Jesus says, the "beginnings of birth pains." Creation is groaning for the return of Christ (Romans 8:22), waiting for all to be made right again. If you read further in Matthew 24, you'll see that persecutions will come for those in Christ. Guess what: that's happening all over the world, and will only get worse. Just look at the United States over the past few years: the Christian faith has gone from a primary belief in this nation to a source of jokes and outrage. We are marginalized, mocked and ignored. Christians in Western culture are deemed ignorant and stupid. Things are not getting better; Jesus said so Himself.

We must not be surprised that this world kind of sucks. We should not be surprised about the death and dying that is going down, and we should not be surprised by the escalating hostility to the Way. We should expect it, and be watching for the return of our Savior. Let us groan alongside Creation, as our Lord is coming to make all things new. Oh, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

An Eternal Kingdom

"...and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.” -Luke 1:33, NIV

Kings and queens, once upon a time, were all over the earth. They had empires and knights and such. Yet, eventually, every king and queen's reign comes to an end. Perhaps they are overthrown by challengers to the throne, killed in battle, or maybe they just get old and die. Regardless, no earthly king has ever reigned forever.

Nowadays, kings aren't so common. Instead, others have "kingdoms:" Apple, Starbucks, money, sex, relationships, McDonald's, politics, alcohol, etc. The list could go on for days, seriously. Almost anything or anyone on this earth has the capability to reign in a kingdom of sorts. But, just like the actual kings of the past, all of this will end someday.

There will come a day when there are no more Salted Caramel Mochas (which I hope happens once I'm gone), no more iPhones, no more Twitter or Facebook (remember Myspace? Me either.). There will even come a day when money will not matter, and politics will be irrelevant and relationships and sex and everything else under the sun will be pointless.

 

"'Meaningless! Meaningless!'
    says the Teacher.
'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'"

-Ecclesiastes 1:2, NIV

Yet, there will never come a day when Jesus Christ isn't reigning. He was there in the beginning when the earth was formed, He's ruling right now, and will be King forever and ever and ever. No one will ever overthrow Him. No one will kill Him in battle. He will never grow too old to reign.

The question is this: how do you respond to His eternal kingship? Which kingdom will you fight and live and breathe for? Will you bow before the kingdoms of earth: the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure in unimportant, shallow things, or will you lift up the Kingdom of God: the pursuit of pleasure in our eternal Lord and King of everything?

Have a Heart

So, the world didn't end on December 21, 2012. Shocker. While I would have loved to have been able to go see Jesus, I'm not upset that the world didn't end. After all, "to live is Christ (Philippians 1:21)." Life is a good thing. In fact, it's a great gift of God.
The truth is, though, that the world as we know it will end. Some unknown day (Mark 13:32), the world will end. With that end of the world will come a judgment day.
Every person will be judged on their deeds. Since we are all sinners that have rebelled against our great God, the verdict for every single one of us, left to ourselves, will be guilty. Some, however, have received the gift of salvation in this life, and will be declared "not guilty" before God on judgment day (courtesy of the blood and death of Jesus Christ).
Unfortunately, not everyone will come to Christ. There will be lots of people who will die between now and judgment day, and those people will not have received grace. They will not have let Jesus' blood cover their sins and they will not have believed in Jesus as Lord. They will die, be judged guilty before the holy God of the universe, and will be sentenced to an eternity in Hell. That's a never-ending future in a literal Hell.
And you and I know what can keep them from this. You and I, fellow Christ follower, know the great gospel of Christ. You and I know the truth of Jesus. You and I know the sweet goodness of our Lord and Savior. Yet, like a kindergartner on the playground, we want to keep it to ourselves and fail to share the greatest gift we could ever receive.
Oh, that we would have a heart for the damned and doomed like is described in Ezekiel 21! Read with me please:
"Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming.'" -Ezekiel 21:6-7a, NIV

Oh Church, may we groan! May we groan before the lost with broken heart and bitter grief. We know that bad news is coming! Let us actually care! Oh Lord, please help us to have this heart for those who are hurtling toward destruction! Please let us legitimately have broken hearts, weeping for those who don't know Christ. Please let us bitterly wail into the night for those that do not know our Lord. Pray that we feel this way! We have the truth of Christ, let us want to share it and prevent this impending doom!