LIVING ON THE EDGE OF ETERNITY
Five years ago (it's now the end of 2009) I was speaking in a church in Detroit, when a young man named Juan came up to me afterwards and said, "It's going to be 2011."
"2011? What are you talking about, Juan?"
He looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know."
"Oh, you mean the Lord is coming back in 2011?"
"Believe it, Man, I've been shown."
Juan is not crazy. He's not a Bible Prophecy Freak. He doesn't sit down with a calculator and add up the numbers in the Book of Daniel to find out when it's going to happen. He doesn't pull out charts and graphs to determine the time.
Juan is a street guy who loves God. And Juan is certain that some time in 2011 this age will end, as the God of the universe vindicates his Son before the eyes of all flesh, and every knee will bow. Juan is certain that in the year 2011 this planet will go through its final birth pangs, and, in a flash of blinding light, the entire human race will behold its Messiah who was crucified outside Jerusalem twenty centuries ago and rose on the third day as the Firstborn of this New Creation.
But suppose 2011 comes and goes and nothing happens. The world keeps stumbling along with its wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and catastrophes. No blinding light. No glory in the heavens. It wouldn't be the first time that someone got it wrong. People have been predicting the end of the age for thousands of years.
Our Lord told us that when we start predicting the time of history's demise we're out of our league.
"It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority."
But the mindset, the discipline of expecting that day of glory, looking forward to the hour when all secrets are revealed and all wrongs made right, is a healthy and wise mindset to have.
"And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, look up, and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:25-28 RSV
Jesus is describing the final birth pangs of the New Age, the birth of a world, wonderful beyond our wildest dreams --- that will begin here on this earth.
"Now when these things begin to take place, look up, and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Our redemption? I thought were redeemed twenty centuries ago at Calvary.
True, Calvary was the beginning of our redemption. That's when he broke the curse hanging over the human race. That's when the prince of the world was judged, when all the guilt of the whole human race was funneled into this one God-Man and taken into death, as Isaiah foretold centuries before with these words:
Surely he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains;
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
Upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
And with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned every one to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53 RSV
Calvary was indeed the pivotal moment. And yet, sin is still very much alive in this world --- and in us. Sickness is everywhere. Death is on all sides. Strife and mistrust between men and women and nations continues, to say nothing of the sad state of our churches.
But there is coming a day when all who walk in the redemption of Calvary, and live in that mercy, will be fully redeemed. No more sickness. No more hunger. No sin, no death, no lies, no tears.
There is coming a day when this earth will be at peace --- the whole earth! We're not just talking about "personal salvation," we're talking about the salvation of this planet. This world restored to what it was meant to be in the first place.
That's what Jesus came to begin; and that's what he will come to finish! There is coming a day when the God who created our universe will reveal his glory, and will set things in order on this troubled planet, transforming this earth into something a thousand times more beautiful than the Garden of Eden!
But this message of hope, which Jesus proclaimed, and demonstrated --- and still demonstrates --- with his signs of healing, is not all "peaches and cream." He warned his disciples, including us that not every one will share in this New Creation. We've got to be ready.
"But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to pass safely through the things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man."
Luke 21-34-36
On the one hand he says:
"When these things begin to take place, look up, and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
On the other hand he says:
"But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare"
But what if I die in the meantime? What good does it do me to get all excited about the Day of the Lord, if I die before it happens?
"Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."
John 5:28-29
When you and I die, if we belong to the Lord, we will be with the Lord. We will be conscious. We will be blessed --- like the thief on the cross in Paradise, like Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, like Paul, looking forward to "departing to be with the Lord." We will be alive on the other side of death --- as spirits.
But when God redeems this planet, if we belong to him, you and I will be right back here --- no matter how long we've been waiting on the other side of death. We'll be here! In a resurrection body like his!
When Juan said, "It's going to be 2011," he was reaching beyond his grasp. But Juan is wiser than most of us, because he is focused on a fact that most of us overlook: that life as we know it is going to end --- not only for each of us at our death, but for this planet!
We are living on the edge of Eternity every day of our lives. And when the end comes, we will be face-to-face with the One who, even now, looks into our hearts --- face-to-face with the One who speaks to us now, if we have ears to hear. His Spirit hovers over you as you read these words. He is knocking at the door of your heart.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me --- I will come in and eat with her and she with me."
All we have to do is open the door and let him in.
"Here I am, Lord. My heart is open. Dwell in me! Rule in me. Help me to get ready for the glory that lies ahead!"
Because, if he is "in here," he is our foretaste of the world to come. If we know him and walk with him now, we have eternal life --- we have it now!
And so the message of the Master to his disciples then and to us now is simple: "Don't get distracted. Stay focused on the one thing needful."
"But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth."
One day, sooner than we may think, life as we know it will end. This world as we know it will end, as God calls this world, and all who have ever lived on it, to account through the One he ordained to be its Judge.
God grant, that when that day comes, we may be ready.