Scripture passage that caught my attention today: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.
Observation: The writer encourages the Thessalonians to avoid getting caught up in speculations related to the “day of the Lord.”
Application: I feel bad for the group of well-intentioned folks who are touting May 21st as the end of the world. I don’t doubt that Christ is coming again. But I think Jesus’ description of it coming “like a thief in the night” makes more sense than human calculations.
End of the world predictions, of course, are nothing new. History, particularly in the last 200 years, is replete with famous and not-so-famous examples. Hal Lindsay, who wrote “The Late Great Planet Earth,” was prone early on for such predictions. A seminary professor of mine once had the opportunity to meet him. Hal asked the professor what Lutherans thought of him. The professor said he couldn’t speak for all Lutherans but he candidly said that personally as a theologian he thought Hal was a heretic! When Hal inquired as to why, the professor said sometime to the affect of, “because in my understanding of the gospel, not only is it futile to try to predict when such things might take place, but I also believe that Jesus could come back SOONER than you predict!
Based on that analogy, it might be more likely that Jesus would come back on May 20th rather than May 21st—or even today!
No matter. There is always work to be done, blessings to be counted, hopes to be realized, disappointments to be attended to, promises to be kept, wounds to be healed, relationships to be nurtured, spirits to be uplifted, enemies to pray for, love to be shared, seeds to be sown and, yes, laundry to be washed, folded, and put away. It’s not always peachy, but there is nevertheless a certain sense of joy and satisfaction to be found in these and the many other endeavors that are part and parcel of this earthly life.
It’s not that I want the doomsayers to be wrong. In some ways it might be nice if they are right. But should their calculations turn out to be nothing more than calculations, I hope that they and others realize that they are nothing more (or less!) than the rest of us--flawed but still loved individuals for whom Christ, sooner or later, will come.
Prayer: Lord, thanks for the start of another day. There is much to do and for that I give you thanks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
PS Scripturally the “Day of the Lord” is sometimes described as a future event and other times as something that is already at hand. Ironically, the prophet Joel told those who longed for the day of the Lord that, for them, it would be a day of darkness and not light! In Jesus, however, the kingdom is always near and in him there is no darkness at all.
(Readings today included: 1 Kings 4-5, 2 Chronicles 2, Psalm 101, & 2 Thessalonians 2 [though it was supposed to be 2 Thessalonians 3! Oops!])
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