Those Mysterious Tensions



Mark 13:32-37
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

We all know what it means to wait for something or someone. Today, if I want to know when someone will arrive – well – there’s an app for that. I can literally track their movements with “Find My Friends” on my phone, which will tell me within a minute when they will arrive. Even with that information there is still that sense of time passing too slowly and anticipating their arrival. But I remember well waiting anxiously for the arrival of a guest or a loved one before I had that wonderful app. My father traveled a great deal for his job and I spent many an evening awaiting the flash of headlights through the picture window of our home to signal his arrival. We had little idea as to when he would arrive and on the evening when he was late, the anxiousness grew.

Jesus promises His disciples that He will indeed return for them (us!) but He gave zero indication as to when that would be and no one hearing those words believed it would be over 2,000 years later. He even goes so far as to tell them that He doesn’t even know when that time will be and this is where we have to find the ways of God truly mysterious. Jesus is God. And yet He doesn’t know the day or the hour when He will return. Only the Father knows that; yet Jesus and the Father are One. We can say that Jesus had chosen in that instance to set aside His divine knowledge and operate purely as the Son of Man. But that isn’t really a satisfying conclusion – and there’s where we must embrace that uncertainty and allow God to be God. He is mysterious by choice for we most certainly do not need to know all things.

In His infinite wisdom and perfect love for us, God has chosen to protect us from ourselves. Having that information would prove disastrous for us. Many throughout the centuries have predicted that Jesus’ return was imminent and have even gone so far as to express an exact date and time – all of which have come and gone without seeing Jesus return on the clouds at the predicted time. I even saw a story this week about those who are predicting that Jesus will return this coming Tuesday after the total eclipse of the sun. Something about the lining up of all the stars . . . I don’t know. Once again, read the Bible folks. If Jesus didn’t know – neither will you. If He does choose to return on Tuesday, well good deal for all of us!

Before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus affirmed our continued ignorance about time and date for His Second Coming.

Acts 1:7
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

What Jesus does instruct us to do is wait expectantly. The disciples looked up into the clouds expecting Him to return in that same moment that He ascended. That is who we must be. Yes, it’s been 2,000 years, but He will return. We’re just waiting for the flash of those headlights!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more