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2. Why a Closing Time?
Jonathan Gallagher 2009
TEXT: John 14
Quotations
“Turning and turning in widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned...”
W.B. Yeats: The Second Coming
Closing time: every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Semisonic, “Closing Time.”
Nothing is so damaging in the study of New Testament prophecy as to imagine that the eternal God who stands outside and above time is bound by the clocks and calendars of men. E.M. Blaiklock
“Most twentieth-century men, believers and unbelievers alike, contemplate the end of the world as they know it as the wo
rst thing that could possibly happen. The earliest Christians did not share this assumption. On the contrary, they looked forward to the end of the world with the greatest eagerness, and they hardly ever opened their mouths in prayer without including a request that it should happen soon.” Henry McKeating, God and the Future (London: SCM Press, 1974), p. 19.
Preaching the End
Over in England I remember one of those street preachers who went around proclaiming “the End is Nigh” message. His hand-painted signs announced:
PREPARE FOR THE JUDGMENT
BEWARE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
TREMBLE AT THE APPROACH OF YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY He’d preach his message of doom from an old milk crate. He went on about the evils of concupiscence and the depravity of malefactors, that the abomination of desolation was set up in the holy place and judgment would fall like flaming fire on those who knew not God.
And people would laugh... In the eyes of the people he was an amusing old”crank,” so that anything he said would have been greeted with derision. It was sad, because sometimes he did make some sense—most particularly when he was reading Scripture. But he did have an outlandish way of working, and his signs detailed the prevalent sins in a way that no one would have ever understood. (I must admit that I too had to look up some of his words in the dictionary!
He was dismissed as a nut. One of his regulars would occasionally speak up:
“What’s this then mate? End of the world this week again? I thought it was due last week, and the week before that too. What a lot of nonsense!”
So how do we preach the End, without falling into similar traps, and being seen as weird and irrelevant? The best answer to is to understand what the closing time is for.
So we need to talk about God, and the situation in which we all find ourselves, and the problems of this world that are so far from our solving.
Reasons. Resolution of GC. End as termination as well as completion/consummation/fulfillment. Issues in the Great Controversy. Apocalypse means an unveiling, a revealing—hence Revelation. It’s the time when all is revealed. What is revealed, and why?
What is it for? Why a closing time?
End as completion, consummation. End as objective not only as termination (Greek word telos). What is God waiting for? Why Jesus waits… “I come quickly”—meaning what exactly?
In such concepts of the end we are d ealing with all the misconceptions; how every truth is relevant to describing God as he truly is—immortal soul for example—what’s the point of an end-time if souls float away to heaven (or hell!) at death? Just some kind of cosmic mopping-up operation?
Answering the charges of the Devil (see EGW sheet). The charge sheet! By the Devil, against God…
In promoting the second advent, the basic question of “Why?” has rarely been examined by Adventists, and then only in a rather superficial and cursory manner. The second advent is considered as simply the last event, the decisive end-point that finalizes this world’s history and ushers in the judgment. It is just the happy ending, the time of reward for all those that believe. In this way the second advent is reduced to some sort of universal panacea, the cure-all that makes everything right. And that’s that. There is no more analysis, no investigation of the fundamental reasons (the causes) or of the ensuing results (the effects), there is no probing of the “Why?” of the second advent.
The Second advent cannot be left as a statement of a future event to which assent is required, nor can it be regarded as an “add-on” to the doctrine of the church. “Why the Second advent?” must be asked since it is a question of Christian motivation and the answers determine the reality of faith and experience.
Adventism seems to be getting bogged down here in eschatological side-issues - the signs, the role of Israel, Armageddon, the Sunday laws and all the rest…
Believing the End…
As enthusiasm for the return of Christ wanes, the usual response to this type of development is the call of “back to the basics,” an interpretation that sees in the shift of emphasis a process deleterious to the well-being of the church. Yet the Adventist church cannot return to its “original state.” No one can live in the same expectancy as did those expecting Christ to return in 1844. Nor can the conditions and responses of the early pioneers be replicated. Indeed a call to return to the basics can result in a negative attitude since it makes the message a repetitive regurgitation of outmoded and outworn expressions that have little relevance to a church and a society now 150 years past 1844. The repetition of predictions that Christ is almost here, a few years away at the most, eventually empties the proclamation of any content and renders the message of none effect.
“The event (the Second Coming) then, really ought to be faced with the question, ‘What is God trying to tell us by acting in this way? What does it mean?’; (the theological question) rather than ‘How does it happen?’ or ‘When?’ (the historical question).” J W Provonsha, God Is With Us (Washington: Review and Herald Publishing Assn, 1974), 142.
Emergency exit! Make sure you turn off the lights when you leave. Who’s going to take you home? Tension over God’s character and actions at endtime: Rev. 14.
There needs to be a final and decisive End do there can be a new Beginning. The Evidence and the End. You can’t stay here!
Develop scenario: note decline of communism—previously a problem for endtime interpretation, but not so much now. Today the concern has been transferred to Islam (cp Turkey, the sick man of Europe!)
The conflict is far more than we realize:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12 NIV. Note also: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:15 NIV.
What does God need to resolve in order to end the great controversy?
He needs to establish before all thinking beings:
1. The kind of person God is
2. Whether God is telling the truth
3. The nature and character of Satan
4. The baseless grounds of Satan’s charges against God
5. What sin is, and its result
6. The trustworthiness of God
7. The intrinsic nature of right and wrong
8. The basis of God’s government
9. How significant evidence really is
10. The nature of the future
How does this happen?
Put your mind ahead a little. Just visualize the scene. One day, all the decisions made, all the good news told, all people finally for or against. The truth about God has been fully expressed, the universe has seen God in his true light, and the Devil is shown to be the great deceiver. At the climax of history, at the height of the conflict, God comes for his own. One time in the past he came to his own, and his own received him not. Now he comes, and his own are there waiting, arms outstretched, weeping with joy as their saving God comes to take them home.
“Look!” they say, “here’s our God. We’ve waited for him, now he’s come to save us. The most glorious day in all created time, the high spot of the eternal universe. Here comes the One we love, here is God our Friend, and he is faithful that promised.”
That’s my view of the God who comes to us again. Our Blessed Hope, the day of God’s revealing that is our assurance and our consummation — victory for God at last as all the world recognizes God as true.
John 14:
v.1 Don’t worry. Don’t get upset. As is so often the case, the word from God is one of peace and assurance — just as the angels said when they announced Christ’s birth: Fear not! The second coming is not a message to frighten us — quite the opposite — it should give us God’s peace and assurance. And so it tells us that God is so kind and concerned for us, wanting us to be reassured— On what basis? Why don’t we need to worry? BECAUSE OF ME! I AM GOD! these words can be either statements or commands: and they convey similar meaning; for as we TRUST fully in God and in Jesus as he speaks to us, then we can have complete confidence in him.
v.2 You have a place. In a world where we are so often pilgrims and strangers, squatters and gypsies –WE HAVE A HOME! Where? GOD’S HOME! In our Father’s house. Why? BECAUSE HE WANTS US THERE! What a hope. What a place. What a promise! Jesus makes this doubly sure by saying that if things were different, he could be trusted to have said so. God is not trying to “con” us. He is telling us the truth.
And this friend, this one we can get to know so well, is going there to get things ready for us! It hardly sounds possible, does it? That God should spend time arranging things for our visit?
Relationship with God
It’s family language that God uses to describe the closest and most intimate of His relationships with us. In this “relational theology,” God is speaking to His friends, those He relates to in this trusting way. “I’m not calling you servants,” Jesus tells the disciples. “Rather I relate to you as friends.” (see John 15:15). We are God’s children and joint-heirs with Christ (see Romans 8:16,17). God is “Abba, Father,” or “Daddy”.
In this is expressed the closeness that God wishes for. It is impossible to remain unmoved and aloof—we cannot relate to God in some formal and rigid way. Salvation cannot be seen as a contractual process or one that is primarily dealing with our legal status. Rather it is being made part of God’s true family once more. God brings us back, and doesn’t treat us as pardoned rebels but as trustworthy friends, part of his universe-wide family.
In the end, only relationships matter. Each to the other, and most of all to God. “Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). For this is the definition of belief, of faith, of salvation. None of these can be identified as some “object,” they are all part of the relational aspect of us and God.
The tragedy of our relationships is that “Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods.” (W.H. Auden).
So what do we have to “offer” God? Only as we understand that we really have nothing to offer can we begin that true relationship to God that is total dependence. While we continue to see something in us that God “wants,” we will always try to engineer some kind of bargain with God. We attempt to buy ourselves into His family!
But how can you bargain with One who wants love, appreciation, care, understanding, trust? Such a transaction is obviously nonsensical! Yet people still try it, as they do with each other—trying to buy/fix/negotiate with tools that will never work. Our relationship will depend on how we view God and what we are looking for.
So what does God really want? To use the deceptively simple words of Micah: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 NIV).
The truth is that of ourselves we can do none of these things! Fallen humanity does not act justly as a “natural” predisposition. Neither is mercy loved—rather we act out of self-interest and the survival of the fittest. And to walk humbly with our God? Humility is not one of our normal attributes. And to walk with God suggests we agree with Him and are going in the same direction...
In developing a right relationship with God, three basic steps are vital. First, the admission that we are in bad shape. That there really is something wrong. That we are beings controlled by sin, enslaved to our evil desires. Then we need to acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot heal the damage that sin has done in our lives. And if we are left to ourselves we will die eternally. Thirdly we must go to the only one who can help us, the Divine Physician, and follow his diagnosis and prescription. We have to allow Him in to restore, to heal, to save.
And in all of this is presumed and implied a deep loving and trusting relationship. Without it, God can do little. What God most wants—our loving confidence in Him as our most trustworthy Friend and Saviour—cannot be commanded.
What does God really want? That’s the question we all ask! What must I do to be saved? David’s answer: “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16,17 NIV).
God does not delight in formal ceremonies, or ritual observance, or painful payment. He has no pleasure in making demands like that on us. He does not want a cold, heartless religion.
What God wants is: a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. There it is, spelled out for us. God wants us to be broken!
Not very pleasant, is it? God wants us, not in all the perfection we think we are, but he wants us broken. How many of us want broken, damaged goods? Hardly! If you went down the market and were offered broken plates and cups and saucers, would you buy them?
But that is just what God wants? Why?
Because if we admit how we are, broken and destroyed by sin, then God will not despise us—for then He can help us.
Relational: that’s the primary difference in perspective, for this is the God that wishes to be known; this is the Jesus who came to show us the Father. This is what was lost through sin; this is what is restored by God’s coming to us, begun now, and fully restored when he comes to take us to be with him.
That’s why it’s so tragic to turn the second coming into an “event,” or to become preoccupied with its timing. Charts and plans, clocks and calendars. “Journey’s end in lovers meeting,” (Shakespeare) —that’s what we’re looking for as part of God’s vindication.
God with us
Because through he was truly God with us, Jesus came not as the glorious king but as the suffering servant. A man among men, human. As such, he was limited and restricted, subject to the same pains and sicknesses, the same troubles and temptations as all us. And this Jesus, this God with us, died with us as a criminal nailed to a cross. Jesus, Emmanuel, was with us for such a terribly short time. So, even though the birth of Jesus really was the beginning of “God with us”, the full reality of the complete presence of God remains unfulfilled. After thirty short years, the bodily presence of Emmanuel was ended, first in the crucifixion and then in the ascension. What then of this `God with us,’ of the promised One who lives with humanity?
Only in the return of Emmanuel will the promise be made complete. The coming of Jesus as a baby began that real and visible presence of God, but that actual presence was cut short in the death of the Son. Not until the return of the Son of God will that vital, actual presence be a reality. Christ’s coming again makes Emmanuel true forever.
What then? Are we alone now? By placing the stress on the Christ to come do we forget the assurance “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20)? By emphasizing “I will come again” do we ignore “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (John 14:3; Matthew 18:20)? Do our eyes strain so hard to see that “redemption draweth nigh” that we miss seeing “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Luke 21:28; Ephesians 3:17)?
Is our Emmanuel “up there” or “down here”? If our view is exclusively of an “external” Christ that comes on the clouds of heaven at the End then we live alone. Our everyday lives have no meaning, until Jesus comes. And we do not know our Lord, because we do not see Him in our hearts, or in the lives of others. When Jesus told a picture story of the end, of judgment and separation, the “goats” were excluded not because of what they claimed, but because the Lord did not know them. Why not? Because they had not recognised their supposed Lord in the sick, the suffering, the imprisoned. Seeing Jesus now, inside ourselves and in the eyes of those who plead, is essential.
Yet if our view is of a completely “internal” Christ, the Being on the “inside,” then what hope do we have? Where is the promised End to sin-sick suffering and death? Where is the blessed hope. If Christ does not come again to complete his promise, to terminate sin and evil, then there is no point to it all. His first coming as Emmanuel would be turned into a mockery and a sham, because his full power and presence would remain forever incomplete. Without Jesus’ return `God with us’ is a dream only half-realized.
The promise of Christ’s return needs to be understood both ways. So while it is true that we enter into eternal life now, and we commune with our Lord now, the full reality is only when we meet “face to face”. Jesus is present with us now, but only in a way that is spiritual, invisible, indefinable. Jesus will be present with us then in a way that is literal, visible, definite. Both “modes” are equally real and equally valid, but we look forward to a communication and a presence that is greater than anything we have now.
The God who Comes
At the heart of the message of God’s love in Jesus is that the Son of God came to us, to show us the way, to tell us, to die for us so that he might save us. He came from heaven (John 3:13, 6:38, “from above” John 8:23), he came to earth and fallen humanity. That is the greatest truth of the gospel. We do not have to approach God—which is impossible in any case. He comes to us. He comes to us where we are. He comes so that God may be with us and save us. “I came ..to call...sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). That is the truth of God’s approach to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to represent God to us, and to reveal his true nature in response to the misrepresentations of Satan. By taking our humanity upon himself, Jesus was able to answer the Accuser’s charges, and to make plain and unmistakable in his life the character of God. In coming to redeem fallen humanity, Jesus showed the onlooking Universe the Father longing to embrace his repentant, returning prodigal sons.
And it is the same when applied to the ultimate, consummative coming that is Christ’s second advent. Jesus comes again so that he may be with us. We of ourselves cannot go to where he is, so he comes to us. The God that came, and comes, will come again. And His coming is for the very same purpose as previous comings—to make God real to man, to show God’s real character, to do His will—and to save. The God that comes always comes to save, to save those who respond to Him. The other purpose is the vindication of God, truth and right: the conclusive answers of Great Controversy. For our salvation is just a part of the Great Controversy over the character of God and His government.
Demonstrating the God of the End
We are part of the demonstration—especially at the end. We are a spectacle to angels and to me—to everyone in the universe. We are to represent the truth about God in our very selves. This is the most powerful message—more important than any PR campaign, any promotion, any “witnesses program” we can devise—whether it’s Harvest 90, or 1000 Days of Reaping, or Net whatever year we’re in!
Fruit
A story: There was once a man who had a fruit stand. He sold beautiful, delicious fruit. One day he decided he needed to advertise. So he painted a big sign and put it above his fruit stand:
BUY YOUR FRESH FRUIT HERE.
A man came to the stand. “It’s about your sign,” he said. “Yes,” said the fruitseller. “What is it?”
“Well, said the visitor, “You don’t really need to say BUY YOUR FRESH FRUIT HERE do you? Once they’ve bought it, it will be theirs, won’t it?”
So the fruitseller went and painted out the word YOUR. The sign now read BUY FRESH FRUIT HERE.
The next day the man came back. “It’s about the sign.” “Oh yes,’ replied the fruitseller. “What’s the matter with it?”
“Well,” said the man, “You don’t really need to say the word BUY, do you? You’re not giving the fruit away, are you?”
So the fruitseller went painted out the word BUY. The sign now read FRESH FRUIT HERE.
The next day the visitor called again about the sign. “You hardly need to say the word HERE do you? After all, it’s not referring to anywhere else, is it?” So the fruitseller went and painted out the word HERE. The sign now read FRESH FRUIT.
The man came back again. “About the sign,” he said. “You don’t sell bad, moldy fruit do you? So you hardly need the word FRESH, do you?” So the fruitseller went and painted out the word FRESH. The sign now read only FRUIT.
The following day the visitor returned once more. “The sign,” he said for the last time, “You only sell fruit here, don’t you? And everybody can plainly see that fruit is on sale. So why do you need the word FRUIT?” So the fruitseller went outside and painted out the word FRUIT.
So in the end there was nothing left on the sign. But people still came for the fruit, all juicy and fresh, because they could see the store, they knew the man, and they wanted what he was offering.
Demonstration!
Ending
This is the evening of the world.
I and God alone on a hilltop as
The sun descends forever
On a black, benighted scene,
Sin-scarred and dark.
Yet this all I have, until these hills are gone
And I am gone,
Until heaven touches earth and
The celestial sun shines through the eternal grass.
The light is almost gone, and
The cold wind calls for change:
An end, a breaking, a cutting short;
While within me the pain of new birth
Sheds tears of waiting,
Waiting,
Until my Friend,
In whom I trust,
Returns to take me home.
Jonathan Gallagher 1979. (Published in the Adventist Review, March 10, 1983). -end- |
