Come Quickly Lord. Come.

Greetings all,

How is everyone? By the grace of God, I am fine. I hope that all of you have made an effort to appreciate the Bride of Christ since last week. It is a glorious institution that He gave so much for. As the songwriter says, "Tis a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle; Washed in the blood of the Lamb."

Have any of you heard the prayer "maranatha?" It is Greek for "Come, Lord." It was common for the early Church to pray this prayer. The same can be said for much of the Church of history. But, when is the last time you have honestly prayed, "Come quickly Lord. Come." Have you ever heard someone else pray that prayer? Maybe these two questions deserve an introductory question: When is the last time you even heard (a sermon) about the Second Coming? Albeit, tradition (via the lectionary) has placed the second coming in the Advent season (so hopefully you will hear a sermon in the weeks of December leading up to Christmas). But, for such a big deal, do we really only talk about it only once a year?

We are being fed eschatology whether we realize it or not. The secular world calls it the "end of the world" which can be seen in the upcoming blockbuster 2012 featuring John Cusack. This Friday millions will flock to the flick. The date of the "end of the world" comes from the end of a time cycle of an ancient Incan/Mayan calendar. If the argument even needed bolstered, the famous French astrologer Nostradamus has been thought to predicted the same time for the end of the world. I'm sold. Aren't you? Well, some Christians are anyway.

I think so much effort is spent in trying to decipher both world and cosmological events as "signs of the times." And yet is the end not the same? Holywood may portray it a certain way--which conveniently is a way that profits hundreds of millions of dollars; for Christians, it still comes down to Jesus' return to the earth. The Lord Himself encouraged us to live in a state of expectancy for it will come like a thief in the night (Matt. 24:43)/or no one knows but the Father (of the day or hour--Matt. 24:36). If I can't take my Lord seriously at His word, then newspaper clippings (and ancient Incan/Myan calendars along with the French astrologer Nostradamus' prophecies) pasted next to other Bible verses isn't going to change much of anything for me.

Put all the speculation regarding the Second Coming aside, do we, both individually and as a church, really want the Lord to come back? Can we honestly pray, "come quickly Lord?" It is easy for me to say yes on the front end, for that is what I am supposed to say as a good Christian. Yet, am I saying it with life? Uh, ouch I just burned myself, well that was a rhetorical question...Cough...ya rhetorical.

Living expecting and hoping for the Second Coming does not warrant an escapist life--withdrawing from the world. Nor does it necessarily encourage us to forsake goals of education, careers, etc. to enter a life of monkery. Living in expectation of the second coming doesn't reduce this life; rather, it elevates it. It makes it more meaningful. I encourage you, as I am myself, to pray the prayer of maranatha everyday for forty days. Maybe it will open our eyes to where we are truly storing our treasures--in the things of heaven or of earth. I think that our faith is based on this eschatological hope. The return of Christ seems to drive...well, it all. Salvation, sanctification, holiness and all the other theological jargon becomes just jargon, if we do not believe that Christ is coming back. I hope to live ready for His coming, newspaper articles aside. I hope to live as my Lord encouraged me to live: always ready and always hoping.

The scholar Anthony Hoekema writes, "Our expectation of the Lord's return, therefore, should be a constant incentive to live for Christ and for his kingdom, and to seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. But the best way to seek the things above is to be busy for the Lord here and now."

Grace and Peace to you until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.