This is one of my all-time favorite messages: Mike Bickle – Experiencing God’s Affections
Lord, Come Quickly
May 28, 2009“Thomas Merton wrote [in his book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander] that when the church thinks it’s in charge of the direction of history, it changes the essence of the hopeful Christian prayer from “Lord, come quickly” to “Give us more time.” -Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw, Jesus for President, p. 284
Recently I’ve heard a few different people share their desire for Jesus to delay His Second Coming because their friends and family aren’t saved yet. More than that, they want to see nations come to the saving knowledge of Christ before He steps again onto the world stage. Mostly I’ve smiled and agreed that I hope that Uncle Bill/the neighbor across the street/Rwanda receives the Savor unto salvation, but lately I’m questioning exactly how to respond.
It’s not that I’m not excited about evangelism. To the contrary, I fully expect our generation to see a worldwide harvest of souls that eclipses anything we’ve ever seen before–including the early church that saw 3000 and later 5000 people added to their community in a day. I’m hoping for at least a billion people to be touched by this move of God. And I want to be a laborer sent out into the harvest.
What concerns me is that while this desire sounds very compassionate, it’s not actually biblical.
Let me elaborate a bit. Scripture teaches us that Jesus desires everyone to be saved, however, we know that not all will be. We don’t know who will and who won’t, so it’s our job to work to share the Gospel with everyone we can while being a living witness of God’s love to the fallen world. At the same time, we read that the Holy Spirit inspired John to pen a prayer that goes, “The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say ‘Come!’” (Revelation 22:17). This is just one short example of the many times the apostles exhort the Church to anticipate the Lord’s coming. Even Jesus Himself told stories about His Second Advent to prepare the people to wait expectantly for Him.
Now, was this all a giant waste of time? Was Jesus wrong to prepare people to see Him again on the earth very soon after His death? Were the apostles wrong to encourage people to live lives that were ready for the End of the Age at any moment? Of course not. What Jesus and the apostles were doing was instilling a quality of life that can only be lived in the waiting–as opposed to in the settling down and occupying. Many of us live as landowners instead of pilgrims on the earth. We’re busy building huge mansions instead of preparing for His return.
Will Jesus return soon (as in our generation), or will He wait another 2000 years? Who will be right? I don’t know. But what I do know is that it’s better to be obedient more that be right. And we can’t let our compassion be greater than that of Jesus’. We must extend love, grace and mercy up until the very end, but we can’t let our desires and emotions eclipse those of the Lord Himself.
You see, one thing you must realize is that there are those on the earth right now who need a Judge. Young girls sold into human trafficking need someone to intervene on their behalf. And when we say that we want Him to wait to come back, we step into the place of judge to determine the best application of justice and mercy. We put ourselves in His place. And that’s not okay.
I think one underlying reason that some people feel they have to ask the Lord to delay is that they believe a certain amount of people must be saved or that a certain percentage of the nations must come under His leadership before He will return. These are mostly called postmillennialist, which just means a view of end-times events that says the earth must experience a sort of golden age of peace and righteousness before Christ comes again. Again, this sounds nice, but it’s not actually Biblical. In my opinion, it’s more of an assumption based on a line of logic that follows from a certain way to read prophecy. Confused? You’re in good company.
Without going into full detail about conflicting views of eschatology, I’d simply like to recommend that we read our Bibles at face value, pray the inspired prayers in the Bible as the apostles prayed them, look for His coming in anticipation, and trust Him to figure out how exactly everyone who is supposed to get saved will be saved (as we continue to labor with Him in His harvest).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Just had an ah-ha moment
April 11, 2009Just a quick thought from George Eldon Ladd (and then a couple of my own):
“If Jesus was sure that the end was to occur in the present generation, he was in effect setting a date for the time of the end; for in terms of the centuries of redemptive history, the identification of the particular generation when the end would occur amounts to rather precise knowledge of the time of the end….However, Jesus had just asserted that he did not know when the end would occur; this knowledge the Father had reserved to himself” (The Presence of the Future, pp. 320-321).
This is an interesting point. Many a preterist have used Mark 13:30 to “prove” that Jesus had His generation in mind when He was describing what would befall the earth just before His return. However, as Ladd points out, Jesus says in Mark 13:32 that not even He knows the date nor the hour. So which is it? Did He know or didn’t He?
In an hour of history when those who disagree with the premillennial outlook love to roast them with the date-setting skewer, it’s surprising to realize that’s exactly the mold into which Jesus is forced when someone holds the preterist position!
(For the uninitiated, premils take “this generation shall by no means pass away” to mean that the generation that is alive at the time of the beginning of the troubles described would remain on the earth through its duration to see it through to the end.)
Any thoughts?
News
March 23, 2009Well, certainly a lot has happened since my last post (or maybe not). I turned thirty (I was going to blog using a catchy title, like “Thoughts on 30″, but I realized I wasn’t very clever after all). We were asked to leave two churches (that’s a personal record–something to write home about, for sure). We began a fellowship in a friend’s living room. Other things have happened, I’m sure. But either I can’t remember them, or I’m not paying attention.
Hmm….I’m not sure I know what I’m even doing anymore.
On a side note, Jon Thurlow’s new CD is fantastic. So is Luke Wood’s. Check ‘em out.
Bickle’s Prophetic Dream
February 15, 2009The following are the notes to Friday’s Encountering God Service from IHOP-KC. Mike Bickle recounts a dream he had the night before, and the implications for believers preparing for the Lord’s return.
Eternal Perspective
January 30, 2009“Why do we not speak with that same simplicity, that same urgency and that same absoluteness [about eternity]? Perhaps we do not believe it as absolutely as Paul did, nor do we live as if we believe it. We are simply not that occupied with the things that are eternal, and therefore we are unable to persuade men. We need to press mankind to come to terms with eternity, even though they will accuse us of being dogmatic, narrow-minded and intolerant, and yet that will be enough to intimidate many of us to silence. There is nothing more embarrassing and intimidating to the modern Christian than to be considered narrow and dogmatic. It did not, however, intimidate Paul. Eternity is not a narrow concept, and the world needs to be disturbed by people who cannot contain themselves, who are beyond the issue of taste, politeness and good manners, who burn with the reality of eternity, and who take every opportunity to express the things that are Divine.”
-Art Katz, Apostolic Foundations
I think that if we really believed that eternity was breaking in upon us, we would (and should) speak with such conviction that it would seem like narrow-mindedness that we’re so definitive, especially to those with a life so rooted in the here and now. The problem with a toned-down, “everything will pan out” eschatology is that you really don’t have to do anything about it. It’s simply a doctrine you believe–you only agree with it in your head. This sounds very Western Christianity to me, and it’s exactly the mindset I’m trying to break out of. If Jesus is coming soon, things must drastically change.
Josh
Calling Us Out
January 21, 2009This is the first message I’ve seen/heard from Paul Washer, though I’ve heard much about him. I like it. He brings the noise, and seems to be moving under a forerunner mantle, although I’m sure he wouldn’t use that terminology. He’s calling people back to true repentance and salvation, Biblically speaking.
Eat This Book
April 21, 2009Eugene Peterson just validated my love for commentaries:
“Among those for whom Scripture is a passion, reading commentaries has always seemed to me analogous to the gathering of football fans in the local bar after the game, replaying in endless detail the game they have just watched, arguing (maybe even fighting) over observations and opinion, and lacing the discourse with gossip about the players. The level of knowledge evident in these boozy colloquies is impressive. These fans have watched the game fro years; the players are household names to them; they know the fine print in the rulebook and pick up every nuance on the field. And they care immensely about what happens in the game. Their seemingly endless commentary is evidence of how much they care. Like them, I relish in a commentary not bare information but conversation with knowledgeable and experienced friends, probing, observing, questioning the biblical text. Absorbed by this plot that stretches grandly from Genesis to Revelation, captured by the messianic presence that in death and resurrection saves us one and all–there is so much to notice, so much to talk over.” (Eat This Book, p. 54)
I’ll try not to gloat.
Seriously, though, anyone who says things like “boozy colloquies” when talking about exegeting the Scriptures gets my vote as an extraordinary writer. Not that anyone’s counting, of course.
Most people know Peterson from his Message Bible translation, which is a good place to know him from. But he has so much more to offer from those who stop there. To me, he seems like a grandpa-figure–someone who you want to be around simply because he has so much wisdom to offer in a way that you can tell that life has worn away the sharp edges.
Currently listening to: Majesty by IHOP-KC.
Posted in April 2009 | Tagged Bible, commentary, Eugene Peterson | Leave a Comment »