ADVENT & CHRISTMAS MEDITATIONS
1,000 YEARS ARE LIKE A DAY
Editor's note: This was written in 1994.
We've retained the references to current events of the period.
"You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say 'Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation' ... But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
2 PETER 3: 3-4, 8-9
We live in astounding times. Think of the events of recent years: Rabin and Arafat shaking hands on the White House lawn; Red Army tanks shelling the Moscow Parliament because the Communists won't come out; floods covering much of the Midwest with water for weeks; a false Christ being featured on the covers of all the major newsmagazines and in a TV movie.
The combination of momentous political change and unusual natural phenomena in recent years has many folks wondering just what the heck is going on. The evangelist Billy Graham recently wrote that he has never in 50 years of ministry had so many people ask him if the end of the world is at hand.
The timing of the Second Coming has always titillated us, perhaps because it is concealed from us. For as Jesus said, "No one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." That instruction often gets forgotten when believers see events that correspond with the signs Christ said would foreshadow His return. There is growing speculation that the Second Coming is imminent, a trend that will only intensify as the turn of the millenium approaches.
Christians must take care to not be deceived - either by those who insist He's coming tomorrow, or those who claim He won't return in our lifetime.
For the "scoffers" are also many, and are on thin ice as well. For decades, progressive thinkers ridiculed "Bible believing" scholars who insisted that Christ's return would be immediately preceded by such unlikely events as European political union, a cashless society and a Middle East peace treaty. No one's laughing today.
But as Peter understood, a comma on a page in the Bible could be 50 or 100 years for us. God defines "soon" much differently than we do. God's desire is for "everyone to come to repentance" - for us to invite Christ into our hearts and our lives. On a Bethlehem night 2,000 years ago, He came as a babe. One day, He will come in glory. In our world, He comes to us through the love and caring of forgiven people living changed lives.
Christ means for us to join him in eternal life. For now, His will is for us to be here, loving our neighbor until they ask us why, and then pointing them toward the Cross.
These meditations were prepared by Rich Miller of Lawrenceville,
New Jersey. Rich is a lay speaker who attends the The Hopewell United Methodist Church in Hopewell Borough, N.J.
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