21:20-36
Stand up and Lift up your heads
Rev.
Daehyun Shin[2005/10/9]
The Lord's day Morning Service
Sierra Vista United Korean Presbyterian Church
There is 'the end' in any stories and movies.
We are living in God's story, which is 'His-story'(=History). His story has begun ages ago "In the beginning", and now it's almost time to approach to 'the end'. How do we know? The author/director of the history has already revealed us 'the script' to show how the end would be like, and we now see its marks and phenomena in our time. Luke 21:20-36 is one of the pages of the script about the end.
In His story Jerusalem has had its unique role to indicate the time line of God's story. In v 24 Jesus prophesized the destruction of Jerusalem, "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled". The city was destroyed in AD 70 by Romans. 1.1m people were killed, 75,000 were captured as slaves and scattered for 2000 years. But in 1855 the first settlement in the land of Israel began. In 1948 Jews recovered their independence. However, Jerusalem is not yet in Jewish administrative control even though the city is in the soil of Israel. She is under the administration of Muslims. She is still being trampled on the Gentiles. But as Jesus said the suffering times would be until the times of Gentiles are fulfilled. The fact that the Gentiles like us are now enjoying unexpectedly and so gracefully the privileges that belonged to Israel(Rom 11:25-32) tells that the times are nearly fulfilled.
The signs of the sun, moon, and stars have their peculiar roles as well to indicate Jesus' coming as they did in the first century to guide the people to the place of Jesus' birth. Scientists are experimenting defending weapons against the threats from the space. They try to prevent 'Deep impact', which could terminate the existence of our planet. Recently NASA has launched a destructing device targeting at a comet approaching toward the orbit of the earth and succeeded in dismantling it. Even the astrologists know consciously or unconsciously the signs of the end time. How could Christians sit back and be relaxed ignorantly?
In v 25 Jesus warned that the nations would be in anguish and perplexity at
the roaring and tossing of the sea. Let's consider what happened in the southern Asia last year, and in New Orleans last month. Tsunami and Super-giant hurricane. Who would have ever imagined that the sea could have been such a mass destructive threat to the humanity? These kinds of threats by the sea will not mitigate.
In v 26 Jesus foresaw that men would faint from terror, apprehensive of what would be coming on the
world, for the heavenly bodies would be shaken. The heavenly bodies would inevitably be seen rocking if the foundation of the earth is shaken by massive earthquakes for instance (Matt 24:7). People would be trembling and fearful of knowing what would be the dreadful results of global warming. Until 2060 the world climate would increase 10 degrees in average. The world would not be in the climate wherein not only humanity but also the earthly creatures could survive.
In "THE END" of history the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is coming in a cloud with power and great glory. We could be the generation to see His glory.
How should we then react to the marks and phenomena of the end? As Jesus commands we should "stand up and lift up our heads" (v 28). We do not have to be terrified. We must not put our hope on the earth. We should not act like the worldly people do. We need to open our spiritual eyes wider than ever to see that the kingdom of God is near. Whenever Jesus mentions 'the Kingdom of God' it is the urgent message (v 31). 'The kingdom of God' was his first message in his first appearance before the public. What did he demand from the people in his first message? "Repent", which means, "Turn to God". As we listen now Jesus¡¯ message about the Kingdom of God again, we by standing up with our will to God and by lifting up our heads with our hope only in God must live 'God-centered life'.
Jesus tells us more details about the end-time life style in vs 34-36. We should be careful not to let ourselves become occupied with -- 1) too much feasting: "too much" holidays, "too much" parties, "too much" BBQ, "too much" sports, "too much retirement". The last example is about the people's attitude, as they do not want to be involved in any activities even though they could, simply because they are retired. We cannot be retired from living. The only thing left from 'real retirement of life' is death. 2) Drunkenness. In drunkenness the devil surely steals your mind on life in here as well as life in God's kingdom. 3) Worries of this life. This attitude reflects the complete forgetfulness of 'the life with God's promises'. Only God's promises keep us to move forward and to look ahead to His kingdom. Otherwise we are only living sunken in the concerns, and never make a progress.
Instead, we should be occupied with "being always on the watch" and "praying" that we may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that we may be able to stand before the Son of Man (v 36). This attitude only results from our constantly reading God's story, vigilantly learning the end, and prayerfully preparing for it according as the script of His story reveals. The worldly people will never recognize the marks and phenomena of the end. As in the time of Noah when people knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and "took them all away", the people in the end-time generation will act alike. However, we as the people with God's revelation should live as the people being ready to meet God's conclusion of His story.
We cannot escape our reality. We cannot quantum-leap into another time. There is no such thing as 'Time Machine'. We cannot but face the end. However,
"praying" makes us transfer to and see "The kingdom dimension". Praying is the way for us to move to God's reality. In prayerful life we may live as though we live in God¡¯s kingdom. Let us keep being on the watch and praying, and looking forward to the day when we see the glory of the Son of Man coming to the world!
