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WUMFSA Devotionals for Advent to Epiphany, 2003 - 2004 Tuesday, December 2 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Luke 21: 32-33 True or False? "This generation will not pass away until all things have taken place." Assuming "all things" to mean the cosmic cataclysm in verses 25 and 26, bringing an end to the earth, the answer is obviously "False." How many generations have come and gone since these words were written? The earth is still here and we are on it. True or False? "Heaven and earth will pass away." Assuming "heaven and earth" refers to the finite created order, the answer is very probably "True." If we affirm a beginning to creation, is it not likely there will be an end? The persistent unanswered question is "When?" Is this now the end? It seems in every generation there are those who interpret Scriptural signs to mean the imminent end of the world. So far they have all been proven wrong. During the Cold War there were radio-TV preachers interpreting Scripture as referring to the Soviet Union, the "evil empire" which would bring about the end. They therefore opposed nuclear weapons reduction lest it diminish the chances for their hoped-for Armageddon. It is a dangerous viewpoint that eagerly awaits the destruction of our planet earth. "The world can end as long as I'm saved. Oh Rapture!" "My Lord, what a morning when the stars begin to fall." This Spiritual sings of the end of the world, but not joyously. The Scriptural sign of a falling sky is there, but it's not a song you clap your hands to. It's a sobering vision. The conditions of slavery no doubt provided many situations when it seemed like the sky was falling. Another Spiritual acknowledges that for every one of us the end is near: "Steal Away to Jesus." In that Spiritual the trumpet sounds within my soul, not to announce the end of the world but to declare that "I ain't got long to stay here." Whether the end time is cosmic or personal you can meet it with a song that bears the burdens of life. There are, of course, clapping, stomping, joyous Spirituals which look beyond the end time (cosmic or personal) to that "Great Gitten'-up Morning" when Gabriel's trumpet is for all to hear. Didn't my Lord deliver Daniel from the lion's den? Jonah from the belly of the whale? The Hebrew children from the fiery furnace? Then why not every one? Today's verses end with the affirmation that even though heaven and earth will pass away God's word will not. It's the word of deliverance a glimpse of God's reign. I suspect the end will someday come. But Scripture
really addresses itself to living now, not ending now. So what
do we do (or not do) in the mean time? Or should we say "in
good time"? A Prayer/Hymn: #505 "When Our Confidence
Is Shaken" (Fred Pratt Green's mature insight) |