Kindergarten Babies

I spent most of my life in the not-so-hallowed halls of an elementary school. Most of that was within the confines of room 9, the fourth-grade class. The kindergarten teachers were great shepherds of their little flock, and seemed to be most intuitive about strays, and excellent at keeping them together. But every once in a while, I would find the forlorn kindergartner standing with both hands in front, holding his lunch pail, and obviously not knowing where to go.

In elementary schools, the school works hard at keeping the kindergarteners separate.  And the kids are just so young, that they know almost nothing about the school-world at large. They know their boundaries, their playground, and maybe that is about the total sum of their knowledge. But as long as they were in the boundaries, they were okay.

It only happened a few times in my 27 years with Pony. But I would see the child, bereft of his class, and lost. I would bend over, as kindly as an adult could (does any adult not intimidate the little ones by their very presence?), and ask the obvious question. 

“Did you need help getting back to your classroom?”

They would nod their head. 

“Who’s your teacher?” 

They would give a name, and I would lead them back to their classroom, where relief would spread all over their faces when they saw their familiar surroundings, their room, their home.

The picture of that poor child in the hallways is haunting me these days. I remember the lostness of the child so much and I have come to compare it to adult Christians before their God. I think we assume far too much when we get into the presence of God these days. We assume that we know what we are praying for, but after we reflect a bit we realize we do not have a clue. We assume we know what God wants us to do, but reflection again shows we do not have a clue.

We are lost and the only way out is to nod your head at the adult in the room (God) and follow him back to safety. We can rest in assurance that “our adult” is always there, and ever at our right hand. I wish we might tout a little less about our importance, and tout a little more about the only one that can get us out of the calamities we find ourselves in. In God’s eyes, we must all appear as those forlorn kindergarteners. Waiting patiently to be helped.

God’s Plan for Human Prosperity

Did you know that God does indeed have a plan for human prosperity? The proverbial old man dressed in a white robe, holding up a sign, “The End is Near” only has part of the picture.  The end of the world is near only in the sense that God is nearly finished with the wickedness of mankind, and elects to bring that free reign of wickedness to an end. In that sense, wickedness—the end—is near, but the Bible clearly proclaims this new time to be a beginning.

So how is it a beginning? It begins the restoration of man to a full and whole relationship with his creator. God has made a plan involving everyone that responds to him in faith, believing in the grace that was shown to reconcile man to God through Jesus’s offering on the cross. Christ himself will return to earth (this time as a roaring lion rather than a sacrificial lamb) and will reign over mankind.

He will reign over Jerusalem, bringing in the prosperity and peace so often promised to the Jews in the Old Testament. Scores of prophecies from the Old Testament all sound the trumpet: there is a coming peaceful time for the Jews, when even the Gentiles will come to the Jewish homeland in subservience to the leadership of Christ in the world. There is a peace plan—one that Christians fully subscribe to. The time that at last swords shall be beaten to plowshares, and the blessing of God himself will flow outward from Jerusalem to the frontiers of the world. 

Then we will have everlasting peace. We will have Christ himself reigning and bringing prosperity to what is now a “cursed” world, but in that day, will be a blessed world. God’s plan, and every Christian’s hope.

 

A Little Bit of Jonah in Me?

Someone in the “much-beloved” press termed the fire in Los Angeles to be apocalyptic. It seems from one month to another that someone somewhere in the world claims some tragedy to be apocalyptic.  It is not. It is not even close. We can and should call the Los Angeles fire serious, even ominous. Perhaps a record tragedy for L.A. But no way is it apocalyptic.

Let’s take a look at the basic meaning of apocalyptic. Oxford defines it as, “describing or prophesying the complete destruction of the world.” Los Angeles being partially devastated by catastrophic fire is not the destruction of the world. Oxford tells us in the following picture that it comes from the Greek “apokaluptikos”.  And Oxford gives a little graph that shows the increase of the word since 1950. Its overuse started then, and it has galloped to the forefront of usage, if I read the graph correctly, many times over. Everything has become “apocalyptic”.

 

 

Partially destroying Los Angeles is certainly devastating. But it is not “the destruction of the world”.  Our use of the word probably comes from Revelation, which literally means “apocalypsis”. Wikipedia has this to say on the book of Revelation: “The Book of Revelation or Book of the Apocalypse is the final book of the New Testament. Written in Koine Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text: apokalypsis, meaning 'unveiling' or 'revelation'. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon.”

If the book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament (and it is), it certainly covers everything. The center 17 chapters of Revelation describe devastation to man and the earth that is unequalled in history. Over 90% of mankind is destroyed when the the judgment of God is thrust upon the world over a seven-year period. Billions of people are brought horrifically to their deaths. That is apocalyptic.

Hundreds of books are on Amazon describing what the end of the world, as we know it, takes place. Creative authors have imagined things like the internet “blinking” out one day through different causes. Nuclear war, famine, plagues, and hits from objects in space have all been envisioned. These books all depict a complete falling-apart of the world in the judgment of God. That is the proper envisioning of apocalypsis, what it might mean.

Our pastor has been teaching on Jonah the past month, and I have been reminded of Jonah’s willingness, even eagerness, to see the great city of Ninevah be judged by God. He skillfully took us through several weeks on the topic of Jonah. Each week he reminded us of Jonah’s temperament: Jonah wanted to be the spectator with a front row seat, watching for the judgment of God upon this terribly wicked city. Instead, the city repents and God relents for a time from his judgment. 

Jonah is devastated and disappointed because the judgment is postponed. And that reminds me a little bit of us Christians. Many of us, and I include myself, want to see the end come. As fiercely as Jonah, we “camp” outside and look at the world, proclaiming the end is coming. Perhaps it is our fault that the word apocalypsis is so overused.

As Christians in the end time, what is the proper attitude for us to have? Are we really to be like Jonah, eagerly watching for the end? This week I have become interested in a study of Peter, as our small group touched briefly on 1 Peter. Our teacher reminded me of the great Bible Project, and they have really done a great job of summarizing 2 Peter, the last letter of Peter. It touches so poignantly on my subject that I want to close with. 

Peter talks almost in newspaper headline about our world. He warns us about corrupt leadership, mainly people who are indulging themselves in sexual fantasies and greed (following their own evil desires), pretending they have God’s approval. They were teaching falsely that God would give no final reckoning, asking the question, “where is the promise of his coming?” Thus they scoff at God, forgetting “deliberately” that the world is created and destroyed by a world-wide flood. Peter then gives two quick points that I would summarize.

First, Peter reminds us that God is patient, not willing that any should perish. This is a main focus of what our attitude should be, looking to the world and reaching out with the gospel we have been entrusted with. God withholds judgment and surely the scoffers are having their day. But the patience of God is not without end and it is quite proper for Christians to look for the end of wickedness. The “day of the Lord” will come exactly at the right second, not earlier, nor one nanosecond later.

Second, Peter reminds us that the world will pass away, even the elements melting by fire, so that all of the wickedness of mankind is fully exposed. God’s purpose is not to stop there with judgment; his stated purpose is to give us a new heaven and new earth. This is really what those of us who would be like Jonah should stress. The signs that “the end is near”, proverbially put in so many cartoons for so many years, is not quite the accurate picture of us “Jonahs”. Instead, we are to look beyond the judgment toward the very plan of God. God plans on getting rid of the evil world, only to replace it with a new heaven and a new earth.

So, to summarize, Christians who feel a bit like Jonah, ought to take the better viewpoint of Peter, who looking forward to his death, was prescient enough to warn us of God’s longer plan. Though the time has extended out to nearly two thousand years now, yet the plan of God to end evil in this world is as sure and absolute as ever. We “Jonahs” can look forward to the new heaven and new earth, meanwhile proclaiming the gospel to the lost as often as possible.

Not a Tame Lion

Lewis famously labels Aslan as “not a tame lion”.  In so doing, he captures a characteristic of God that we often overlook. God is doing things his way, precisely because that is who he is. It is our job to uncover who he is and to see him as he is. 

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Another saying that fits the general character of man. When we get willful we do not even want to see. But that is not going to change who he is. We must earnestly hunger and thirst for righteousness if we are to see him at all, however dimly.

And that is precisely the point of the Word of God, the Bible. It is the fount of the definition of God; to it we must regularly pilgrimage if we are to come to know him better. I see my brothers and sisters in Christ ignoring the Bible at their very deep peril. We must spend our lives coming regularly to this fount if we are to know God at all. He is not a tame lion. I have spent my life trying to fit God into my box, only to find that the box I have constructed is not large enough after all, and I must throw it aside. But not to be dissuaded, I get busy constructing another box, sure that this time the box I have so carefully made will be a good fit. But to no avail. I think I have spent a great deal of my life constructing boxes, only to throw them aside as I realize that they do not, once again, capture his essence.  He is not a tame lion.

So it is a lifelong process, this coming to know God. And it is to his Word we must go again and again if we are to know him. Fortunately there is even a verse about our quest to know him ever better, and it is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

My life since accepting Christ can be described as one process of getting to know Him better and better. Not much else is important besides the aim of contemplating him to know him. Have you immersed yourself in the Word lately, so that you may know him better? How about starting today? It is a lifelong process, with a lifelong commitment needed on our part. I am afraid there is no other remedy. He is not a tame lion.