However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! [Mark 13:32-33 (NLT)]
Since 2014, we’ve awaited the opening of a new grocery store. Having missed all three of its previous launch dates, it is supposed to open today. Promising to be a “local destination,” this store isn’t just another Publix or Kroger’s. This “culinary mecca” and “foodie paradise” promises to be the Disneyland of grocery stores. In its 77,000 square-feet, there will be a food court and restaurant along with a book corner, five-level children’s play area, cooking demonstration kitchen, and coffee, smoothie, juice, wine and cocktail bars. They’ll churn fresh butter, roast fresh coffee, make their own ice cream and candy, pull fresh mozzarella cheese, and bake wood-fired pizzas. There will be tanks of live tilapia and shrimp along with six-hundred gallons of live lobster. Like any grocery, they’ll have fresh produce and bakery, dairy case (with artisan cheeses), wine department, butcher shop, bulk food, flowers, and whatever else you could possibly find in a grocery store. The store claims it will be “the kind of place where you’ll want to hang out.”
I’m not sure about the grocery, but I know we’ll want to hang out with Jesus when He comes again. As Christians, we expect Him to return from heaven and we look forward to the day when we will see the full glory of our God. I’ve only waited five years for the grocery but Christians have waited nearly 2,000 years for Jesus. The date of His return is even more elusive than the store’s actual opening date. While the store’s owner attributes the delay to hurricane Irma, his plan getting bigger and grander, parking lot issues, and finding 400 workers, we’re not sure why God has delayed. After reminding us that God’s time is different than ours, the Apostle Peter explains that Jesus is patiently waiting for His return because He is giving humanity as much time as possible to choose to follow Him.
Just because there’s been a delay in the store’s opening doesn’t mean it won’t open and just because Jesus has delayed coming doesn’t mean He won’t! Jesus promised His disciples that He would come again and, when they saw Him ascend into heaven, two angels proclaimed that Jesus would return to earth bodily and visibly. As Christians, whenever we recite the Nicene or Apostles’ creeds, we acknowledge our belief that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead and that His kingdom will have no end. If we have faith in Jesus, we must have faith in His return!
If I’m not driving past the grocery store, I might miss its grand opening but I’m not likely to miss Jesus’s return. The first time Jesus came it was as a baby in a manger and He was overlooked by many. The next time He comes it will be as a conquering King. He will come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” and “send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet.” [Matthew 27:30-31] I don’t think anyone will miss the armies of Heaven when they arrive!
Although, the grocery store is supposed to open today (Monday), I’m writing this on Friday so I don’t know if it actually will. Then again, I also don’t know if Jesus returned over the weekend. Unlike the grocery store, He’s not going to announce the date! If He doesn’t come today, He might come tomorrow. In any case, we’d best be ready for Him when He does!
The feeding of the five thousand is one of the more impressive of Jesus’s miracles. The gospels’ writers surely thought it important; other than the resurrection, this is the only miracle recorded in all four accounts. While small details vary, they all agree that Jesus had only five loaves and two fish when He said a blessing over the food. Although a typical Jewish blessing would have been something like, “Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth,” I think Jesus said something quite different. I don’t think He thanked God for five loaves and two fish and I don’t think He asked God for more provisions. In spite of not having sufficient food to feed even fifteen let alone more than five thousand, I think Jesus thanked our more-than-enough God for the more-than-enough food that would feed that multitude. I think the One who promised, “If you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours,” thanked His Father in Heaven for His abundant provision before that food ever appeared!
But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. [Luke 9:13a (NLT)]
God makes Himself known through His creation, His word, and in the still small voice of His Spirit and the things He has revealed to us are what make our faith possible. Nevertheless, there is much that He has not made known to us, which is why faith is necessary. A day will come when our questions will be answered; when that time comes, our hope will turn into reality and what we believe will be seen. But, until then, there will be occasions of doubt. Doubt, however, doesn’t mean we’ve lost our faith; we can’t doubt what we don’t believe!
Tears fell on my newspaper as I read the account of a toddler so violently raped that multiple surgeries will be required to repair the damage done to her little body. Nothing, however, will erase the abuse and my heart bled for the girl. From reading the book of Job, I knew not to ask God, “Why?” Nevertheless, I cried out to him, “How could you allow such evil to touch this child?”
“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures [mankind] to persevere. …this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition.” So writes the demon Screwtape to his nephew, an apprentice devil trying to win a young man’s soul, in C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters.
