At dinner on Monday, I looked at my wife and said, “One down, three to go.” “What are you talking about?” she asked. “One 108-degree day is behind us, only three more (this week).” (I was trying to be optimistic, so I’m not going to think about August.)
I often look forward to the ends of various situations — “one mile down, only two to go” during a workout. “The yard is mowed, I only need to trim it to be finished.” Or, “the bills have all been paid, now I just need to reconcile the accounts.”
Sometimes I do it with things for which I don’t know the endpoint either — “Sixty birthdays done…how many more will the Lord give me?”
And similarly, I often think about the rapture of the church and the return of Christ: “how much longer will you wait, Lord?” I often ask. “Will it be this year? Next year? Certainly it will be before another decade is finished???”
Those kinds of questions were regularly on the minds of the disciples (Mt. 24:3ff; Acts 1:6) and an imminent anticipation was also on the mind of Paul (1 Thess. 4:17ff).
While there are debates about the particulars of all the events of the last days, there are multiple certainties about God’s eschatological plan, as we have found in the book of Zechariah:
- Christ will return and will sit on His Davidic throne (Zech. 6:13).
- All opposition to Christ (the nations, the rulers, and the Antichrist) will be vanquished and rendered powerless before Christ (Zech. 11:17; 12:2ff; 14:2ff).
- While Israel will fight against the nations (9:13; 10:6-7; 12:8), God will be the source of strength for Israel; He is the One who will be victorious (10:5; 12:5; 14:3).
- While the nations will be the object of God’s judgment at the end of this age, some from among the nations will also be enfolded into the promises God made to Israel (2:11; 8:21-23; 14:16ff).
Simply said, at the end of the age, God will be victorious.
In our day we see the proliferation and celebration of sin in the cultural arena. And we experience the difficult of sin’s effects in our own lives (from our own battle with the flesh, even as redeemed people). And we know the complications of sin in relationships (when sinners inevitably sin against one another). It is easy to be overwhelmed with grief when we see children mistreated and marital vows ignored and civil laws twisted and governmental authorities preying on the innocent. The news rarely brings good news and our days are often filled with trials — “when will I catch a break?” is a common lament.
But the end of the age is bringing a day when “everything sad is going to come untrue.” There is wrong in the world. And Christ in His coming will undo every wrong and lead His people into an eternal time when all will only be true and right.
And nothing can take away that confidence. No catastrophe. No sin. No enemy. No evil. Not even death. The confidence of the believer is that the Messiah will come and the Messiah will rule with infinitely righteous wisdom. All will be well.
When I engage in my “countdown” practices, I am generally thinking about enduring something I really don’t want to do — a workout, bills, or yard work. “I just need to make it past this…” But the countdown to Christ’s coming is not merely the anticipation of something hard ending, but it the anticipation of the best beginning.
it is that anticipation that led G. Campbell Morgan to say, “…the second coming is the perpetual light in the path which makes the present bearable. I never lay my head on my pillow without thinking that before the morning breaks, the final morning may have dawned. I never begin my work without thinking perhaps he may interrupt my work and begin his own.”
That’s our confidence for the end of this age.
“Path to light.” by Simon Matzinger is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Words of Grace 