There’s a lot of strange ideas out there about
Jesus' return. Some believe that Jesus is coming to take
his people out of the world for a time and then let the world destroy itself
over 7 years before Jesus comes back again. If your faith isn't strong enough,
you’ll have to survive those years of tribulation. The Left Behind books
teach this, saying you still have a chance to repent in those 7 years. I call
this second chance theology; if you miss out on being with Jesus the first
time, you get seven years to get it right. There’s a fear aspect to these views
of Jesus’ return. That’s always bothered me. We should have a joy-filled
anticipation.
Jesus has gone back to heaven and Paul doesn't want the Thessalonian church to grieve without hope like the pagans do. In Jesus there's great hope, even when death
comes. Paul takes them back to the cross where Jesus died, but then he reminds
them that Jesus rose again. Death is not the last word; Jesus is. Jesus has
returned to heaven and he's preparing to return again as king. This is “Day of
the Lord” imagery from the Old Testament; when the Lord comes to claim his
people and punish those against him. Even those who follow God and died will be
with Jesus when he returns.
Paul uses the picture of a king coming to visit one of his cities. Notices would be sent to the leaders of the city that the king was
planning to come visit his subjects. Time is given so that the leaders can
mobilise the citizens to clean up the city and prepare for the king's arrival.
The streets are cleaned up, the buildings in the city are repaired and
whitewashed so that as the sun is rising or setting on the city, it gleams and
shines and sparkles. The king will time his arrival for sunrise and approach
from the west so that the rising sun shines on the city, making it beautiful.
This is where we get a lot of our images of the new Jerusalem coming down from
heaven; gleaming in splendour. Watchers are set outside the city and on the
city walls to let everyone know as soon the king comes into sight so everyone
can get into their finest clothes to greet the king as he approaches.
As the king and his entourage come closer, the king's trumpeters sound their trumpets to let everyone know the
king is close. The nobles of the city quickly gather all the citizens together
and go out of the city to meet the king, kneeling before him and acknowledging
him as their king. Everyone then escorts the king with honour, fanfare, and
celebration into his city. The word Paul uses here is 'parousia'
which has often been translated as 'rapture.'
The goal of the parousia is not to escape and leave the world to its sin and
suffering, but the people loyal to the king come out to meet him in order to
escort the king into what belongs to him. After everyone enters the city, all
those who had stayed behind are rounded up and thrown out of the city since
they’re considered traitors for not coming out to acknowledge the king as
theirs. I hear Palm Sunday happening here but on a cosmic scale now, instead of
just a few hundred people cheering Jesus into Jerusalem the week before his
death, now all the followers of Jesus are escorting him back to his world.
Jesus is coming back. He’s the
king Paul’s referring to. Luke tells us that when Jesus left, as everyone had
their eyes glued to the skies trying to get that last glimpse of Jesus before
he disappears out of sight, two angels appear, “Men of
Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same
Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way
you have seen him go into heaven.” The problem is that it happened so
long ago that we really don't let this promise affect how we live anymore. We
have the same priorities as everyone else; get a job, pay our bills, save a
little so we can retire, make sure our kids get a decent education so they can
get good jobs, help out others when we find some time or a few extra dollars,
try to be good people, and so on. We try to get some devotions in each day,
pray over our meals, and come to church on most Sundays. All good things, and
yet I wonder if we took Paul and Luke more seriously if our lives might not
look different from what they do right now.
Paul encourages the people in Thessalonica to live like Jesus is coming back soon. This is about preparing yourselves,
getting dressed in your best, making sure you're sober. This isn't about being
dour, but being awake with all your senses tuned to Jesus and the leading of
the Holy Spirit. Put on faith and love, Paul
encourages us a few verses later, let these two virtues shape who you are and
how you live with each other because this is who God is. Faith trusts that the
way of life Jesus has laid out in his teaching and life is really the best life
for you, and then living it. Love’s about how we treat each other. It’s grace
in our words, peace in our actions, patience, self control and kindness towards
others, especially towards those we might find hardest to be kind to when they
know how to push our buttons. Paul adds hope to the list of things to shape our
lives with. This is confidence that Jesus is with us, no matter what we’re
going through, that we belong to him and he doesn’t let go of us.
Paul reminds us that we belong to Jesus, we’re his subjects. We are not
our own, but belong, body and soul to our Saviour Jesus Christ as the
Heidelberg Catechism reminds us in Lord's Day 1. Our king cares about his
subjects, loving you so much that he died for you so
that, whether you are awake or asleep, you may live together with him.
Nothing can separate you from Jesus' love; nothing can tear you away from him,
not even death. One of the most promising scenes in Scripture is Jesus'
conversation with the thief on the cross who asks, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,"
and Jesus tells him, "Today you will be with me in
paradise."
You belong to Jesus and he wants you to keep
an eye out for his return. It's like the
teenage girl who stands by the window eager for that first glimpse of her
boyfriend's car coming down the street to pick her up. Paul wants you to have
that same sense of anticipation as you walk through each day, making yourself
as beautiful or handsome as you can for when Jesus shows up; building each
other up so you all can be who God has created you to be as you get ready to
greet his Son. This reminds me of what Paul talks about how a husband should
love his wife in
Ephesians 5:25–27, “Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to
make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to
present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any
other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Jesus is working to make us beautiful, but we need
to accept the work of the Holy Spirit in us that guide and shapes us into a
radiant church and people.
But there's that second part; getting
the city ready for the arrival of the king. We do this work because the king’s
important to you and you want to honour him. This is about putting your beauty,
putting your life at the service of the city to get everything ready for the
coming of the king because the king is your king and he means everything to
you. You can go back to the beginning of time and God's call on us to take care
of creation and to discover and develop the potential and wonders in his
creation to God's glory.
This means getting involved in a deliberate
way in the world, in our culture and neighbourhoods as part of
developing creation. It's not just the physical creation we're called to be
part of and grow, it's the arts, culture, music, business, sports, politics,
and more because these are all pieces of how God’s created us to be as humans
in relationship with him and each other. God has given you skills and abilities
to develop and help your family, your church, your community, your workplace,
your places of play to flourish, and he calls you to invest in these things as
part of preparing for Jesus’ return so they reflect who Jesus is.
What we believe matters. The Reformed view of Jesus’ return fills us with hope for the future
and a call to be deeply invested in the day to day living out of our faith in Jesus;
good news that can shape our lives, the lives of those around us, and the flourishing
of the communities we live in.
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