Posts about the return of Jesus

Let These Words Sink Down into Your Ears

“Let these WORDS sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying. Luke 9:44-45

Before His death, Jesus spoke very frankly with His disciples about the coming events. He was going to be betrayed, handed over, and crucified, but He would rise again after three days. Everyone who heard Him understood the WORDS He was saying, but none of them grasped the reality of them. Even as the events unfolded before them, the disciples struggled with how things played out. Instead of clinging to their faith in Christ, in who He is, and what they had already witnessed from Him, that faith gave way to fear for their very lives. They heard the hatred in the mob’s cries and the religious leaders’ hypocritical disdain. They saw the brutality and the scorn of the Romans. That very natural fear led to doubts about this man they had given up everything to follow. Had they misunderstood? Was this the way it was supposed to be?

Surely, some of the longest hours in their lives were those between the Upper Room and the empty tomb.

The Resurrection changed all that. The doubts and fears gave way to the boldness and fire at Pentecost and beyond. The WORDS that Jesus said became real. Things that they struggled to grasp in those hours in between made sense at last in ways that were beyond their imagination.

Even now, with the Holy Spirit living in us, with the completed canon of Scripture readily available to us, and with 2000 years of church history to draw upon, we have the same trouble grasping the WORDS of Jesus.

Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” (Matthew 24:9) And we struggle to understand why culture is so hostile to our values.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7) And yet we trust treaties and military buildups to protect us and depend on science and technology to fix everything else.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12) We’re still shocked at scandals that reveal the depth of our self-absorption and misogyny.

Jesus told us these things would happen, and now we are living in the in-between time like the disciples in those hours between crucifixion and resurrection. We wrestle with questions – Why doesn’t God do something? Is He even paying attention? Why is everything a struggle?

But when He comes again, and He will just as surely as He resurrected, everything will make sense. The questions and the frustrations will melt into worship and affirmation that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His words will be fulfilled in ways outside the bounds of our imagination.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Peace. He has overcome. We’ll know exactly what those WORDS mean. Just a little longer.

Mount of Olives: Winning the Battle

By Paula Wiseman

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. Luke 22:39

The Mount of Olives rises 2700 feet (826 m) above the Kidron Valley. It is part of a three-peak ridge that was at one time covered in olive trees. There was a garden there. Every spring we recount the story of what happened in that garden, but it is usually just a stop along the way of a bigger story, the Easter story.

Today, let’s take a few minutes and climb one more mountain and consider what took place–and what is yet to take place–on the Mount of Olives.

It is a place Jesus resorted to often.

Luke tells us it was His custom to go to the Mount of Olives. I can imagine a visit each time He was in Jerusalem. Maybe it began when he climbed the hill with his father as a boy. In this passage, it was a place where He poured out His heart to God. We need a place, a familiar comfortable place to meet God regularly.

It was a place of sorrow and struggle.

In some ways, the battle for our salvation was won on that mountain in the intensive prayer session. Scripture doesn’t give the specifics, but I wonder if the temptation Jesus faced that night was even more strident and grueling than His time in the wilderness. In the midst of that struggle, He knew His closest friends would fail Him and abandon Him. The crowds He would soon face wouldn’t grasp what He was doing or the implications of their call for His blood. Although not as intense, we face our own moments of sorrow and struggle alone. We have faced our share of battles that have touched the deepest parts of our soul.

It was a place of deep communion.

Jesus reached out to His Father, and God sent a ministering angel to strengthen Christ. When we seek God’s face in the depths of our anguish, He hears and He sends strength and comfort.

It was a place of resolve and victory.

By the time Jesus rose to His feet, He was ready to face everything that lay ahead with steadfast resolve. He never wavered. There was no hesitation in His steps, no fear or uncertainty in His voice. Evidence of his victory came weeks later, when His friends watched Him return to the Father’s right hand from that very mountain. Zechariah tells us He will return to that spot yet again to put the final seal on His victory and receive His kingdom. That reality should strengthen our resolve. The victory is already won.

There are other mountains in Scripture besides the ones we’ve discussed. Moriah. Carmel. Tabor. Pisgah. Ebal. And others. Each one stands out from the surrounding landscape. Each one unique, both in the perspective it offers and in the experience of the climb. Perhaps your curiosity is piqued now. Even better, I hope your hunger and longing to see, to know, to experience all the mountain offers won’t let you rest until you climb the next one.

Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US.

I’ll be back the following week as we turn our hearts and our thoughts toward Advent.

Catch up on the Mountains series

A People Prepared

By Paula Wiseman

“…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17

We start weeks, even months ahead getting ready for Christmas. We plan events. We make shopping lists. We schedule vacation. We clean the house. We decorate. We buy extra groceries. We work out the get-togethers — who’s bringing what, where will they sit, what if the weather turns bad, what if we get the flu? So many details. So many resources. So much energy.

And yet it seems like every year, we are less prepared.

The last thing I want to do is write a guilt-inducing post shaming us all for celebrating Christmas. Instead I want us to step back and consider a bigger picture. Remember Christmas is the First Advent. The Second is still out there.

All the preparation and joy and celebrating that comes with Christmas is just a taste of what’s to come with the Second Advent. We feel the expectation and the anticipation.

We’ve heard the prophecies.

We know the promises will be kept.

This Christmas and through the coming new year, let’s resolve to be a people prepared for the Lord.

Anticipation

By Paula Wiseman

We are under a winter storm watch. It was 65 degrees yesterday, but the temperature is expected to drop at least forty degrees today as the frontal system moves in bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow.

Snow.

There are few things that get our household as giddy as the possibility – no matter how slight – of a snow day. What a sweet unexpected luxury of going back to bed, of pajamas, not to mention, cinnamon rolls. We will light the snow candle and I will spend the afternoon comparing weather reports, latching on to the most dire of the lot, as one to three inches, becomes three to five, becomes five to eight.

The buzz generated by a little snow in the forecast is nothing compared to the anticipation in the hearts of God’s people some two thousand years ago. They knew the words Malachi had spoken 400 years earlier. “‘But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 4:2-3) God said those words. He said He would send Elijah the prophet. Then for four hundred years, He said nothing.

Nothing.

The United States hasn’t even been a country for 400 years. We can’t comprehend not hearing from God for 400 years. But then He broke the silence. When Gabriel recited the words of Malachi back to Zacharias, he knew exactly what the messenger meant. It was time. The anticipation was giving way to reality.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, “Behold I am coming quickly.” There will come a day when the anticipation once again gives way to reality, and to fulfillment. The amazing promises God kept at the birth of Christ are just a glimpse. In fact, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (2 Corinthians 2:9) The best is still to come.

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