Life in the End Times

As the Holy Spirit rushed through the place where they were gathered with hurricane-force winds and sparks flying and the sound of every language on earth sharing the wonder of the events since Passover filled their ears, Peter knew that the time was at hand, that the promises of the prophets were coming to fruition. We call Pentecost the birthday of the church; Peter didn’t know it, but he gave that day the first sermon of the church. His sermon text was from the prophet Joel. I actually sort of love the rough translation of the Greek:
“And it will be in the last days, says the God, I will pour out of the Spirit of Me upon all flesh and will prophesy the sons of you and the daughters of you; and the young men of you visions will see and the elders of you dreams will dream.”

Peter knew that the end times had begun. The prophecies are being fulfilled. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. All the signs are there. God is restoring Israel. Now, I know that there is a lot of political conversation about what that looks like. That’s politics. Today, I want us to take just a moment and understand what the Biblical conversation is.

Israel is the name that God gives Jacob when he wrestles with God and then gives in. Let’s take a closer look at Jacob. His grandparents are Abraham and Sarah. His parents are Isaac and Rebekah, and he has a twin brother named Esau. When they were born, Esau was born first, with Jacob holding onto his ankle. When they were grown, Jacob tricked their father Isaac, who by then was blind, into blessing him with the inheritance of the oldest son. And then, when Esau came home and found out, he was furious. Their mom, Rebekah, convinced their dad, Isaac, to send Jacob to her brother (his uncle) Laban’s, back in Haran. On the way there, he dreams of a ladder between heaven and earth, with messengers ascending and descending, between earth, the realm under the dominion of the will of human beings, and heaven, the realm under the dominion of the will of God.

During his time at his Uncle Laban’s, Jacob marries 4 women and fathers 12 sons. Then, an angel of the Lord came to Jacob in a dream and told him to leave Laban and return home. So, he started out, and sent messengers ahead to let his brother Esau know he was coming. They returned with the message that Esau was coming to meet his brother, along with an army of 400 men. In response, Jacob pulled together a nice collection of livestock and sent to his brother and turned his people and possessions around, back across the Jabbock River, then he crossed again to wait alone for his brother and his army.

Sleep would not come. All night long he wrestled with God. He refuses to give God control, and in the process his hip is twisted and he is permanently injured. He will forever limp.

We are all Jacobs. We all listen and follow God’s guidance until what lies before us looks more difficult than what lies behind, until the future is uncertain and maybe even dangerous, and then we start wrestling, negotiating, holding back, holding on. God didn’t force Jacob. God doesn’t force us. But God did give Jacob a new name, and it is our name too – Israel, “one who wrestles with God.”

By nature, we are earth-dwellers who are not willing to let go of control enough to allow God’s Kingdom to come. Remember that heaven in Scripture is God’s space and earth is the space of human beings. Heaven is under God’s authority. Earth is under human beings’ will, and when we ask God’s power through us. God’s Kingdom in Jewish thought is that place where heaven and earth collide. Where God’s will reigns on earth as it reigns in heaven.

God’s people are the earth-dwellers who wrestle with God, young men who see visions and elders who dream dreams, and people who struggle to have the courage to make them happen. We are all Jacobs. We are all Israel, God’s people who wrestle with God because we are earth-dwellers. The end times are coming – for all of us.

When people ask me if I believe we are living in the end times, my answer is two-fold: Ever since Pentecost, every generation has believed they were living in the end times. And, every generation has been right. At your birth, you are at most 120 years away from your end time. If you are 20 now, you are – likely – no more than 80 years from your end time. I’m being generous because it gets more imminent as we do that math – 30/70, 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, 80/20, 90/10. That’s not scary news. It is actually hopeful news. You are only a few years away from your earth-dweller status ending. If you live to be 100, you will take about 1 billion breaths. 757 million if you live to 90. 673 million if you live to 80. The point is, they can be, and are, numbered. Each one a gift of God. And they are limited.

So, says Joel, it is time to get ready. Not just superficially by going out in the public square and pouring ashes on your head and ripping your clothes, proclaiming your apologies for everything you have done wrong. It is time to get your heart ready, to turn toward God with your whole being. The turn is inward and outward.

The prophet Isaiah tells us what kind of fasting will prepare us for the end time: You must stop participating in all forms of oppression and injustice. Share your food with the hungry and your housing with the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help any of your own family. (Isa. 58:6-7)

We find similar texts in the prophets Amos and Hosea. The prophecies of the end times come with a warning and a promise.

Amos warns GOD swears “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.” “Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming! I’ll send a famine through the whole country.”
Amos promises: It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word. But also on that Judgment Day I will restore. Things are going to happen fast. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people.

Hosea warns: Return, Israel, you wrestlers of God, return to the LORD your God! Your sins have been your downfall!
Hosea promises: I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Warning and promise and in between, we receive an invitation.

NOW: If you read the Left Behind series, or before that The Late, Great Planet Earth, you may be confused about the end times. In the 1800’s, a man named John Nelson Darby presented a new theological concept, dispensationalism. The root of dispensationalism is the idea that there are two peoples of God: the church and the people of Israel. Out of that came the idea of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church and a series of 7 periods of time in the tribulation. These ideas are not in the Bible.

In Scripture, the prophets do warn us about judgement on those who do not turn toward God. For now, God will allow us to wrestle, to fight God’s will. It will leave us limping along, but we can limp away from doing God’s will. But the end time is coming. And we have an invitation to turn toward God, to open to God’s Spirit, and we receive the promise that we celebrate on Pentecost.

As the wind roared and the fire leapt, Peter shouted over the crowd:
“Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Church, the Spirit is blowing, and it’s power will change you. The flames are burning, and they will give you words to speak of God’s work in your life that you never before imagined bringing up in conversation. The breath of God is filling you – every time you breathe in – God is closer than the air in your lungs. It is time to get your heart ready.

Thus says the Lord, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” Thanks be to God. Amen.