{"id":7273,"date":"2021-11-16T07:07:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T14:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7273"},"modified":"2021-11-16T07:07:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T14:07:13","slug":"in-the-end-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7273","title":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-size:40px\" style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\">In the end, God <\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/The-Last-Things-sermon.pdf\">Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<html>\n\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<meta name=Generator content=\"Microsoft Word 15 (filtered)\">\n<style>\n<!--\n \/* Font Definitions *\/\n @font-face\n\t{font-family:Wingdings;\n\tpanose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Calibri;\n\tpanose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Open Sans\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 6 3 5 4 2 2 4;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:0in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{font-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoPapDefault\n\t{margin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tline-height:107%;}\n \/* Page Definitions *\/\n @page WordSection1\n\t{size:8.5in 11.0in;\n\tmargin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n \/* List Definitions *\/\n ol\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\nul\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\n-->\n<\/style>\n\n<\/head>\n\n<body lang=EN-US style='word-wrap:break-word'>\n\n<div class=WordSection1>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Rev 1:4b-8,\n5:11-14<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>A sermon\nfor Christ the King Sunday<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>This Sunday,\nChrist the King Sunday, marks the<b> <\/b>end of the church year. The church\ncalendar is something made up by tradition, but we do ask about the end. When\nis it? This is called apocalyptic, which means revelation. We are familiar with\nthe term \u201capocalyptic\u201d because in 1979 the movie \u201cApocalypse Now\u201d became a huge\nsensation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In looking\nback to the 1950\u2019s and 1960\u2019s, the American clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce, gained a\nkind of celebrity status for his predictions about the end, and he predicted\nthe world would end in 1998. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In 1969 Hal\nLindsey\u2019s book, <i>The Late Great Planet Earth,<\/i> warned of the end of the\nearth due to overpopulation. We forget how popular it was. It sold over 27\nmillion copies. When his prophecy didn\u2019t come true, he recalculated and wrote\nmore books.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>About 1995-2000,\npeople started thinking about Y2K and the end of the century. What would\nhappen?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In 1997 the\nHale-Bopp Comet appeared and was visible to the naked eye for about 18 months. As\nit came close to the earth, 39 people, who were part of the Heaven\u2019s Gate cult\nin San Diego, committed suicide in order to be included in this coming of the\nend.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Between\n1995 and 2007, the 16 volumes of the <i>Left Behind<\/i> book series about the\nRapture and end times sold 65,000,000 copies. Churches of all denominations had\nto respond to that apocalyptic fervor.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In 2008 a\nbook about the end came out. It was titled, <i>The Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to\n2012<\/i>. Combining ancient Mayan prophecies with New Age religion, it claimed\nthat on August 8, 1987, there had been a harmonic convergence of the planets.\nThat convergence initiated a 25-year grace period during which everyone was to get\nright with the universe. The end of the grace period would happen in 2012 and\nthat would be the end of the world. As the title says, it\u2019s <i>The Complete\nIdiot\u2019s Guide to 2012.<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What do we\nsay about all of the above?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Nothing\nnew here.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Church\nhistory is full of apocalyptic predictions. A few examples: In 1148 an Irish\nBishop, St. Malakey, put out a list of popes that were to come. He said there\nwould be 112 popes. And the current pope, Pope Francis, is the 112<sup>th<\/sup>\npope. What do you know; it must be about that time! <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>You know\nabout the Black Death which decimated Europe from 1348-58. At least 40% and\nmaybe 50% of the people died. They thought of this as the end of history. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>At the time\nof the Reformation there was Nostradamus. He made all sorts of predictions that\nhave been totally discredited.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In 1741 a\nLutheran named Johann Albrecht Bengel pointed out that the end, if you\ncalculated according to the Book of Daniel, is coming in about 100 years.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>About 1830 John\nDarby, an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, invented the whole business about \u201cthe\nRapture.\u201d Nobody had thought of it or mentioned it before, except a\n\u201cprophetess\u201d a few years before him.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In 1843-44 an\nAmerican Baptist preacher, William Miller, stirred up thousands of people with\nhis predictions about the end. Many of his followers sold their property and\nwent on mountain tops to wait for the end. After his predictions didn\u2019t occur\nas expected, his followers dispersed but eventually regrouped and became the Seventh\nDay Adventists.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>One could\ngo on and on. One academic book on the history of apocalyptic movements is\nseveral inches thick. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Apocalyptic\nthinking, however, is not just a Christian phenomenon. Communism is a kind of Christian\nheresy, an end-times utopian movement. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>During WWII\nallied nations air-dropped soldiers and supplies on the island of New Guinea.\nNatives, who had had no exposure to modern tools and technology were shocked by\nthe cargo, that is, the weapons, supplies, and soldiers. Some of the natives\nformed what came to be called cargo cults. They would perform rituals using\nwooden rifles they made, rituals in which they would imitate the behavior of\nthe soldiers in the hope that the heavens would once again open and drop cargo\nin their midst. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Finally,\napocalyptic thinking is also found in other religions. A few examples: Zoroastrianism\ngoes back to 7 and 8<sup>th<\/sup> centuries BC, and it is still alive today. In\nIslam the Shiites, representing 15% of Muslims, are apocalyptic, as are Hasidim\nJews. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Those who\nstudy this, psychologists and sociologists, call this mindset \u201cmillennialism.\u201d\nIt occurs for individuals and for groups in times of upheaval, conflict, and\nfear. Apocalyptic fervor is simply a sociological, psychological response to\ntrauma, according to this kind of study.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Two\ngreat temptations. <\/span><\/b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Out\nof all this there are two great dangers, two temptations. The <b>first\ntemptation<\/b> is to ignore all this because nothing is going to happen. After\nall, what\u2019s real is that life doesn\u2019t work that way, in millennial ways, in apocalyptic\nways. We\u2019ve all seen cartoons of a wizened old man with a placard which warns:\n\u201cRepent. The end is now.\u201d We feel superior. We laugh. We are modern, smart,\nabove it all. Or so we think. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In fact, apocalyptic\nthinking has simply become mainstream today through secular prophets of climate\ndoom. We aren\u2019t aware of how pervasive it is and how caught we are in it. Bj\u00f8rn\nLomborg, noted Danish climatologist, wrote recently: \u201cReasonable conversations\nabout climate change are rare, but they\u2019d be more common if political elites\ndropped their <b>apocalyptic<\/b> language\u201d (WSJ 11\/11\/2021). <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Scripture points\nto the end and reminds us that it comes like a thief in the night: <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Matt 24:43: \u201cIf\nthe householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming he\nwould have watched and not let his house be broken into.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>1 Thess 5:2:\n\u201cWhen people say, \u2018There is peace and security,\u2019 then sudden destruction will\ncome upon them . . . and there will be no escape.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>2 Peter 3:10:\n\u201cBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpLast style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Rev 3:3: \u201cIf you\nwill not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I\nwill come upon you.\u201d 16:15: \u201cLo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is\nawake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>A similar\nmessage is conveyed in the story of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13) and in the\nparable (Luke 12:16-21) about the farmer who had a good crop and said: \u201cI\u2019ll\nbuild more barns.\u201d At the end of the parable it says: \u201cYou fool! Tonight your\nlife is required of you.\u201d At our peril we say that the end has nothing to do\nwith us.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The<\/span><\/b><span\nstyle='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'> <b>second great temptation<\/b> is\nto be preoccupied with end-time predictions and fixated on looking for signs\nand interpreting alleged signs. When you stop to think of it, life is uncertain\nand fragile. When we think of all the ills our flesh is heir to and how thin\nthe veneer of civilization, it\u2019s no wonder people either get caught up in\napocalyptic thinking, or are tempted to become like the ancient Stoics or\nmodern cynics and just withdraw. After all, one way or another, catastrophe\ncomes, and so does the end. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Being\npreoccupied with predictions is not the way to go. As Matthew 16:4 reminds us:\n\u201cAn evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign shall be given\nto it except the sign of Jonah.\u201d The \u201csign of Jonah\u201d = \u201cthe cross and\nresurrection.\u201d And nothing more. No added signs in schemes, dreams, timelines, or\nhuman events.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What do\nwe as Christians say to this?<\/span><\/b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\nWhat is the gospel? It is about the defeat of sin, death, and the devil, as\nLuke 10:18 states: \u201cI saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.\u201d The Last Judgment\nhappened on the cross, as John 19:30 states: \u201cIf is finished.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>It can be\nsummed up in the earliest Christian creed, found in 1 Corinthians 12:3: \u201cJesus\nis Lord.\u201d Lord means the God who is God of all things. He is Lord of everything\nthat happens in my life, in your life. He is Lord of history, and he made\nhimself Lord of history by coming into our history, dying and rising again. He\nis Lord of the universe. He made it and he is ultimately the One who is Lord of\nit. As Paul writes in 1 Cor 8:6: \u201cThere is one God, the Father, from whom are\nall things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are\nall things and through whom we exist.\u201d (Also Romans 10:9).<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We then can\nsay with Paul in Romans 8:31-32: \u201cWhat shall we say to this? If God is for us,\nwho can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us\nall, will he not also give us all things with him?\u201c <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>And the\nseal and guarantee for you and me is our baptism, as it says in Romans 6:5: \u201cIf\nwe have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united\nwith him in a resurrection like his.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>On this Christ\nthe King Sunday, as we look at the summing up of everything that has happened\nfrom the first of Advent last year and where it\u2019s all going, we know that \u201cyes,\u201d\nwe are fragile, sinful, broken human beings, but because of him everything is\ndifferent, and we can confidently live in him. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>There is no\nbetter way to herald Christ the King, the \u201cfirstborn of the dead, the ruler of\nkings on earth\u201d (Rev 1:5), the Alpha and the Omega\u201d (1:8), than with the words\nof Revelation, Chapter 5 (verses 12-13), remembering how they are sung in Handel\u2019s\nMessiah:<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cWorthy\nis the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to\nreceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and\nblessing. Blessing and honor, glory and power to be unto Him that sitteth upon\nthe throne and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>\n\n<\/html>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sermon for Christ the King Sunday. Select <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7273\"> here<\/a> to read more or <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/The-Last-Things-sermon.pdf\">here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7273"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7280,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7273\/revisions\/7280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}