The end is nigh!
Is the end nigh?
Luke writes down the following ominous words declared by
Peter as he describes the events of the first Pentecost:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh!’
In the last days, in the end times! This is what could be
described as apocalyptic language coming to us from 2000 years ago at
Pentecost!?
What Luke’s audience understood these words to mean is difficult
for us to comprehend: did they think the end was associated with the end of the
Roman occupation? Was the end associated with the return of Christ? Was the end
an apocalyptic vision of the destruction of the world?
As modern Christians we should understand that when the day
of Pentecost was unfolding there had been no long and detailed reflection about
Jesus identity and his mission. There
was no scriptures other than the Torah – the books we call the Old Testament. What there had was the experience of Jesus’
life, death and resurrection! They had
witnessed his presence in the world and they were still trying to make sense
of.
It is in this context that Peter boldly quotes the prophet
Joel as if the end times were upon them: “In the last days”. Whatever the people who heard these words
thought the idea that the end times were close is undoubtable.
The sense of the proximity of the last days that the first
followers of Jesus had is reflected in the fact that it took almost a generation
before Jesus stories were to be written down. And, might I say, far longer than
before the Bible, as we know it, emerged as the recognised authoritative
witness to Jesus’ life and its meaning.
I wonder if there was a sense of irony as Luke wrote the
story down around 30 years later. As he penned those words ‘the last days.’ Did he still wonder whether they were in fact
in the last days given the number of years that had passed?
And here we are almost 2000 years on from that point
grappling with that same question. Were
Peter’s words correct are we still living in the last days – has every generation
since been living in the last days and what might this mean.
Peter indicates that there will be signs in the last days,
portents, to help us become aware that we are indeed coming close to the end of
all things, signs which include the pouring out of the Spirit of God on all things.
Yet, whilst this might be seen as a positive sign I have lived
through an era in my life time when the signs of the time, the warnings seems
to surround us.
I was born in 1968 under the sign of the Vietnam War and
grew with the shadow of the cold war looming over me. By the time I was old enough to be aware of the
imminent threat of a nuclear holocaust I was also aware enough to believe I
would live past my teenage years. The
pall and threat of war was great.
If the sign of impending war was not enough in the same year
I was born Paul Ehrlich published his seminal work “The Population Bomb”. Whilst it has been criticised as being too alarmist
and some of his predictions have been off target Ehrlich continues to stand by
his basic premise that the population of the planet will outgrow the capacity
of the planet to support humanity.
According to thesis the consequence of the overpopulation will include
famine and starvation, mass movements of people, political instability. Consequences potentially exacerbated by a Western
culture obsessed with the notions of growth and consumption. Concerns echoes in the writings of people
like Clive Hamilton, Zygmaunt Bauman, Paul Gilding and the list goes on.
Signs of the times, war and conflict, overpopulation, uneven
distribution of wealth and a changing political landscape.
Despite the end of the Cold War and Francis Fukuyama’s
somewhat hopeful if yet ambiguous assessment of liberal democracy as “The End
of History and of the Last Man” the turmoil of the last two and a half decades
have seen the rise and rise of the conservative state and the continuation of
political instability for humanity.
With all of the signs around us environmental crisis has
come upon us in succession as more species die out, as pollution destroys the beauty
of so much God’s good earth and then to top it all off climate change. As if the other signs of the time were not enough,
this week on the internet I picked up this graph tracing the increase in average
global temperatures since 1850.
This week I read an article about the rising of the oceans
in the Pacific and how a number of reef Islands have already disappeared and that
in some low lying communities people are already being forced to move. I met a pastor from Kiribati
around 6 years ago who was wondering whether the Australian government will be prepared
to accept the population of just over 100 000 people when the Island becomes uninhabitable.
The signs of the time are with us and I can’t but help think
of these stories and problems we face as humanity when I read these words. It is not be surprising to see people living
with a pathological lack of hope in the face of the issues that have weighed us
down just during my lifetime. Or, maybe to
see another approach, typified by hedonism, ignorance, and the seeking after
the good life with disregard to the common good and the problems of the world. It’s easy to just not contemplate all of
these depressing things.
But Peter’s quote from Joel is not just about a meaningless
end of the world, his words contain hope for us and for all that God has made. They contain an invitation to look beyond the
signs of the times, of the last days, and to God.
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh!’
Jesus himself warned against watching for the signs of times
and about predicting when things were going to come to a head – only God knows,
and even when the end comes, even the end of life, our faith revolves around a
hope that defeats death. The Christian notion that the last days are not an end
but a new beginning.
Peter describes to the witnesses what is occurring on the
day of Pentecost declaring God’s promise that those who call on Jesus name will
be saved and that the Spirit is being poured out on all flesh.
This idea that the Spirit is being poured out on all flesh
needs to be emphasised – though only the believers received the outward signs,
tongues of fire and rushing wind, the Spirit is being poured out on all flesh.
The Spirit of God which Jesus had describe as a helper is being
poured out, it is with them and those who receive the outward signs of the
Spirit gives us a glimpse of something special.
In the miracle on the day people were speaking different
languages but were understanding one another, people from different lands could
hear what was being spoken in their own languages. In this manifestation of the gift of speaking
in tongues what occurs is more like a gift of hearing.
The promise of God’s Spirit is a vision in which one of key
barriers to human reconciliation and unity is transcended. God enables people to understand each other without
losing their distinct identity represented in their language.
Paul will later speak of Christ’s presence in the world
being about the reconciliation of all things in Christ. If anything the last days are not the last
days of the creation. The Bible’s vision
of the end times is a new beginning in which we as human being transcend our differences.
It is important to contemplate too that in the scene whilst
not everyone appears to receive the gift of tongues they become witnesses to
it. In some more obscure way they are
being drawn into God’s future.
The last days have come and the church is being born as a
place in which human beings will grow in their ability to understand one
another.
The great theologian Karl Barth described the church with
two words that I think relate well to this particular moment. The church is anticipatory and provisional.
Let me briefly explore each of these words.
The church is anticipatory because in the church we
encounter the vision of the last days, the time of reconciliation and understanding
established through the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. A new creation is unfolding. Of course I am not naïve and I am aware that
as a sign of the promised future the church has often failed in its task because
of our divisions and our sins. Nonetheless,
our life anticipates what is to come and enfolds itself in a transcendent hope which
sits in contrast to the hopelessness of the signs of the times.
The church is provisional because we are a sign which anticipates
the consequences of what it means that the Spirit has been poured out on all
flesh. There is a future in which the
church will no longer need to anticipate the coming future because the future
will have arrived. Like children in a
car as long as we sing out from within these walls, or within the community of
the church, “are we there yet?” – The answer is “no!”
But, in the midst of this provisional and anticipatory life
we also take confidence that the Spirit is upon us, the when 2 or 3 gather in
Jesus name he is present, and that our task in not for our own benefit and
edification but in order that the world might see the promise of God’s last
days, the end times which is the new beginning.
When we live anticipating those last days times, when we live as if the
kingdom has already come, when we know that power of the Holy Spirit is on us
we can say with confidence in the face of the signs around us the end is nigh,
God is with us, our hope is bigger than this life and this world. Our hope is in God.
The end is nigh!
Is the end nigh?
If it is so then bring it on for in those last days the
Spirit will be poured out on all flesh and those who call on the name of the
Lord will be saved.
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