“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels
in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father.”—Matthew 24:36
The fact that this is my 666th blog posting on
Barnabas File seems appropriate since so many Christian associate that number—“the
number of the Beast”—with the end times, and some people expected that the world would end today
based on some interpretations of the Mayan calendar. As of this writing, the world has not ended.
This type of
thing comes along regularly. Christians
have been anticipating the end of this present world since the time of
Christ. Various millennialists,
chiliastics, prophets, and seers arise from time to time to proclaim “the end
of days.” Some modern Christian sects have been founded on such calculations
and then their leaders have done some fancy interpretation when the date
arrived and everyone was still here. The
predictions continue, however.
In connection
with the present prediction, one mystic said, “This is not the end of the
world, but it is the beginning of a new world.”
One way to explain things, I suppose, but it does have some implication
for Christians.
For the
Christian, a new world was born with the coming of Christ. With the birth of Christ, a new kingdom began
emerging into this world. Given the
problems and calamities that continue to plague us, it is clear that the
kingdom of Christ has not reached its culmination. So we wait.
Advent reminds us not only that Christ has come, but he is coming. So let us prepare.
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