United Church of God
Sermon Transcript —September 27, 2007
We are from all over. Many of you are from Northern states. And in most of the Northern states there's a policy of checking on any stalled vehicle on the highway in the wintertime when the temperatures drop down to the single digits or below. Well, one winter morning about 3 a.m., a Wyoming trooper responded to a call of a car on the shoulder on the outside of the town of Casper — on the shoulder of the highway there outside of Casper. Well the trooper located the car. The engine was still running. It was stuck in deep snow alongside of the highway. And pulling in behind it with his emergency lights on and parking and getting out, he walked up to the door to find a man passed out at the wheel with an almost empty bottle of vodka beside him. So he tapped on the window and, of course, when he tapped on the window the driver woke up. And the driver, seeing the rotating lights in his rear view mirror, panicked. He jerked the gearshift back into drive and got on the gas. Of course now, the whole time he is still stuck in the snow. Right? And the speedometer shows 20 and 30 and 40 and then up to 50 mph. Well, the trooper having a sense of humor, he just began running in place beside the car. The driver was totally freaked out — thinking the officer was keeping up with him. That went on for about thirty seconds when the trooper said, "Pull over!" So the driver turned his wheels, put it in park and killed the engine. Once out of the car, the drunken driver asked about the trooper's special training, how he could possibly run 50 mph. Well, he was arrested, of course, but he just couldn't get it off his mind of how the trooper had kept up with him at 50 mph.
Well, obviously, when something like that happens, it's an illusion, isn't it? There may be some illusions in this world — that certainly was an illusion at about 3 o'clock one wintry morning. But, you know, the kingdom of God is not an illusion. With every day that passes, the reality of the kingdom of God set up on this earth is simply one day closer. With every rotation of the earth, with every circling of the sun, we're just that much closer. And at the conclusion of each day, the distance between us and the kingdom of God is not as far as it was, because daily we are closing in on the kingdom.
People like titles. I generally will give a title, so I will give you a title right up front. The title of this sermon is 'Closing in on the Kingdom'. Closing in on the Kingdom. To close in on the kingdom, to see this age end and the kingdom of God set upon this earth, isn't that and hasn't that been the heart's desire of God's people down through the ages? Isn't that the hope and the vision that you and I — that we live with and have a part in it? Sure it is. And don't we look for it? And don't we watch and hope for the closing of the age because we know that the closing of the age and the setting up of the kingdom are simultaneous; that the age is closed by the ushering in of God's kingdom? Sure we do.
You know, the condition of the age will necessitate the return of Jesus Christ, won't it? And the return of Jesus Christ is the setting up of the kingdom of God time — or we could say the setting up of the kingdom of God upon the earth concludes this age, will terminate it. It's a simultaneous switch over. And how we long for that! We are here, brethren, at the Feast to live a taste of that time, to picture at least a little bit of what that time is going to be like when God's kingdom is here. These days — there are seven of the Feast of Tabernacles, of course, and then there is the separate Feast, the Last Great Day, the eighth day. But these days will pass all too soon.
I attended my first Feast of Tabernacles 46 years ago and I can tell you the time has flown. If I'm not mistaken, about a third of our brethren here are seniors, roughly around 60 and above, and if I'm not mistaken, about a third of our brethren here are around thirty and younger — and, of course, the other third between those two points. It's amazing how fast time can fly. And the way time feels when you are 60 is not the way it feels when you're 30. And time, in some ways, I don't think is the same or equivalent from age to age. I just know that I knew what it was like when I was 15 and 5 and 25 — and I knew what it was like when I was 55. I don't know yet what it's like when I am 60, but I am getting closer. But I just think how fast it has passed and I know that each Feast over those years that I kept, that each Feast itself passed faster than the one before it. And I also know that the years in between from Feast to Feast, each year that next year passed faster, more quickly than the one before it. I told my wife, I said, "Angela, one of these years we're going home from the Feast and we're not going to unpack our suitcases. We're just going to put them in the closet and leave them to grab them and take them back to the Feast again." Well that would be a pretty nice thing, wouldn't it?
You know, the swift passing of time has really burned into my mind how rapidly we are truly closing in on the kingdom. There are two ways that this is occurring as far as closing in on the kingdom. Number one — the age we live in or, that is, the age of man. That's the first way and that's, I think, maybe the first way in some regard that we look to judge about the passing of time in one sense: the age we live in; the age of man. The second is our personal age. That is our personal life, lifetime, or lifeline. It's on these two tracks, when you think about it — and I really don't know of another track to throw in as a third track — it's on these two tracks that time travels toward the kingdom of God. And these two tracks, in a very true sense obviously, run parallel although they don't necessarily conclude simultaneously, do they? We know the kingdom cannot be set up until the age concludes. We know that. God's Word tells us that. We understand that so we watch it and we hope to see signs of its closing. And what do we do sometimes? Well we look for what I call prophetic markers — markers in prophesy. We look for prophetic markers to show us that it is wrapping up, to give us that encouragement, that hope and we monitor by that. And you know, brethren, there's nothing unusual about that. There's nothing unnatural about that. God's people have always done that and we are told to do that. Christ instructed us to — to monitor the age. We watch as He instructed and when we do watch, we are in the good company of the saints in doing so.
Matthew 24:3 records the burning question that's been in the hearts and minds of God's people down through the ages. It burns in your heart and mind. It burns in mine.
Mat. 24:3 — And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives... so much took place on the Mount of Olives. It's the Mount of Olives that He will come back to and His foot — Jesus Christ's foot, will first touch as far as planet Earth — as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when shill these things be? Notice what they wanted to know. ...what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?... the world or the cosmos or the age — the age of man — what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world? They knew these two events were tied together. They knew that the return of Jesus Christ would end the age, that the age would end with His return. And like all of God's saints, they hoped it would be in their lifetime.
Notice Acts 1:6. After the crucifixion, after the resurrection during those forty days He was appearing to them and talking with them and teaching them leading up to the time that Pentecost would come.
In Acts 1:6 — When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at this time... ...will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
And Jesus Christ's answer is quite interesting and specific to them. In verse 7 - He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.
Now we are told in God's Word we cannot know the day or the hour that Jesus Christ will return. That's in the Father's hands. We are also told in scripture that that time or that day, that season would not come upon us unawares if we are watching because there would be things that would go with it. I find it interesting that really when you deal with the early disciples and the early Church, they very much so were not given to know the time or the seasons of His return. There are two things pointed out here, of course, in this section in Acts. One is the timing is the Father's. And #2, to them, to the disciples, you're not really going to know it. It's not yours to know, Peter, James, Paul, it's not given to you to know. Christ knew that it was a long way off. He knew. Now He says, "Only the Father knows the day or the hour." But Christ was totally versed in what had to be, in what had to be accomplished, what had to occur. So He knew by the events that would have to unfold that it was a long way off, but they did not know that it was a long way off. It's kind of interesting when you think of it in that context and you think of Matthew 24:21-22 — Mat. 24:21-22 went totally over their heads. Now they are asking Him in Mat. 24 — here is what we read in verse 3:
Mat. 24:3 — ...what is the sign of your coming and the end of the world?
He goes through a number of things. He comes down to verse 21 and verse 22 and makes the statement, which I'll come back to in just a short time and it went totally over their heads. Or maybe I should say there was a central or there was a core issue or a core part of verses 21 and 22 that went over their heads, that they did not get. They so desperately hoped and desired for it to come in their lifetime and many, if not all of the first, expected it to be. You know, in the writings and the scripture you can see that. It is very easy to see. For example, just a couple of places if you want to jot these down, fine. You don't have to turn to them. But the way Paul — the apostle Paul — worded the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and also in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Well, in 1 Cor. 15:52, he was inspired to write:
1 Cor. 15:52 — In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Well it emphasizes that we shall be changed in terms of those who are presently living at the time that Christ returns a little bit more in 1 Thessalonians. 4:16-17. It says:
1 Thes. 4:16 — For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Verse 17 — Then we which are alive and remain... Paul says ...which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Now, what Paul said is a totally true and accurate statement. Totally true, totally accurate. When Christ does return, there will be saints who are alive and have not died and who will be changed versus taken from the grave to be changed. So it's a very true statement. But Paul, by the way he worded it and in the context of those times, thought it was going — evidently he thought it was going to occur back at that time. And there is an interesting notation regarding the apostle John in the early church. Notice John 21. This is the account which all of you are very familiar with — Christ, appearing with them on the seaside eating a meal with them, instructing them, talking with them after His resurrection and giving some basic instruction to them, and asking Peter, "Do you love Me?" And Peter said, "Yes." And He said, "Feed My sheep." And doing that three times with him. But there's something that occurred that morning that didn't stay there that morning. It kind of got out and the way it got out was not actually accurate.
John 21:18 — Truly, truly... what verily, verily means ...I say to you...He is talking to Peter here — talking to Peter specifically. He says ...when you were young... you wrapped yourself ...you clothed yourself, you walked where you would... you know, where you wanted to go ...but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth... or hold forth ... your hands, and another shall...tie you or ... gird you...or tie you ...and carry you where you would rather not go... is what He is saying.
Verse 19 — This spoke he, signifying by what death he should glorify God... because the 'what death' was going to be a martyrdom death. ...And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me.
Verse 20 — Then Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also...was the same one that ...leaned on his breast at supper...at that time ...and said, Lord, who is it that betrays you? Of course, he is referring to John, but in the account as John is writing it; he is talking about how Peter refers to himself, John.
Verse 21 — Peter seeing him said to Christ, Lord, and what shall this man do? Now 'shall' is in italics; 'do' is in italics: it is not in the original. It could probably be better rendered, 'Lord, what about this man? You know, what about John? You know, I'm going to die a martyrdom death and all that, but what about John?'
Verse 22 — Jesus said to him, If I will... if it's My desire and will ...If I will that he tarry... or he live ...till I come...until I return ...what is that to you? You follow me, Peter.
But what went out from there among the brethren and was latched onto by I'm not sure how many — there's no way to know how many latched onto it — some did —
Verse 23 — Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple...that is John ...should not die...Now, can you imagine the apostle John being somewhere in the congregation and somebody nudging somebody else and saying, 'That's the apostle John. You know, just like Christ said, he's not going to die until Christ returns. John will be alive..." It's interesting ...yet Jesus said not to him, He shall not die; but, If I will...If I should so choose the he live or ...tarry till I come, what is that to you, Peter? Peter, you've got a job to do. Be about it. You follow Me.
Now what's interesting is that some — maybe many - of the brethren took John's life and made it a marker. They marked the flow of prophecy and the timing of the age by his life. 'You know, Jesus Christ is going to come back in John's lifetime and it's going to be soon. In fact, it had better be pretty soon because, you know, John is getting to be an old man." And eventually they can say, "It had better be very soon because Peter's gone and James is gone and Jude is gone and Thomas is gone and Paul is gone and they're all gone. All those early apostles are all gone except John and he can't have much time left."
Now what's interesting about John, towards the end of his life, too — even John himself, who knew the truth of that particular matter recorded in John 21 and knew what Christ had actually said - came to believe, near the end of his life based on another issue, not based on Christ's words in John 21, but based on another issue — came to believe that the end was near.
If you notice in 1 John 2:18 he is a very aged apostle at this point, he is somewhere between 99 and 100 years of age, somewhere around 99 to 100 A.D. He says:
1 John 2:18 - Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists... or due to that or by that ...we know that it is the last time.
It is interesting that there was a point before his life ended where he came back to thinking the age was about to conclude. And what's also interesting, it was because of what was happening in the Church and with the Church with great deception and apostasy that led him to believe such. Because if you read the next verse:
Verse 19 — They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest... or obvious ...that they were not all of us.
There was a great falling away from the truth — a massive falling away from the truth — and that's what he was referring to and the situations like the one with Diotrephes there in 3 John 9 only seemed to confirm certain things for him.
He said, 3 John 9 — I wrote to the church...to the congregation ...but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, received us not.
Places where the apostle John could not go — would not be received — to send emissaries, they would not be received and people who were loyal to him and the truth and all, would be put out. That was not an isolated situation in the Church at that time. It was all too typical. But, you know, evidently and eventually the early Church came to realize that Christ's return and the setting up of His kingdom was not going to occur at that time. It was not going to occur in their lifetime. Ever since man's age, ever since this age began with the sin of Adam and Eve, God's people have known that we're on a countdown. We know this age is temporary. We know it cannot last. It's only for a time and that timing or allowance is in the Father's hands. He can let it speed up; He can slow it down.
It's a very interesting account in more ways than one — the account of the tower of Babel back in Genesis 11. If you recall that account, human beings had one language. Human beings were still living for quite a long time. Human beings were putting their hands together to do certain things. Certain things that — let's just say what they would eventually have come to was too soon, too early. It's another proof, actually, of what God did there that He definitely has a timetable, He definitely has a schedule. There is definitely a certain appointed time for the age of man and there are times when God has allowed it to speed up and other times when He has allowed it to slow down. There in Gen. 11:6 there's an interesting statement made in the midst of that account. It says,
Gen. 11:6 — The LORD said, Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now... and here is that interesting statement that God put a halt to at that point in time. He says, ...nothing will be restrained from them...That's a pretty all-comprehensive statement ...nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
We know the account. God put a massive and drastic slowdown on things at that time. There is a prophetic march of events and God sits in charge of the speed and timing of such. The age of man is a temporary time designed for certain purposes. Or to put it another way, it's a time allowed for man's learning — the learning of some very basic and important lessons. Now I said earlier that Mat. 24:21 and 22 went totally over their heads — or maybe a better way of expressing it is that there was a central core reality that escaped them. What went over their heads was a very distinctive and specific prophetic marker. Let me read the whole statement and then isolate that overlook.
Mat. 24:21 — For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
It's one of a kind. And if you want to know the measure of how bad it is, that measure is given in the next statement, the next verse.
Verse 22 — And except those days should be shortened... the way those days would be running, the way they would be going, the course that would be flowing, except it be stopped — except it be cut short and not allowed to run its full course ...there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake... the Church's sake ...those days shall be shortened.
This statement of Christ speaks to the time and reality when man is about to exterminate himself from the planet if Jesus Christ doesn't step in and stop it. This condition of such is brought about by power combined with man's nature as magnified and influenced by Satan's spirit. This is not a condition produced by natural disasters or God's intervention; otherwise much of the lesson that man must learn would be lost upon him. Now there will be natural disasters involved and God will eventually have to most directly intervene, but He will have to do it in order to stop the genocide of the planet.
It seems that the disciples failed to take note of two basic things that dictated this condition.
1) In their time there existed no power — there existed no power, no means at that time, in their time, whereby man could destroy himself from the face of the planet. You couldn't do it with swords, spears, sticks, stones, plagues. As far as man doing it to himself — as far as man destroying himself — it simply was not possible. Man could fight man, but somebody would survive. There was simply no way for man to commit his own genocide of the planet. It was something that was not possible. In other words very simply put, Mat. 24:21-22 would not — because it could not — occur in that day and time. They didn't realize that at the time.
It would be mankind, again, bringing it upon himself in every sense of the word. It wouldn't be God in any sense doing it to him like with the Noatian flood based on his moral depravity and all. In no sense would it be just some, what might be considered or called a natural disaster that God would produce to wipe him out. It would be — it would be man doing it to himself. It would come simply as a cumulative — a build up — a cumulative consequence of man's own doings as influenced and magnified by Satan; he would literally bring it upon himself.
Something happened to the apostle John after all the other original apostles were dead. He was shown — think about it — he was shown what was to come. He was shown the powers to be. And, as we would say in the vernacular, humanly it just about blew his mind. It's all contained and recorded in the book of Revelation. He was given powers to see like he never could have imagined. He saw in vision the powers and the events that would close the age. He saw the end zone of the age and at that point he knew for sure, no matter what he had thought previously or had just previously written at the time, that he saw what was given to him in vision. He knew for sure at that time that it was off in the future. Mankind would have to cross a certain line for Mat. 24:21-22 to be fulfilled. Mankind would have to cross a certain line for the powers and events of Revelation to be unleashed. Mankind would have to cross a certain line to enter the end zone of this current age and on the morning of July 16th, 1945, on the white sands of New Mexico, mankind technically — technically crossed that line. The type of power sufficient to destroy our world and all life upon it was unleashed for the very first time. In a technical sense, July the 16th, 1945 — that day stands as a major prophetic marker because before that time it was not possible to fulfill Mat. 24:21-22. No such type of power existed in man's hands. Since that time, we have developed sufficient power to do so. And, remember, it will be power plus man's nature as influenced and magnified by Satan that will bring about the condition of Mat. 24 there. Man will bring his own age to a close — or, that is, to the point of closing.
For a couple of minutes I want to step back — I want to step back to when man stepped over that line.
"New Mexico, July 16, 1945. A thunderstorm rolls over the desert. In the pre-dawn darkness a spotlight illuminates an isolated, 100-foot high steel tower. Two half spheres of plutonium have been carefully hoisted to the top. Twenty miles away on Compagna Hill scientists from Los Alamos peered toward ground zero through plates of welders glass eager to witness the birth of a new age.
"At 4 a.m. the rain and lightening ceased. At 5:30 the dark sky is suddenly, silently ignited. A yellow-reddish fireball, 10,000 times hotter than the sun, begins an eight-mile ascent into the heavens and turns night into day for more than a hundred miles. Scientists who have spent three years preparing for this moment forget their assigned tasks and stare in shock at the awesome cloud. Later one would recall it was a vision. He feared the boiling brightness would glare forever. Another felt for an instant that the ball of fire would never stop growing until it enveloped all heaven and earth. A New York Times reporter, lying on his belly, was reminded of God's command, 'let there be light'. An Army General remembered 'an awesome roar, which warned of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blasphemous to dare tamper with the forces heretofore reserved to the Almighty'. The brilliant physicist, Robert Oppenheimer vividly recalled a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, "If the radiance of a thousand suns would have burst in the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One." Faced with an element of force greater than anything seen before, these scientists, most of whom had no religious inclination described their experience in mythical and theological terms. It was as if they had come face to face with the power of God. Tragically the incredible amount of energy unleashed by the invisibly tiny atom would soon become death, the shadower of worlds. Human hands molded it into the ultimate weapon. But for a moment America's best and brightest were mesmerized by the sheer immensity of the force above them."
Thus man entered a new age. He entered the timeframe in which he could ultimately choose to destroy himself and all life on the planet. Dwight D. Eisenhower in his inaugural address said, "In the swift rush of great events we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of the times in which we live... How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light? Are we nearing the light—a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?"
Science seems ready to confer upon us as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet.
Ronald Regan once made the statement, "It would seem we are getting close to Armageddon and the end of the world."
I grew up in the shadow of the bomb. I grew up with the nuclear clock set at 4 minutes to midnight. And then they moved it up to 3 minutes to midnight. I don't know where it's set now, but I know it's a whole lot closer than it was. This age is on a countdown. The nuclear project known as the Manhattan Project culminated on that morning of July 16th of 1945, amid a barren desert terrain that Spanish explorers referred to as Jornada del Muerto. You will find it on some maps. If you look on the maps you will see that term on some. The name bears a testimony. It means 'Journey of the Dead' or 'Journey of the Dead Man' or roughly 'the dead man's route'. I find that very interesting for the power was unleashed that will become the destroyer of our world near a place called 'the dead man's route' or 'journey of the dead' because isn't that man's way really, when you think about it? We're very familiar with certain Proverbs — one of the Proverbs that we are most familiar with is Pro. 14:12. It has the exact companion to it in chapter 16:25. They both say the same thing. And it rings our bell when we hear it.
Pro. 14:12 - There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
What that does is it expresses what's in the individual nature and make up of the human being with its results — death. It's a dead way. What's interesting is Mat. 24:22 — no flesh saved — is, in a sense, expressing the result of the same thing, but on a grand, cumulative scale of all mankind. Proverbs, in those two verses, deals at the individual level; Matthew 24 deals at the magnified level of all mankind.
Another interesting thing is that what happened on the morning of July 16th, 1945, took place not too awfully far from a little town named Truth or Consequences. I lived in Amarillo, Texas for seven years. Part of New Mexico was in the area that I worked in; went to the Feast in Tucson. To drive through that area — go by that area — now, that particular town was named Truth or Consequences at a later time — but I have to think to myself, was all that coincidence as far as some of those names and all, because of the powers unleashed by which our world can be destroyed? And it's near a terrain called The Dead Man's Route or Journey of the Dead Man, which is the way man is traveling. And today there is a little town not far from it called Truth or Consequences. I have to think to myself, that's not just all coincidental. It can't be.
There's a lesson there because wasn't that really what was before Adam and Eve — before mankind — before each of us for that matter? Walk in truth or face the consequences. Walk in truth or face the consequences. You know, Proverbs 3, the admonishment to not trust in ourselves, but to trust in God and lean not to our own understanding and to look to Him and let Him direct us because as the prophet Jeremiah said, it's not in man that walks to direct his own way there in Jer. 10:23.
Lessons that have to be learned. Man's trying to do it his own way is like trying to play baseball. Now there's a lot of baseball going on right now, isn't there? What if in every dugout of every baseball team somebody came by, collected all the wooden bats and distributed glass bats to everybody? You get to hit the ball one time. The bat would be gone. I don't think the ball would be going very far, either. Of course, they would refuse to play with glass bats, but when you think about it, man trying to do it his own way is like trying to play baseball with a glass bat. It's a shattering experience.
There was a shipwrecked sailor who spent three years on a desert island. And one day he was overjoyed to see a ship finally come close enough by to notice him on this deserted island out there in the middle of the water. And it dropped anchor. And he saw a little boat put down and saw some men get in it and pretty soon, here it came putt-putt-putting over to him. And when it pulled up on the shore — like I said, he was overjoyed to see them — an officer stepped out with a big stack of newspapers and just handed it to him and said, "The Captain suggests that you read what's going on in the world and then let us know if you want to be rescued."
The closing of the age is brought on by man. It's due to his own make up of doings of what is happening, it's a prime lesson that he has to learn so he will be without excuse. And in the whole process we are closing in on the kingdom. As the age moves deeper into the end zone, the kingdom of God comes closer. We don't know how much longer this age is going to last. It could outlast anyone's lifetime, for that matter. And the congregations that I pastor since this very time last year — the age has outlasted more of the brethren. It may outlast my life. It may outlast yours. There is not dogmatic way of knowing. In the western epic, 'Lonesome Dove', at the burial of a young man, a young cowboy dead of snakebite, Gus said — it was one of those quotes that just — I didn't even have to write it down — it just stuck in my mind. Gus stood there at that graveside and he said, "Life is short — shorter for some than others." No matter how long the life, overall it truly is short, but even in relativity to the length of life it is shorter for some than others. I've been in enough hospitals and funeral homes to know how true that is.
Earlier in the sermon I made the statement that there are two ways we are closing in on the kingdom. One is by the age we live in, the age of man, and number two, the other, is by our own personal age or our own lifetime. If we really understand that second way or that second track, then that is where we're going to put the prime focus and emphasis. You see, the age will close no matter whether we want it to or don't want it to. Of course, we want it to. It's going to close, but it's going to close when it's going to close. And that may or may not be beyond someone's personal lifetime. Simply put, the age may outlast any one of us. It definitely will outlast some of us. It already has. And of all God's people down through the ages, if you think about it, the age has outlasted the majority and some were told absolutely that it would. You know, Daniel. It's interesting that in the very last verse of the book of Daniel, God told him, He said, Daniel, go your way until the end be; (Dan. 12:13) for you shall rest...or that is die ...and stand in your lot...or your place ...at the end of the days...at the end of the age, at the resurrection, at the return of Jesus Christ and the setting up of His kingdom.
And Peter, though he didn't know the timing of the age, knew from the very beginning as early as John 21 that the age would outlast him because, remember, he was told when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands and others shall tie you and carry you whether you would really rather not go and this he spoke signifying by what death he should glorify God (John 21:18-19). He knew as a young man in his 20's or 30's at the most, that the age was going to outlast him.
I'd like for you to notice 2 Peter 1:14. Peter makes this statement in 2 Pet. 1:14. He says,
2 Pet. 1:14 — Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle... he says ...even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. The Lord, Jesus, showed him back at the time of John 21 and that's what it is referring back to, and he is an older man now — quite a bit older. I must shortly die, even as Christ has told me. My tabernacle — interesting how he uses that term — my tabernacle, my dwelling. He knew the age was temporary and he knew his life was temporary and he knew that the temporary age would, in his case, outlast his temporary life. He didn't know exactly when it was going to close, but he knew it would be beyond his lifetime. And in leaving the words he did to them, there was even more reason to put the real emphasis and priority on his own person age, which he had, and his present lifetime and admonish so for others. Because if you back up from this and you look beginning in verse 5, notice what he admonishes them to be doing, the brethren to be doing with themselves, with their lives. He says,
2 Pet. 1:5 — Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
Verse 6 — And to knowledge temperance... moderation, self-control ...and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
Verse 7 — And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity...or love.
Verse 8 — For if these things be in you... part of your lifeline, part of your lifetime and you are attending to the opportunities of wisdom that God has given you ...if these things be in you, and abound, they make you so that you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 9 — But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Verse 10 — Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:
And so by dealing in such way and fashion with one's own personal age, as verse 11 goes on to show, an entrance to that kingdom is assured for us.
Verse 11 — For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Man's age will pass. The kingdom will come. That is guaranteed. That's as sure as the sun out there; it will set this evening and rise again in the morning. What is not known, what is not guaranteed, what is left up to choice — our choice is what we will do with our own personal age. In our own personal age, what will we do, because it, too, will pass one way or the other? With our personal being — and we have to ask ourselves that question individually — with our own personal being are we really closing in on the kingdom — are we really, literally drawing closer to it by growing in the things that God wants there and that are required for the kingdom? Are we truly about building the righteous character of the kingdom in our lives — the character that the kingdom requires? Are we becoming true men and women of God? You know, you think about it — are we becoming the husbands and the wives, the fathers and the mothers, the brothers, the sisters, the sons, the daughters, the friends, the co-workers that we are called to be? Are we the workers on the job that God expects of us? Are we the neighbors and the citizens that bring honor to God in our lives? If we are, if we truly are growing and overcoming and with God's help and God's mercy and God's patience and God's long-suffering — truly becoming what He wants and calls us to be — then we are personally truly drawing closer to the kingdom of God daily in our lives. We are closing in on the kingdom. We are living Matthew 6:33 in action in our lives, seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
There is nothing wrong with looking at the age of man and trying to measure or assess where we are in its flow and wondering how much time is left in it. But to either set a date — get into date setting or to lock in on it or to focus on the age to the neglect and exclusion of what we should be doing in and with our own personal lives, that's dangerous and that can be deadly.
I cannot help but wonder, brethren, I just simply cannot — what maybe happened to some of God's people in the early church who tied the return of Jesus Christ to John's life — what happened to some of them when he died as he did die? Some may have made him their prime prophetic marker of the age. If so, that was a type of date setting. And if so, they set themselves up for at least disappointment - and at the most, possible shipwreck and failure. No matter how you slice it, it wasn't a healthy thing to do.
And what about Peter? Why did he feel the need — if you're still here in Peter you're your Bible is still open to Peter there — why did Peter feel the need to write what he did in verse 16? Why did Peter feel the need to say:
1 Pet. 1:16 — For we have not followed cunningly devised fables... these are not illusions. It didn't come when we thought it would, it may not yet come for quite a while, but it's coming, it's not an illusion; it is a reality that's going to be....We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
It does sound to me like he was addressing, to whatever degree, doubt and discouragement and scoffing and giving up by some. Could it be that too many were looking to the age and date setting as opposed to tending to matters in their own personal age that they should have? Brethren, in all honesty I have lived to see the same type of thing in my own personal lifetime. I remember the '70's. I remember how, for some, speculation became dogmatism. And I remember the consequence and fallout that occurred as a result.
Let me read something to you and after I read it to ask us a question. This was sent to me by a friend. It is titled, New Darwin Awards. It's a list of some of the dumb things that some people have done. And it is captioned with the statement, "Yes, it's again that magical time of the year when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us."
"An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the wounds, he said he was trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit."
"The chef," there's a series of them, "the chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for themselves. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The claim was approved."
"A man walked into a Louisiana Circle K, put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer: $15. The question there was if someone points a gun at you and gives you money is a crime committed?"
"It seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided he would just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booz and run, so he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head knocking him unconscious; the liquor store window is made of Plexiglas and the whole event was caught on videotape."
"After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for three days."
And finally, the glorious winner: "When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a holdup in Long Beach, CA, would be robber, James Elliott, did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked."
Now, just sharing some of the dumb things that people sometimes do — and some of us are probably saying, well, that's about as dumb as you can get on some of that. Question — what's the dumbest thing I could do? What's the dumbest thing you could do? Well, I can tell you what the dumbest thing I could do would be. The dumbest thing that I could do would be to turn loose of the wonderful opportunity that I have before me. The dumbest thing that I could do would be to put distance between me and the kingdom of God in my own personal life even as, ironically, the age is coming to a close. You know, the end of this age is coming closer all the time. I am a Baby Boomer. I am a part of the very first generation born during the time when this age can end — and I said 'can' not 'will' — you know, it may go beyond my lifetime. But I hope and I pray that it ends in my lifetime. It would be wonderful to live and see the kingdom come while I am alive. To me it would be a certain special opportunity and blessing to be a closer; to live the closing of the age and the return of Jesus Christ and the setting up of the kingdom — and that may happen and it may not happen. But what I've come to deeply realize is that whether it comes in my lifetime or not, what is most crucial — the age that really counts in terms of what I can do with it — is not the age of man which I have no power to do anything with anyway, but my own personal age, my own personal time, my own personal lifetime in which I have power through God. If I don't tend properly to that — to my own life — if I don't tend properly to it in a Godly-ordained way, then personally and in reality it is really not going to matter when the age closes anyhow and the kingdom comes because I'm not going to be a part of it, I'm not going to have a part. But if I do attend to my own God-given personal age according to His instructions, it's not going to matter when the age closes and the kingdom is set up because I'm going to have a part in it. I'm going to be a part and that's what counts. And anyone who focuses and lives their life that way is absolutely and automatically closing in on the kingdom. And anyone whose lifeline — anyone whose personal age plays out in that mode is as close to the kingdom as they can be. Until the seventh trumpet sounds they can't be any closer. They're lying at the threshold — the threshold of the kingdom of God. So lies Peter and so lies John and so lie so many others. And so lies Paul who wrote to Timothy shortly before his martyrdom death and told him there in 2 Tim. 4:6-8:
2 Tim. 4:6 — For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
Verse 7 — I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Verse 8 — Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.
They are only a signal away from the kingdom, the signal of the ushering trumpet. Until the kingdom comes one can't be any closer than that and that is why God says back there in the Psalms — Ps. 116:15 — that quote:
Ps. 116:15 — Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints...Because they are set and they are sealed and they are ready to be delivered — delivered to the eternal kingdom of God at His signal.
Brethren, this age is passing and I am glad it is. And I measure it and I assess it and I watch it and, with what I see, there's a certain urgency that it generates in me. And that's the way it should be. But I feel an even greater urgency with my life — and, as I sometimes put it, if God gives me enough time it will kill me. Two tracks, brethren, that time is traveling down: 1) the track of man - the age of man; 2) the track of our own individual personal life. No matter how we slice it, with every meal we eat, with every job we do, with effort we make, with every day we spend we are closing in on the kingdom.