The opening words to the Jeremiah passage, echoed by Jesus in Luke - "The days are coming" - reminds me of The Honeymooners' Ralph Kramden, exploding at his deadpan, dismissive wife Alice, "One of these days, Alice! One of these days! Bang! Zoom! To the moon!"
Looking at these scriptures, we find the notion that 'the days are coming' surrounded by dark times. 'The days are coming' actually expresses the promise of God's future, but on God's calendar.
If we can get past the sometimes arcane, even silly pretensions of popular signs of the apocalypse, we can find a ready message for us as we enter the Advent-Christmas season.
In Jeremiah, the prophet relates God's, promise for his people, even amid their pending destruction by the Babylonian army literally at the city's gates. Despite what is sure to come, a horrible and brutal devastation, God will not abandon God's people, and the prophet sets God's rpomise before them. Even in this darkest hour, God's promise has not departed or been voided; it simply awaits fulfillment. The eyes attuned to the churning events of the world have a hard time imagining anything like this. Only through eyes of faith can the promise of God be perceived on the horizon.
Jesus' words in the passage from Luke 21 note the exceptional events of the end of the age when the Son of Man will come and the promise of the Kingdom will be fulfilled. But Jesus also couches his imagery, like the fig tree, in a way that doesn't seem extraordinary.
Is there a way we can push this account to reveal something more meaningful? Without denying a return of Jesus or the fulfillment of the present age, is God's promise something that abides without all the drama?
Yes, the video camera worked this week, so you can check out the sermon video below, or download the text and Fairfielder answers below the video panel.
Looking at these scriptures, we find the notion that 'the days are coming' surrounded by dark times. 'The days are coming' actually expresses the promise of God's future, but on God's calendar.
If we can get past the sometimes arcane, even silly pretensions of popular signs of the apocalypse, we can find a ready message for us as we enter the Advent-Christmas season.
In Jeremiah, the prophet relates God's, promise for his people, even amid their pending destruction by the Babylonian army literally at the city's gates. Despite what is sure to come, a horrible and brutal devastation, God will not abandon God's people, and the prophet sets God's rpomise before them. Even in this darkest hour, God's promise has not departed or been voided; it simply awaits fulfillment. The eyes attuned to the churning events of the world have a hard time imagining anything like this. Only through eyes of faith can the promise of God be perceived on the horizon.
Jesus' words in the passage from Luke 21 note the exceptional events of the end of the age when the Son of Man will come and the promise of the Kingdom will be fulfilled. But Jesus also couches his imagery, like the fig tree, in a way that doesn't seem extraordinary.
Is there a way we can push this account to reveal something more meaningful? Without denying a return of Jesus or the fulfillment of the present age, is God's promise something that abides without all the drama?
Yes, the video camera worked this week, so you can check out the sermon video below, or download the text and Fairfielder answers below the video panel.
| 11-29-15-ff-answers.pdf |
| 11-29-15-the_days_are_coming.pdf |