Author: GCI Media

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

A journalist heard about an old Jewish man who had been going to pray twice a day at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, for a long, long time. Sensing a good story, she went to the wall and there found the old man walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched as he prayed. Then after about 45 minutes, as he turned to leave using a cane and moving slowly, she approached him for an interview.

“Pardon me, sir, I’m from CNN. What’s your name?

“Morris Feinberg,” he replied.

“Sir, how long have you been coming to the Wailing Wall to pray?”

“About 60 years.”

“That’s amazing! What do you pray for?”

“I pray for peace between Christians, Jews and Muslims. I pray for all the wars and hatred to stop. I pray that all our children may grow up safely as responsible adults who love their fellow man. I pray that politicians tell us the truth and put the interests of the people ahead of their own interests.”

“How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?”

“Like I’m talking to a brick wall!”

How sad. Yet, I’m sure we can relate. Sometimes prayer seems like talking to a brick wall – especially when praying about the Middle East. For the last two years, that region of the world has been in turmoil, in what has been called the “Arab Spring.” The struggle for democracy in one after another Arab nation has added more uncertainty in an already volatile region. How it will all play out is anybody’s guess.

However, it is not anybody’s prophecy. Whenever events start heating up in Israel and the nations that surround it, prophecy buffs and pundits start quivering. “Is this it?” they wonder. “It” being the series of events that some believe will lead directly to the return of Jesus Christ. Well, let’s hope they are right. But don’t get your hopes up too high. They have never been right before. But it is not for want of trying.

For the last 2,000 years, self-appointed prophets have been appropriating world events to trumpet their personal interpretations of prophecy. It is a dismal record of pride, false expectations and shattered dreams. You’d think they would have learned from history to be cautious. And you’d think the rest of us would have learned to ignore them.

Yes, some argue: “But this time they may be right!” Possibly, but maybe not. Maybe things will, once again, settle down to the uneasy tension that passes for “peace” in this troubled region. Or maybe events will escalate into another major war, with Christ still not returning just then.

However, even with our caution we need to be careful. Note the warning in 2 Peter 3:3-4: “You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.'”

While we can be skeptical of any particular prediction about Jesus’ return, we cannot allow hope of his promised return to be squashed. Followers of Jesus do indeed live in hope—in the wisdom and timing of God—even if not in human predictions.

That is why, even though it is tempting to poke fun at the dismal track record of the prophets of doom and their frantic efforts to recalibrate their end-time scenarios, I try not to scoff. Many prophecies do make specific references to events that seem to align with biblical teaching related to Jesus’ return. At least, that is one way of looking at them. But it is not the only way. One thing is certain: no one can know for sure until God is ready to make his intervention plain and clear.

2 Peter was written to help us keep our balance, not to send us careening off-center with speculation and irresponsible knee-jerk reactions whenever hostilities flare up in the Middle East. If there is one thing that trying to figure out “where we are in prophecy” should have taught us, it is that we don’t—and can’t—know.

What we do know is that the entirety of the Old Testament points to Jesus (John 5:39). Jesus himself explained this to the Pharisees so they could recognize God’s faithfulness to his word demonstrated in his first coming. While they seemed to miss the point, there’s no need for us to follow suit. Jesus’ appearance two thousand years ago confirms that what God promises he fulfills. Therefore, we are not fools to have hope.

It may be, as some biblical scholars have thought, that Jesus completely fulfilled all the promises made in the Old Testament. But one way or another, hope is not built on predictability. We are called and permitted to hope in the promise of Christ’s second coming in much the same way ancient Israel was given hope for his first coming. We can be ready and anticipate the sure fulfillment of God’s word, not because we can predict when and how, but because all of God’s promises will be fulfilled in Christ, one way or another. We can count on the same Lord Jesus who fulfilled Israel’s hope at his first coming to fulfill all our hopes upon his promised return. Jesus himself is our ultimate hope.

Even the most “timely” prophecy does not cancel out the timeless teaching of the Bible. Just before the warning about scoffing, 2 Peter 3:2 exhorts us to “recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.” Those messages reminded God’s people that Jesus would return unexpectedly, taking everyone by surprise. For those who are unprepared, that return will seem like a catastrophe. Indeed, there will be “winners and losers.” But the winners will not be those who have been able to sort out the “coded messages” of prophecy. Rather, the winners will be those who by patient, consistent and diligent discipleship have become those who truly seek the life of the kingdom of God and its righteousness and live in hope of it.

In some ways, I hope that the “end time” panic merchants are right this time. I’d like to see the end of the suffering and repeated cycles of war and destruction. I love Isaiah’s vision where he saw Jerusalem not as an epicenter of contention and strife, but a source of peace and happiness (Isaiah 2:2-4). I’m not sure exactly what it means, or when it will happen. But whatever and whenever it is, it is something to look forward to.

In the meantime, we’d do well, as the psalmist said, to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). Because, whether this is “it” or not, people are being killed and maimed and lives and property are being wrecked while yet another generation is growing up knowing only a seemingly endless, bitter cycle of misery. We know that only Jesus, who has already broken into history and inaugurated the rule of his kingdom can and will bring his reconciling and saving work to its consummation.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Last Monday the United States celebrated Memorial Day. Formerly known as Decoration Day, this holiday originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Union Army. Since then, Memorial Day has been expanded to honor all who have served in the U.S. military to preserve our freedom and way of life. Many countries have similar celebrations. They are sobering reminders that human history has been a long and continuing story of war and conflict.

Though many view Memorial Day as no more than an unofficial celebration of the beginning of summer, veterans take it seriously. They form up on parade once more and remember their fallen comrades in commemorative services and ceremonies. Memorial Day is a poignant reminder of a time in their lives when they were called on to serve in an extraordinary way.

Many of these veterans are elderly men and women now. The uniforms are faded and the marching no longer has the crisp precision of former times. But they hold their heads high and wear their rows of medals with pride. Others are younger, but their experiences have made them old before their time. And there are those in wheelchairs, or who hobble along on crutches – their bodies, and perhaps their minds, still showing the scars of war.

Veterans have told me that war is a bittersweet experience. There are many moments of trauma, fear and uncertainty. But the experience of combat also forges some strong relationships that last long after the fighting stops. War has a way of bringing out the best and the worst in us.

There is a greater irony in this. The wars that cause people to band together in new relationships are a result of the breakdown of relationships. Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz who died in November 1831 was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who made a deep study of the moral, psychological and political aspects of war. He wrote a careful, systematic, philosophical examination of war in all its aspects. The result was his principal work entitled On War, which was not completely finished by the time of his death.

Clausewitz is often remembered for his shrewd observation that “War is…the continuation of politics by other means.” To put it another way, war is the tragic outcome of the breakdown of relationships.

The first chapters of Genesis tell us how, at the beginning of human history, the relationship between God and humanity was fractured. That broken relationship spawned even more broken relationships between humankind. It does not take much for nations and tribes to find an excuse to start a war. In 1969, two Central American nations actually went to war over the result of a soccer match. And in the 18th century, Britain and Spain fought each other because a Spanish sea captain cut off the ear of his British counterpart. The epistle of James tells us where this madness originates:

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way (James 4:1-3 The Message Bible).

The grim history of war demonstrates that humanity cannot reconcile disputes without resorting to the “continuation of politics by other means.” How then, can reconciliation be accomplished?

It required God’s own intervention to bring about reconciliation, and that is exactly what he did in sending Jesus. Jesus came among us as the ultimate freedom fighter of all space and time. Jesus gets at the root causes of sin and death. He conquers all evil that destroys life and establishes justice, making everything right. He brings permanent solutions of sustained forgiveness, eternal reconciliation and healed relationships.

This is something to remember when we honor the men and women who have given so much in the cause of freedom. We can appreciate their heroism and sacrifice that war has demanded of them. But as we honor them, those who have fully experienced its horrors do not ask us to glorify war. They, of all people, appreciate Isaiah’s prophecy of a world at peace:

He will judge between the nations, and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4).

Though the fullness of this vision unfolds at Jesus’ return, in knowing Jesus and having him live in us, we experience that world now. As followers of Jesus, we share in our Lord’s ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), and that, to paraphrase von Clausewitz, is the resolution of conflict by other means.

With love, in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach