Message
November 17, 2113
Sheltered
One day a lady was driving on the highway. She frequently checked her speedometer to be sure she was within the speed limit. She looked into the rear-view mirror, and much to her dismay, she saw a police car not far behind. And, to make things worse, the police officer turned on the flashing lights.
She thought, “uh-oh, what have I done now? I’m not speeding. I’m not drinking. I have my seat belt on! My tag is current and everything!”
So, she pulled over and the police car pulls in right behind her. She came to a gentle stop and rolled down the window, thinking a ticket was going to be written that she didn’t deserve.
The officer walked up to her window and spoke to her. The lady pointed to her ear and shook her head, signifying she was deaf. The policeman smiled, and knowing sign language signed back, “I know. I’m here to tell you that your horn is stuck.”
Every time I hear preaching on the selected scripture from Luke 21, it feels like the prophetic “horn” is stuck, warning us about the end times and Yeshua’s prophesy that our home, this amazing earth, will not last forever. This passage is a magnet for end-time preaching where the tool is fear to scare us into submission since we do not have another planet to escape to, although scientist are looking for one. For so many years that proverbial “horn” kept blowing as if those horrible signs from heaven were going to hit us any minute, causing the end of humanity. However, the words of the Teacher do not seem to be spoken to cause fear at all, but rather preparation.
For people who deny the existence of God and wish to ignore the warnings, fear is a rational response, but then ignoring Christ’s words or sticking one’s “head in the sand” is a way to quiet such alarm.
While global catastrophe is part of the discussion in Luke 21, it’s something we in this modern space-age know is in humanity’s future. This is a point that the Bible and science agree on. However, it’s not for scientific reality that Messiah is preparing the congregation; it’s where to place your values, your efforts and actions ahead of those events.
Those attending Temple that day were impressed with the building’s beauty. These men were discussing the gold, jewels and art so carefully crafted into place. Having visited some of the amazing cathedrals of Germany, Austria and Holland, it’s true that there are structures that make you feel closer to the majesty of God. Europe is blessed with magnificent pipe organs that add to the feeling that God is speaking to us. Like the Temple where Yeshua was standing, those cathedrals, wherever they are, will suffer the same fate as the Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in 70AD.
So, what’s left after our magnificent church buildings are no longer in place to house our worship? We are, and so is the spirit of humanity. After Messiah was asked, “Teacher, when will these things happen?” he launched into a lesson in sociology and what people become when they are not governed by what they had learned at the Temple or from Him.
Man always lives by a code of conduct whether that code is from God or self. When the code is absent of God’s influence, things go terribly wrong. Without God, humanity fails to call evil for what it is, and substitutes human will and calls it good. Without God’s Code of Conduct instilled in us, we always revert to power and control of each other. Obviously, we cannot control the Universe. The result is what the Christ is referring to in this Temple conversation.
“Be careful,” Christ said, “that you may not be deceived, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am the Christ;’ and the time is near; but do not follow them.” It’s quite audacious that a person step forward to call himself “the Christ” after Messiah has given this very public and age-old warning, but it’s already happened. The word “Christ” literally means, “The anointed one.” Any person who sets themselves up as a leader by any method, and claims to be appointed by God to lead, and who claims to have “the truth” that trumps your truth, is calling himself, “Christ.” Previous lessons have defined the fact that the Personification of Truth is Yeshua, the Christ, Teacher and Master, so any person claiming to have truth where you don’t, is a literal claim of, “I am the Christ,” meaning, “I hold the truth you must live by.” Remember in this passage that Christ is quoted saying, “many will come.” Take a careful look and you will realize there has been at least one for every generation.
Then the lesson in sociology begins. It’s an age-old cycle of humanity’s ignorant behavior. Quoting the Teacher again, as He said, “…and when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be afraid, for all these things must first come to pass.” We have our own destructive behaviors to be fearful of, before the earth is destroyed. At this very time in history we have planners of revolutions and fundamental change, as they say, to cause their version of truth to be enforced on humanity. Is this not another version of the claim of being “the Christ?”
Our Teacher then is quoted as saying, “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” Why did he differentiate between nation and kingdom? The dictionary reads, a nation is; a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. This definition is not the same as “kingdom,” which is a realm ruled by a king, such as the kingdom of God. A “kingdom against kingdom” understanding then is in reference to forces of good and evil in spiritual or actual warfare. Has this prophesy by Messiah come true? Will it continue to be true? Are we not in such conflict now? Do we not see that there are self-proclaimed bearers of truth, their truth, they intend to force on us? Matthew 6:24 puts it this way; “No man can work for two masters, for either he will hate one and will love the other, or he will honor one and the other he will ignore.” True, the passage ends with, “You cannot work for God and for money,” yet a master can include a perceived truth or philosophy. We are being asked in Luke 21, if we will follow God or fall for human leadership that always leads to destruction that Christians endure.
What’s next in this passage? It doesn’t cheer our hearts! We read, “There will be great earthquakes in different places, and famines and plagues.” It is easy to think there is only one understanding of the word “earthquake,” yet in Greek there is more. Add to your knowledge the definition of the Greek word, sice-mos,’” which is the word for our understanding of “commotion.” The root word for sice-mos’ means to agitate. It’s “commotion” and “agitation” that is used by leaders to cause us to question God’s truth, while inserting lies to control humanity. There are the two masters, one is God’s truth and the other is a lie, masqueraded as truth. No wonder we can’t serve both; lies and truth can never come together, neither can purveyors of lies serve God.
What happens in this commotion and agitation? We don’t need to guess, we just continue examining the Teacher’s words. There will be “famines and plagues.” Man’s wisdom, even the wisdom of earthly leaders, has often led to famines and plagues, both of which destroy mankind. Other destructive forces include nature and things out of our control, such as “alarming sights and great signs appearing from heaven,” as the scripture continues to read. What follows that, if that’s not enough; “winters will be severe.” Oh great, we will all freeze then starve because crops cannot grow.
Then as if to catch himself, Yeshua quickly gets back to the sociology lesson by saying, “they will lay hands on you and persecute you and deliver you to the synagogues and the prisons, and they will bring you before kings and governors for the sake of my name.” Who? Who will do this? The only word He uses to identify these workers of tyranny is “they,” the same people who cause commotion and agitation.
What a forecast for Christianity; a forecast that began with admiration for the Temple structure! Is it obvious that the beautiful building will not save a single life when calamity happens? Was Messiah saying that we put an emphasis on the wrong things? Do we admire brick and mortar churches while there are some among us plotting our captivity? Oh yes! Those who worship the liars build their own grand structures to boost legitimacy. And where will they drag Christians to appear before earthly authority? To the “synagogues and prisons,” Yeshua said, which will be occupied as seats of corruption both in religion and government.
While serving in the U.S. Military, an opportunity came to visit Communist East Berlin, so I’ve seen this myself. It’s there that every church was burned, leaving stone or brick structure that withstood the fire as a reminder to Christians that they had been conquered. The same is happening in Egypt today, plus Coptic Christians are being slaughtered, raped or forced to convert to Islam, while the rest of the world does nothing.
For the weak in faith, the Teacher sounded another warning. These people will save their own skin by giving up children to the tyrants. The same will happen to brothers, other relatives and friends, who will die because they follow the truth of God instead of rulers who love commotion and agitation. Will one who truly loves God and his fellow man sacrifice a relative or friend to the god of lies to save their own life? It’s this decision that Messiah is preparing us for.
“When you stand before the enemies of truth,” Christ is saying in paraphrase, “I will give you the words to say, which will be your testimony. Treasure those words in your hearts for I will give you the words and wisdom, which will be greater than your enemies can withstand. Your patience will gain your souls.”
Do we understand such prophesy in this land of ease? Our forefathers had experienced tyranny in such a way that they did everything they could to guarantee generations alive today would have the free will to follow the truth of God and live in the most profound freedom, such as the world had not seen. But now, there is a difference we must face, because when the 13 Colonies were established, a person could leave and go where no government controlled people if they didn’t like man’s truth turned into law. Where do you go now? There is no new West Coast. The only way to escape man’s rule is up, to another planet. The opportunity for tyranny to spread like wildfire and cover the whole earth is here, so the only escape is through the truth of God. The entirety of this prophesy by Messiah was about foresight.
Tim Mack, President of the World Future Society, wrote in the current issue of The Futurist, “Foresight enables you to navigate change, make good decisions, and take action now to create a better future.” Think about the words of the Christ recorded in Luke 21, and you will see how we are being given foresight so we can take action to create a better future for ourselves and families, even if it involves calamity such as wars, revolutions, famines, severe winters, plagues and alarming and great signs in the sky.
Instead of humanity being hopeless while facing natural or man-made disaster, God’s followers have not only hope, but assurances that they will not be harmed. This passage in Luke includes Yeshua’s words, “…you will be hated by every man because of my name, and yet not a hair of your head will be lost.” What appears as a prophesy of doom the corrupt will mean very little to the elect of God. By remaining under the truth of God, all the lies, commotion and social agitation will not shake the grounded, the dedicated and those sheltered in the Arms of God.
As crazy and bizarre as society was in Christ’s time, what’s to come may be worse. Again, Tim Mack writes, “The twenty-first century will be equivalent to twenty-thousand years of progress at today’s rate of progress; about one-thousand times greater than the twentieth century.” The pace of change is increasing at rates mankind has never known, so you must certainly know that everything you think you believe will be challenged to the core. Man will become so confident in earthly wisdom that believers will be mocked and called crazy. Yet, we have wisdom of the ages to guide us and know that there are only two paths that man can travel, in spite of increased technology and change. Those paths are in truth or lies, which produce love or hate.
Luke 21 can either give us foresight or frighten us; cause us to see the future in confidence or futility, hope or despair, joy or fear, with love or apathy.
An interesting map is on display in the British Museum in London. It's an old mariner's chart, drawn in 1525, outlining the North American coastline and adjacent waters. The cartographer made some intriguing notations on areas of the map that represented regions not yet explored. He wrote: "Here be giants, Here be fiery scorpions, and Here be dragons." Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s. Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: "Here is God."
Henry Heintz relates this story about President Kennedy during the 1960 election. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.
One day in 1789, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."
Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful to God and His Code of Conduct so that “our patience will gain our souls,” as Yeshua said, which is living in humility through anything. Instead of fearing the dark, we are to be lights of truth as we watch. Instead of building monuments to ourselves with God’s name on them, why not supply truth to bring the world to a place of love so humanity-caused We too are like the deaf woman in the car, thinking she is has done everything right and all is going well, but without the ability to hear the horn of warning. Along comes the policeman, who can hear the problem, to tell us in ways we can understand, that God’s plan is the only way out of man’s stupidity or natural disasters.
While there is now no place to go to escape any of these things described by the Teacher, there is One we can go to so that not one hair on our heads will be lost. There are many promises in the Bible, but this one must be remembered in times of trouble. Read Psalm 46 verse one.
His mercy endures forever. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.
