Sheltered Series

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.