At The Doors

¨Likewise also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors.¨  Matthew 24:33 (Reference Bible)

Jesus talks here of certain events and the way things are becoming.  Then He tells us to learn from the fig tree, when the fruit is getting ripe.  He with our text today He brings it home to us personally.  Jesus wants us to get the sensation that His coming is getting close.

We have all had the experience of waiting for a special event.  Perhaps it was a birthday or Christmas, a family gathering or a trip.  Whatever the occasion we can probably remember the sensations we felt leading up to that day and hour.  It might have been difficult to concentrate on anything else as that moment drew near.

It is beautiful to think that our Savior would have us start feeling like that now over His return.  Jesus Himself for sure must have felt that feeling during His lifetime as a human here on earth.  Maybe He got all excited as a boy when His family would travel up to Jerusalem to worship in the temple and celebrate the festivals.  In heaven He lives those moments with each of His beloved sheep everywhere.

Don´t you think that as the signs of the present times begin to reveal more and more that the hour of His return draws near, that the whole scene in heaven is becoming increasingly more excited over this coming event?

These sensations are contagious too.  If your child is getting nervous about his or her big upcoming day, you can get caught up in it and feel it as well.

In contrast though, we have these events that happen to individual earthlings, but Jesus is talking about a galactic sized event which includes realms which we have not ventured nor explored.  When the galaxies in the sky are parted and the heavenly dimensions break through and Jesus comes riding the clouds of glory, what an overwhelmingly greater day that will be.

The fact that we humans do not seem to be getting excited about this coming day, demonstrates in each of us a certain degree of disbelief.  Some show signs more than others, but we each are guilty of turning from this burning bush.  Jesus points us to the fact that we are approaching the day and that we should be getting nervous.

If it were somehow possible that we could realize that this great event would come tomorrow, don´t you think we would do things differently today?  Perhaps it would be hard for us to run around each one bent on his or her daily distractions with that constant thought of this moment we are so anxiously awaiting.  Would we put the same importance on things of this world or our preoccupation with it, if we knew that tomorrow it would all be changed?

Dear Lord, forgive us for not getting excited when You tell us of Your soon return.  The world has become all we see and blocks us from seeing You.  Please give us the sense of urgency that would help us look past this temporary home.  Let us think of the coming day when You will return and gather Your people to be with You.  Enable our hearts to embrace and hold a constant nervousness that tomorrow You will break through in all Your Glory.  On that day we will see Your face and on that day none of this life´s passing struggles will matter.  Come our Lord, come to us soon.  But fill us to overflowing with the anxiousness to the point where we can´t wait any longer and think of nothing else.

Amen