Resources/Articles
Over the River and Through the Woods
The first time I visited my in-laws’ new home in Kingston Springs, I began to wonder if we would ever get there. I’m sure you’ve also been in that situation before. Following directions for the first time can be an anxious thing: Take one major turn here, then the road will wind and bend. Then you’ll cross over the interstate and take the left fork in the road by the cow pasture. If you pass the blue house, you’ve missed it. After you go through a series of switchbacks, then take the right fork in the road. Then you’re almost, almost there...
Last week, having made the trip five or six times now, I was smoothly navigating the narrow wooded road on our way to Thanksgiving dinner, not needing any incessant prompting from a GPS navigator. No sweat. The feeling in the car was mutual. “It doesn’t feel as far as it used to be,” my second-grader observed. It makes all the difference to be familiar with what lies around every corner and to know how each landmark relates to our destination.
Our walk through life can be similar to this. We know our destination is eternity with God, but none of us has ever made the trip before. We have written directions that we’re following, but all that the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, has given us to follow are the major markers of the age and a rough itinerary of the Last Day. We are just the latest generation of saints watching and waiting for the end of the journey.
Back in the beginning, the disciples needed a bit or re-education about the Age of Messiah. IT would not be what they expected - a literal paradise on earth, where the righteous would rule the world in peace and plenty. The afflictions of the fallen world would continue - wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, terrors. There would be false signs and false christs claiming the second coming had arrived. Jesus instructed them, “See that you are not led astray...do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once...This will be your opportunity to bear witness...By your endurance you will gain your lives” (Luke 21:8-19).
As the church grew and time went on, the churches began to grow anxious, expecting the Lord’s return. There was a lot of confusion in this regard among our brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. First, there were concerns that Christians who did not live to see the day would miss out on it (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Then there were rumors that the Day of the Lord had somehow already come and gone (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). Others had stopped working and were just camping out waiting for an imminent return (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). The Apostle Paul had to remind them that certain future troubles were bound to happen before the end could come (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12).
As times grew worse and the ultimate victory of the Christ was more difficult for the eyes of flesh to behold, even the souls of the departed from that time cried out, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long...?” And like sleepy kids in the back seat of a late night road trip, they were tucked back in and reassured. “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer...” (Revelation 6:10-11).
It sure seems like it’s been a long, long road toward our restful goal - and we’re still going! “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Once eternity is realized, once our purpose is reached, there will be no more tears, no more doubts - indeed, no more faith, for we will see with a perfect sight. Looking back from outside of pain and outside of time, it won’t feel as far as it used to be.
For now, we ask, “Are we there yet?” And the Lord tells us, “Not yet, but soon.”
