Saturday, December 08, 2007

Lord, please don't "take" me...

(Matthew 24:34-39) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Two themes are very prominent in the I Wish We’d All Been Ready/Thief in the Night music/movies (see posts below): Christ’s imminent return (his any-day-now “cloud coming”) and people being “taken” at that return. But how can Christ’s return be imminent for our generation if Jesus promised that it would happen within forty years (a “generation”) of his prophecy? And how can it be a good thing to be “taken” if being “taken” at Christ’s return is analogous to being “taken” by the Noaic flood?

Isn’t it much simpler to understand Christ’s “coming” as his coming to Jerusalem in judgment in A.D. 70, and being “taken” as being taken in that horrific judgment?

Jus’ wonderin’.

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