Presented to the Swift Current Corps, 27 June 2010 and Corps
614 Regent Park
and Warehouse Mission in Toronto ,
27 November 2016. By Captain Michael Ramsay
This is the Toronto 2016, version. To view the original
click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2010/06/matthew-2436-51-revelation-227-21-he-is.html
A fellow was speaking to God and he said, “Lord, I have two
questions for you, I was wondering if you could help me.
1) A Millennium, a thousand
years, is a long time to us – how long is that time for an eternal God?”
“It is just a
second”
2) “God, there is a lottery draw
coming up next Saturday and I was wondering if I could have the winning lottery
ticket?”
“Sure, in just
a second.”
Advent is about waiting. Advent is about being prepared and
Advent is about waiting. Advent is about remembering the wait for Jesus to be
born and advent is us today waiting for him to come back. Who here likes to
wait?
I remember when Susan was pregnant with Heather six plus
years ago. Heather was quite a few days later than her due date. Mom especially
was understandably a little bit impatient to meet babe as the days wore on.
When Heather finally did arrive, it was a real time of celebration because the
due date was about 2 weeks before baby showed up and so everyday we were
getting more and more eager for her to come and everyday it was another day
closer and every hour it was another hour closer and every minute it was
another minute closer. Two plus weeks past the due date and we were ready for
Heather to arrive.
Through this time we didn’t necessarily know exactly when
she was coming but we were ready. Our bags were packed and in the car. I kept
the camera and the phone list at my side. Grandma and Boppa came all the way
from Vancouver Island to the small city on the
prairie where we were living. They were ready and they were with us since just
before baby’s first due date to help look after the other children when baby
arrived. We knew baby was coming soon, sooner than ever before…but she wasn’t
here yet. We thought a doctor said that baby was coming on the 16th of
June but the 16th came and went and the baby hadn’t come yet. We saw
a doctor had written that the baby was coming on the 17th but the 17th
came and went and the baby hadn’t come yet. I thought the ultrasound technician
said the baby was coming on the 20th or the 21st; Susan
thought they said the 22nd but the 20th came and went and
the 21st came and went and the 22nd came and went and Baby
hadn’t come yet. We were prepared for the baby many days before all those
dates, in between all those dates, and after those dates. We knew that the baby
was coming soon, all through June (and before) but –until the 29th -
the baby hadn’t come yet.
Revelation 3:11, Jesus says, “I am coming soon. Hold on to
what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” But Jesus hasn’t come back
yet. Revelation 22:7, Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is
he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” But Jesus hasn’t come
back yet. Revelation 22:12, Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My
reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”
But Jesus hasn’t come back yet. And Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to
these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” But
Jesus hasn’t come back yet.
The people in the first years after Jesus rose from the
grave – when the early church was formed - expected him to come back soon, any
minute, but Jesus hasn’t come back yet. The people in the first decades after
Jesus rose from the grave – when most of our New Testament was written -
expected him to come soon, any minute but Jesus hasn’t come back yet (cf. Luke
17:26-27).[1]
The people in the first centuries after Jesus rose from the grave – when most
of our church fathers lived - expected him to come soon, any minute but Jesus
hasn’t come back yet.[2]
The people through the first millennium after Jesus rose from the dead – when
the church continued to spread through North Africa, Europe and Asia - expected him to come soon, any minute but Jesus
still hasn’t come back yet. The people through the second millennium after
Jesus rose from the dead – when the church experienced its Renaissance and
Reformation - expected him to come soon, any minute, but Jesus still hasn’t
come back yet. And now we are into the third millennium…and still Jesus hasn’t
come back yet.
In the time between Baby’s due date and her unknown arrival
time, there was a lot going on in our small city where we lived then, in our
community, in our ministry –races for which we provided the concession, food
drives, new phone system installation and training in our building, farewell
events for soldiers and employees, 3 corps and community barbecues - even when
Susan was becoming quite anxious about Baby coming, I could have continued on
just working on what I thought needed to be done on what I wanted to do or on what I thought was best (cf. the sin of
Judges: Judges 21:25). The longer we waited for Baby to come the more I could
have slipped back into a regular work routine or turned my attention to real emergencies
that ordinarily would have taken me away. There was a massive flood near the
border. We sent an Emergency Disaster Services team (Lloyd Blyth, Elaine Blyth,
Rachel Sloper, Alvin Gador, Larry Jaster, Lori Reimer; who did a great job, btw)[3] down
to Maple Creek Saskatchewan
Similarly relating to our Lord Jesus, Matthew 24:42-51 that
we read from earlier, records (cf. also Luke 12:42-46):
42"Therefore keep watch,
because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But
understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the
thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be
broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man
will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45"Who
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the
servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It
will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I
tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But
suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away
a long time,' 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and
to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will
come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He
will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Advent is about waiting and being prepared. Let us look a
little closer at this story. What is it about? It is about the fact that Jesus
is coming soon and we – even more than doctors and ultrasound technicians - we
really don’t know when Jesus is coming but we need to be ready because, like
our baby was, Jesus is coming soon (Matthew 24:26, 25:13; Mark 13:32; Luke
12:39-40, 46). He is coming like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:34) and we
should be ready (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3,
16:5). This is important. We know this is important for a couple of reasons not
the least of which is the fact that Matthew records for us that Jesus says this
is important and he repeatedly makes this very point in a number of stories
placed back to back to back here in the text.[4]
This story of being ready for Jesus to come because he will come like a thief
in the night is in the context of a number of similar parables about Jesus’
immanent return.[5]
Advent is about waiting and being ready and Matthew 25:1-13
compares Jesus’ immanent return to bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom and
the whole wedding celebration to begin (cf. Luke 14:16-24).[6]
This is a big deal. It is the party of the year and no one wants to miss it and
their ticket in, in this case, is to be prepared by having oil in their lamps
when the groom returns. There are those who started waiting but they weren’t
prepared to wait quite long enough and then the bridegroom shows up when they
have already gone to do something other than wait for him so they don’t get to
celebrate with the groom upon his arrival. They weren’t prepared and, like an
out-of-town father when his baby is born, they missed their opportunity to
greet him (cf. Heb. 3:7–4:13).[7]
Advent is about waiting and being ready. There is also the
so-called, ‘Parable of the Talents’, Matthew 25:18-30 (cf. Luke 19:11-26).[8]
Remember that story about waiting and being prepared, about being ready? An employer,
a master divides his investment portfolio between his employees, giving them
responsibility for it. He gives his servants, his slaves some money, some
talents, to be in charge of while he is away. He tells them to take care of his
talents. Two of the three servants do just this and thus they are ready for
their master’s return. The third – he is thrown into the darkness where there
is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:31). He is not faithful with a
little when the master was away so how can he be trusted with the treasures of
heaven when the Lord returns (Matthew 25:21,23, 30)? He was not prepared for
his Lord’s coming.
Advent is about waiting and advent is about being ready. And
we all know the parable of ‘The Sheep and the Goats’ (Matthew 25:31-46). Here
when the Son of Man comes he divides the nations on his right and his left.
Those who are prepared to reap the benefits of his Kingdom take care of the
hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick and the prisoners while
they were waiting for Him. They are prepared and, to them, He says ‘take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’ and
he says ‘well done my good and faithful servant’. However there are those that
did not do this and as such they were not ready to meet their maker and they
did not celebrate at his return (Cf. Exodus 23:6,11, Lev. 19:10,15, 23:22,
27:8, Deut. 15:7, 15:11, 24:12-15, 1 Samuel 2:8, Psalms 22:26, 34:6, 35:10,
82:3, Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29, Amos 2:7, 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6, Isaiah 3:14,
15, 10:2, 11:4, 26:6, 32:7, 41:17, 58:7, 61:1; Zechariah 7:10). He still came
but they did not celebrate. They were cast aside. They were not prepared for
his return so they miss out on the blessings of the coming of his kingdom.
It is like with Heather’s birth. When the first due date
came and went we could have taken the camera out of the baby bag and put it
where it usually belongs; when the next anticipated due date came, we could
have taken the baby clothes, Susan’s magazines, and toiletries out of the baby
bag. When the next day came and went, we could have taken the very baby bag
itself, in which we held everything in anticipation of baby’s arrival, and
filled it with various work or play related items instead so that we were no
longer prepared. If we did all of this it wouldn’t stop the baby from coming.
We just wouldn’t be prepared for her arrival and even if I am looking for
everything that we had unpacked and I can’t find what I need in time, baby will
still come at the pre-appointed time, I just may miss out on the blessings of
that moment. Also if I was away helping out with EDS or something else when
baby came I would have missed the occasion or if baby had come early, a few
days before the due date instead of 2 plus weeks after the due date, my parents
wouldn’t have been a part of it. They would have missed out on baby’s arrival.
Baby just barely got there before they had to leave as it was! But we didn’t
know when she was coming; all we knew was that she was coming and she was
coming soon and with every day, every hour, and every minute that passed baby
was coming even sooner. Baby was coming soon whether we were ready or not and
if we weren’t ready we would miss out.
Advent is about being prepared and then waiting. Jesus is
coming back. In our life, will we miss out on Jesus’ arrival? Or are we ready
for him? Are our spiritual bags still packed? Or have we in the weeks, months
and years since we gave our lives to Christ, have we been slowly unpacking our
heavenly baby bags? Do we still have our Bibles that we read daily in there or
did we put them back on the shelves because Jesus hasn’t come just yet? He’s
still coming. How about our incessant, fervent prayers: do we still practice
them daily or have we put them away until we feel we need them? How about our
offering of food, clothing, and love to the least, the lost, and the last: is
this still with us and in our spiritual baby bags or have we filed these away
somewhere; leaving us unprepared for the immanent arrival of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is coming soon?
What about all of us here today? If Jesus comes like an
overdue baby tonight, are we ready? Will we be there to greet him or will we
miss out on his return? Today, are our bags packed with our prayers, Bible
study, and love for our neighbour? Are we ready to meet our maker when he
returns? As sure as Baby Heather was coming soon and indeed did arrive about six
and a half years ago, Jesus also is coming very soon. So when he does arrive,
are we ready? Are we ready for when he shows up like a thief in the night or
will we be left outside like the unprepared bridesmaids? Are we investing the
talents God is entrusting us with? Or will He take back even the very life that
He has loaned us because we wasted it? Jesus is coming soon. When he does, will
he say to us ‘away from me’? Or will he say to us, because we are prepared to
meet him, ‘take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world’ - and ‘well done my good and faithful servant’? In short,
I ask us today, Jesus is coming soon, whether we are ready for it or not; so are
we ready?
Let us pray.
---
[1] Cf.
Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Know
Press, 1993), p.281.
[2] Volume
120 of The Expository Times has a good series of articles on the church
fathers. See for ex. Judith L. Kovacs ‘Clement of Alexandria ’ in The Expository Times, Vol.
120, No. 6 (March 2009), pp. 261-271
[3]
Information about the team and their mission is on-line at: http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html#1586402264514679316
[4] Cf. R.T.
France, ‘Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary’, Downers Grove , IL
[5] Cf.
Michael Ramsay, 'Jesus use of Parabolic and Metaphorical Methods to Affect the
Listeners of the Parable of the Wicked Tenants', Presented to William and
Catherine Booth College (Fall 2006). Available on-line at http://sheepspeak.com/NT_Michael_Ramsay.htm
[6] Luke
includes the parable of the Marriage feast – the third of Matthew’s three
(Matt. 22:1-14) - in an entirely separate setting (Luke 14:16-24); it is not
mentioned at all in the account of Mark and neither Mark nor Luke mention the
parable of the two sons (Matt 21:28-32).
[7] Cf.
Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28. (WBC 33B: Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1995),
612.
[8] There
are several commonalities in the parable’s contextual setting. It is recorded
after the triumphal entry when the people proclaim ‘Hosanna’ or ‘blessed be the
king’ and that Jesus is the ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 21:10-11, Mark 11:9-10,
Luke 19:38); the clearing of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-19, Luke
19:45-46); and Mathew and Mark’s account of the fig tree (Matthew 21:18-26; cf.
Mark 11:12-14, 20-22).
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