Pour It On

How will the world end?  Jesus said it could happen at any moment, so we should be ready.  But ready for what?  There is a lot of descriptive language about what will happen in the last days, but it is not completely clear how it will all unfold.  Comparing Jesus' life to the Old Testament prophecies makes his fulfillment clear to us, but if it would have been clear to everyone at the moment, then I think the religious leaders would have treated him differently.  In light of that, I would have a hard time claiming to know exactly how the world will end.

Much of the controversy about the end of the world can be traced to a few verses at the beginning of Revelation chapter 20 which talk about a thousand year period of time.  There are three basic views of what these verses are referring to.  Pre-millennialists would envision this thousand years of Christ reigning on earth happening before "Judgment Day" and the end of time.  Post-millennialists would see "Judgment Day" coming first, followed by the the thousand year reign of Christ on a perfect and restored earth; this would be the view of many who believe in a literal rapture and period of tribulation as described in the popular book and series Left Behind.  The rest tend to fall into the amillennialist category which view the thousand year reign of Christ (along with many other events in John's Revelation) as symbolic; this would be the category that most Lutherans and Catholics fall into.

Revelation is a confusing book.  There are many strange and unexpected characters and events in this book, but overall message is this: times are bad and they are going to get worse, but hang in there because we win!  (We, meaning Jesus and all who belong to him).  This is why the command is given to be faithful to the point of death and Jesus will give us a crown of life.

But there was a different prediction that Jesus made which I think is more significant; it was a prediction about that which was going to help them get through the hard times coming up.  It was about the Spirit.  The night before Jesus died, he was preparing the disciples for his absence, but promising the gift of the Holy Spirit - the Spirit would help them remember the things that Jesus taught, understand the things that Jesus taught, and know how to continue to be a "little Christ" after he was gone. John 14:15-27

 In the Old Testament, a person had to be really important to have the Holy Spirit.  The prophets would speak about "being in the Spirit" or having "the Spirit of the Lord upon me."  The kings would be anointed (oil poured on their heads) as a symbol of God's Spirit being placed upon them.  The common people had to go through someone important to have access to God's Spirit.  Imagine the amazement people had when they heard the words of the prophet, Joel:

^{Joel 2:28-32
28} “And afterward, 
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 
   your old men will dream dreams, 
   your young men will see visions. 
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women, 
   I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 
³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens 
   and on the earth, 
   blood and fire and billows of smoke. 
³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness 
   and the moon to blood 
   before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 
³² And everyone who calls 
   on the name of the LORD will be saved;

All people would have the Spirit poured on them!  This was made possible by the cross.  When Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn in two and access to God was made available to all people - not just the prophets or kings or religious leaders.  And the Holy Spirit came with power.

From St. Nicolai Kirche in Lubbenau, Germany

Fifty days after Easter, the Holy Spirit came into Jerusalem with the sound of a howling wind, appearing as small flames upon the heads of the disciples who were speaking clearly and fluently and languages they did not know.  Peter preached to the crowd and explained what was happening by referring them to the prophecy in Joel:

^{Acts 2:17-21
17} “‘In the last days, God says, 
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people. 
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, 
   your young men will see visions, 
   your old men will dream dreams. 
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women, 
   I will pour out my Spirit in those days, 
   and they will prophesy. 
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heavens above 
   and signs on the earth below, 
   blood and fire and billows of smoke. 
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness 
   and the moon to blood 
   before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 
²¹ And everyone who calls 
   on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

How does that help us approach the end of the world?  The Spirit helps us know what to say and how to live and how to be Christians, even in places that are hostile toward God's ways.  You, too, have the gift of the Holy Spirit.  You, too, have been given the power that was promised to the followers of Jesus!