matthew 24:27

MATTHEW 24:27 What advent means to me.

When I was in my early teens, and we’re talking a long, long time ago, and a new Christian I was terribly frightened by thunderstorms. I feared being struck by lightening or washed away down some newly formed raging river that once used to be our street. After all these fears were well founded through the news broadcasts that my parents calmly watched while eating dinner during the storms of people being washed away from their cars and home. I thought they couldn’t possibly be paying attention to the fact that our lives were on the verge of extinction.

But I eventually overcame that fear during a bible reading one day while I was hiding in the bathtub by myself during an especially horrific storm with lightening and thunder and cats and dogs falling from the sky. My parents were at the dinner table watching the news calmly as usual. I was clutching my bible tightly praying like Jesus did in the boat with his disciples for the storm to cease….but my present storm increased in intensity. My prayer was taking the wrong direction. However as I fervently prayed I flipped the bible open and it opened to Math 24:27 where I found immediate comfort. I realized what I was fearing, instant or a frightful death, was actually a sign of Christ’s second return and our entrance into eternity. This verse put an end to the spiritual storm I was experiencing and reversed my reaction to storms: I now like to sit on the porch watching the sky for signs of a man on a white horse being followed by the host of heaven: Rev. 19:11-16. So the advent season helps me to celebrate Christ’s first advent while I look forward to the fulfillment of the other biblical prophesies. So my parents went from coercing me out of bathtubs to ordering me back into the house during bad weather.

However I still don’t enjoy driving in torrential deluges.

Dear heavenly father, Thank you for sending your only son to earth two thousand years ago to show us who you are and the way to you. Thank you for your written word that helps encourage and enlighten us. Thank you for the rainbows that show you’ll never destroy the world by floods again and thank you for thunderstorms that remind us that your next advent will be better than the forth of July fire works! Amen

What advent means to me.

For over a thousand years the Jewish people waited for the Messiah. When he finally came the Christ came to his people and those devoted to God recalled the old testament prophets’ predictions and accepted him and spread the message of his arrival and consequently his departure. They studied the Torah thoroughly and gave Jesus the gold mark, this was He, their Lord and God (John 20:28).

There is a story of some rabbis visiting the destroyed Second temple. All but one rabbi cried at the scene while one Rabbi laughed disgracing himself in front of his companions.

They questioned him, “Why are you laughing!?”

He responded, “Why are you crying!? Can’t you see..if God fulfilled this prophesy he’ll fulfill the prophesies of our redemption!” (Micah 3:12, Zechariah 8:4-5). To me the advent season celebrating the first coming of Christ being so accurately predicted puts a high reliability non failure curve on the advent and anticipation of the promises of His second return. So something I enthusiastically look forward to with every thunderstorm (Math 24:27) is seeing a cloud of witness following a man on a white horse wearing a gown identifying him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (Rev 19:16). That is the glorious “advent-itious” expectation of my being reunited with my Savior and my loved ones.

A story is recorded in the Talmud that took place after the destruction of the Second Temple. When Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues came to Mt. Scopus and witnessed the Temple’s destruction, they tore their clothing in mourning. When they got to the Temple Mount itself and saw foxes running around where the Holy of Holies once stood, they cried. But Akiva laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” the rabbis asked.

“Why are you crying?” Akiva replied.

The rabbis explained that they were looking at the holiest place in the world and “now foxes run through it! How could we not cry!”

Akiva replied, “That is why I am laughing.”

He continued, “One prophet said, ‘because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field’ (Micah 3:12). Another prophet said, ‘Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there (Zechariah 8:4–5). Since the words of one prophet have been fulfilled, I now know that the words of the other prophet will also be fulfilled.”

To this the rabbis exclaimed, “You have comforted us Akiva, you have comforted us.”