End-time prophecies and the Cross - A Covert Conversation -

Last night I had a most animated visit with a Christian gentleman whose sincerity, vigor, and integrity is certainly beyond question. He is indeed a most dedicated believer of current events as the exact fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, and a host of other biblical texts understood and interpreted as pointing to these very days. It was a marvelous con-fusion of the past, the present, and the immediate future. In his from the heart and mind descriptions, all the current players in the current world crisis are to be found right there in Daniel and Revelation: George Bush, Sadam Hussein, Ahmadinejad, Tony Blair, the Asian economic markets, represented by de-feathered eagles (USA), lame lions (UK), bear (Russia's Putin), leopards (Asian block). In listening, it seemed to me I was hearing William Millier-Uriah Smith revised and updated version (2006-2007). However, this recounting of end time prophecies had some incredible addtions: the earth will stop spinning on its axis, monthly lunar cycles would return to 30 days, yearly solar cycles to 360 days, all due to incredible cataclysims that make Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth seem like the first level of a kids' video game. But there was more. Somewhere it is also prophecied that it will take Jesus three and a half days to come to earth, and that something incredibly suspicious is lurking in the land - all over the world's land - just waiting to surprise humankind: The Vengeful Sword of God. A Geo-Politico-Religious thriller that would have Tom Clancy, Mel Gibson give up their trades as novelists and Apocalypto thrillers. It all led up to one great climactic point which was somewhat unclear graphically, but with one great certainty: God's judgment of all nations would take place... Somehow it was implied that if you just knew this stuff (the prophecies and their fulfillment) you would somehow escape the conflagrations, it would help if you owned some land and bunkered in the backcountry of Idaho... Wow! In the meantime one would have to make furtive raids into the big cities with pamphlets, tracts, in covert operations into shopping mall magazine racks slipping these tracts in between the mags and thrusting them into strangers' hands who might be deemed responsive to the warnings. Were it not that the actual headlines for today are so bad, it would be difficult to imagine that the news could get worse, but indeed the salient message of these apocalyptic scenarios was indeed "Bad News".

Since these scenarios arise from an allegedly Christian background (SDAism) I kept waiting for the "Good News". This was certainly harder to find in these scenarios and it was unclear as to what that might be. It may have been good news for an elite group of 10 Commandment keepers apocalyptically referred to as "the 144,000". Elite because they had achieved a maximum level of character progress (no longer referred to as "perfection") that they were actually on display before the universe as God's proof that upright citizens of planet earth could indeed be found. In terms of today's hype status given to stars on display, these 144,000 character righteous people certainly had been nominated and won the Oscar Holiness Awards, and thus gained special status in proximity to God's throne - forever! There was no other good news left for non-144-thousanders. The only hope was in edging out someone else and make it to this prestigiously eternally blessed group. Wow!

When I was finally able to get a word edgewise and ask about the place of the cross and Jesus' finished and saving work on our behalf I was given the strangest answers: Christ is still tied in chains awaiting the judgment, he died not for our sins but for his sins (what???!!), salvation is still an ongoing process, the cross was important but... "But what?" "But there's so much still to come: the plagues, the judgments, the three and a half years, Lucifer bearing our sins in the desolate earth (What?? Lucifer the sin-bearer??), some obscure Ellen White prophecy from Early Writings about some special group of people translated without seeing death...

And the cross? I looked at the prophetic charts in vain for some sign of the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ... Where was the story of the cross in the middle of lions, bears, leopards, eagles, little horns, a tiara bearing man caricatured on the tip of some horn... (That caricature is still propagated?)... Wow!!! And the cross of Christ?

"The cross is important, but..."

"But what?"

I kept praying for some text, some Scripture that would cut through the fog of seas, beasts, peals, and thunders and would lead this gentleman to see the glory of the cross of Christ as the one great apocalyptic event of all human history and the history of the universe.

Somehwere in the back of my head it seemed appropriate to look at the preaching on the day of Pentecost. Certainly that was a key day in the preaching of the gospel. What had been the theme of the apostle's preaching on that day?

Was I in for a surprise. When I looked at Acts 2 the answer was right there and it was something I had never seen before, and yet so appropriate to this very moment. Here it is for you to look at, and see what I saw that day, and what I shared with my dear brother in Christ. Through the marvelous presence of the Spirit, as we read outloud together, the message of the cross did get through...

Peter's messge, I saw consisted of two basic parts. The first part was a defense of the apostles' speaking in foreign languages. It was not only a great defense, but a great use of the end-time prophecies to try to get people scared enough to cry out to God for salvation (as it seemed was the intent of my brother's apocalyptic discourse and pamphlet distribution covert operations):

14. But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.
15. "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;
16. but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17. `AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, `THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
18. EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.
19. `AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.
20. `THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.
21. `AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.'

Wow! What an apocalyptic vision! Complete with blood, fire, and smoke. The sun and moon even seem to go into reverse, akin to my brother's description of the earth coming to a non-spinning halt.

In v. 21 the apostle seems to close his argument by insinuating to the hearers what they should do: Cry out for mercy!

Yet, when he made his pause expecting for the souls to come forward repentant to the altar, there was nothing but complete silence!

No reaction, no response, no convicted sinners.

Always troubling for a preacher. To present his best argument, and have the congregation of unrepentant sinners yawn and look at their watches, or look at each other with the uplifted eyebrow signal: "Let's split".

And yet, the Holy Spirit was at work in the apostle Peter's mind whispering: Try the cross, go to the cross, mention His name and His work on the cross...

And then, as if He got a second wind, and finally got it, he proceeded:

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--
23. this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
24. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
25. "For David says of Him, `I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
26. `THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;
27. BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
28. `YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'
29. "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30. "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,
31. he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.
32. "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33. "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
34. "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: `THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
35. UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."'
36. "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."
37. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
38. Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

Amazing. It was not until the crowd heard the preaching of Christ, and Christ crucified that of their own, without an appeal, without an altar call, they themselves couldn't take it any more, and cried to God for repentance and salvation.

Amazing how the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of another works upon the human heart to show the love of God which drives out fear from the mind and heart.

And so it was with my brother.

He looked at the text. I pointed to him that v. 37 (the verse of crying out to God) had not come after the prophetic preaching but after the preaching of the cross. He looked at it again to confirm that it was so. He thanked me for showing this to him... and after prayer he headed off into the night to warn another big city of the impending doom... with I do hope and pray, the message of the cross of Christ as measure of last resorts...

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all, Amen.