Jesus vs. Nostradamus

Nostradamus has never impressed me. His so-called prophecies are vague, obscure and he doesn’t say when they will come to pass.  Jesus is the real deal.

The year is 30 A.D.  Jesus is walking away from the temple, a magnificant structure built by Herod the Great, when one of His disciples points out the temple buildings to Him.

Jesus says, “Do you not see all these things?  Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”  (Matt. 24:1-2).

Now, no building stands forever.  So, if Jesus had stopped there, I would say that his prediction wasn’t too risky.  But later, His disciples ask him, “when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Jesus then answers the questions.

Jesus tells them there will be a number of signs.  He even quotes prophetic language of judgment from Isaiah and Ezekiel that the “sun will be darkened” and “the moon will not give its light.” (cf. Matt. 24:29, Isaiah 13:10, Ezek. 32:7-8).  In other words, Jesus is going to come back and turn out the lights on Jerusalem and the Jewish sacrificial system.

Jesus tells the disicples that when they see Jerusalem surrounded to get out of dodge.  (Luke 21:20).  He is also very specific about the timing: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (Matt. 24:34).  A generation, by Jewish reckoning is 40 years.

In 70 A.D., the Roman army led by its general, Titus, surrounded the City of Jerusalem.  The Christians, remembering Jesus’ words, left Jerusalem, eventually settling in a city north of Jerusalem called Pella.  The Romans sacked Jerusalem, entered the temple, where no Gentile was permitted to go, stole its treasures, then destroyed the temple.  The temple has never been rebuilt.

Within a generation, Jesus returned in judgment, the temple was destroyed, just as Jesus predicted, bringing an end to the age of the Jewish sacrificial system.  Jesus called it, and dated it.  That’s real prophecy. GS

Man Bites Dog

Maybe you saw this headline earlier this year, “Man Gets 15 Years After Trying to Break Into Jail.”

Yes, you read it right, “break into jail.”  If you don’t believe me, you can read it here.

Dude was on probation for manslaughter, but three days after being released returns to jail and begs deputies to take him back into the jail because he feared retaliation from the victim’s family.  When he was refused entry he tried to reenter the jail by climbing a 12-foot high fence.  He was caught, convicted of trespassing and resisting an officer and was sentenced to 15 years for violating his probation.  It goes without saying this was probably the stiffest sentence ever given to anyone for attempting to break back into jail.

This story strikes me as odd, which, according to G.K. Chesterton, is a good thing since “…oddities only strike ordinary people.  Odditities do not strike odd people.”  This story also strikes me as interesting because it never could have happened under Old Testament law.  Here’s why.

First, there were no jails or prisons under the Old Testament law. It’s true.  It’s not because there weren’t criminals.  It’s just that criminals were required to make restitution or were sold into bond service to pay restitution (to the victim, not to the State), or, if the victim did not choose a ransom or ransom was not available under the law and it was a capital crime, they were given the ultimate earthly punishment.

Second, the Lord anticipated the situation encountered by our jailbreaker and set up cities of refuge for those guilty of manslaughter so they could avoid victims’ vengeful relatives who might have thoughts of helping the manslayer into the grave. See Numbers 35:9-12.

So what is the point?  I don’t know.  I’m just saying, it strikes me as odd. GS

Playing Your Own Game

My father used to tell me when I was learning to play golf competitively, “Play your own game.”  What he meant was if I was playing with someone who, for example, hit the ball longer than me, I should not try to change my game to hit the ball farther but that I should play the way I play best and not worry about the others around me.

The same could be said of life.  So many people waste their lives trying to make more money than those around them or being envious of those with more, or wanting to be something they are not called to be because they think money or fame will make them happy or validate them.  And unfortunately, the ubiquity of television and the internet taunt us to envy and discontentment perhaps more than at any time in history.

Jesus knew people were prone to journey down this destructive path.  After Jesus told Peter the kind of death Peter would suffer, Peter looked over at John and said, “Lord, and what about this man?”  Jesus response was, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:18-23). Was that fair?  At another time, Jesus paid His and Peter’s taxes but not the taxes owed by the other disicples (Matt. 17:24-27).  Was that fair?

The issue then and the issue now is not fairness, but calling.  So, play your own game.  Keep your eyes on Jesus.  Don’t envy others.  GS

Will You Sacrifice Your Calling For Comfort?

“Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel…But David stayed at Jerusalem.” (2 Sam. 11:1).

You probably know what happens next.  David engages in the 1000 B.C. version of watching porn (roof-gazing), gets to know Bathsheba in the Biblical sense, and then has her husband killed.

This was the worst series of events in David’s life, and on top of that it all got written down so people for the last 3,000 years could read what he did and lawyers masquerading as bloggers could blog on it.

This is not something one would hope for, but it all started because at the time when kings go out to battle David stayed home where it was safe and comfortable.  David was a king.  His calling was on the battlefield leading his people.  When David stepped out of his calling, he stepped into temptation.

If you are a Christian, your destiny is like a flowing river.  Sometimes you will be tempted to step out of it onto the shore just to get your feet dry for a little while, but when you do, you can never step back in at the same place because the water you stepped out of has moved on, and worse, what waits on the shore is your anti-calling, all the temptations that would lead you away from the river.

Don’t sacrifice your calling for comfort. GS

Seeing The Big Picture

The wife and I were at a local sports bar tonight with Tennessee alumni watching the Volunteers play Memphis. The Vols played well but the service at the bar was terrible.

When our waitress would come out from the bar she would go to just one table each time then return to the bar. She never lifted up her eyes to see if anyone else at a different table needed anything. This went on all night. No less than five times I was waiving my arms trying to get her attention, but she didn’t look up, not once. Instead, she was focused only on the table she came out to check on.

We were finally able to get our check, pay and leave. On the way home we went through the drive thru at the local McDonald’s for an ice cream cone. The attendant handed me the cone with so much ice cream it was about to fall off the top of the cone. Along with the one ice cream cone he handed me eight napkins. Yes, eight.

Now the waitress and the McDonald’s employee, although young, both seemed reasonably intelligent. Yet both of them were terrible at doing jobs that weren’t difficult because they didn’t see the big picture.

The waitress didn’t get that her job was to serve her customers; she apparently thought she was just supposed to take and deliver orders.

The McDondald’s employee didn’t understand his employer was interested in making a profit. If he had understand this, he wouldn’t have wasted his employer’s money by putting way too much ice cream in the cone and giving me eight napkins when I only needed one. Neither he nor the waitress saw the big picture.

After Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, His disciples returned from getting food and encouraged Him to eat. When Jesus told them He had food they didn’t know about, they began to discuss amongst themselves how Jesus had gotten food without them knowing.

Jesus explained he wasn’t talking about food, but doing the Father’s will. He then encouraged them to see the big picture: “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” (John 4:30-38).

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about because they weren’t focused on the big picture. Their focus determined their understanding.

Are you seeing the big picture of the kingdom of God or are you focused on only what is immediately before you? GS