back to indexHope for the Fragile and Fragmented
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Welcome back to the podcast on this Memorial Day here in the States, 00:00:08.000 |
a day when we remember and honor soldiers who have died while serving in the armed forces. 00:00:14.000 |
War has been on the forefront of many minds here in the past 15 months. 00:00:19.000 |
No matter how close or far we are from the front lines, war has impacted all of us. 00:00:26.000 |
Of course, Jesus said that we can expect to hear of wars and rumors of wars, 00:00:30.000 |
and that nation will rise against nation, which are but the beginning of the birth pangs, Jesus said. 00:00:37.000 |
In Matthew 24, verses 6 to 8, Jesus said this in the context of his return to earth 00:00:42.000 |
and what we can expect before he comes again. 00:00:45.000 |
Pastor John, you just published a new book, Come, Lord Jesus, Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ. 00:00:51.000 |
And in it, Matthew 24, verses 6 to 8, and mentions of war make many appearances, 00:01:00.000 |
This new book is very relevant for our age of wars and rumors of wars. 00:01:05.000 |
And today I have another open question for you. 00:01:08.000 |
With the book's release, you have done a handful of interviews with various ministries online. 00:01:14.000 |
I think our listeners would be interested if, in all of those conversations, 00:01:18.000 |
if anyone asked you a question that you didn't quite expect, 00:01:22.000 |
or ones that maybe have opened new insights into the biblical teaching on Christ's return for you, 00:01:30.000 |
In fact, that did happen. In fact, it happened more than once. 00:01:35.000 |
The one that was most provocative and caused me to see some texts in a different light 00:01:43.000 |
was a question about how a healthy expectation of the second coming might actually bring stability 00:01:55.000 |
to a person's mind who is feeling psychologically fragile and vulnerable and off balance, 00:02:04.000 |
maybe because of personal circumstances, losses, tragedies, pain, 00:02:09.000 |
or because of upheavals in society that disorient people and pull them this way and that, 00:02:17.000 |
and make them feel fragmented and shaky, maybe even agitated and frenzied. 00:02:23.000 |
And what was surprising to me about the question itself was that it seemed a bit counterintuitive. 00:02:33.000 |
In other words, I think a lot of people would perhaps mistakenly say, 00:02:40.000 |
"Well, the second coming is not a solution to that problem. It contributes to that problem." 00:02:46.000 |
They would say, "Wouldn't it add to the vulnerability and shakiness and fragility of mind 00:02:53.000 |
if you stir something as cataclysmic as the second coming 00:02:58.000 |
into the mix of all the social and personal upheavals of our time?" 00:03:03.000 |
So I had to really step back and ask, "Does the Bible"—this is the way I put the question to myself— 00:03:12.000 |
"Does the Bible present the hope of the second coming in a stabilizing way or a destabilizing way? 00:03:23.000 |
Is it really presented explicitly in connection to this problem? 00:03:30.000 |
Or do I have to just kind of manufacture connections with this problem of instability?" 00:03:35.000 |
And frankly, I was surprised. I mean, the question was, "Did anything surprise you?" 00:03:40.000 |
I was surprised. So in the hope of helping folks who feel like this, 00:03:46.000 |
and we all do from time to time, in the hope of helping people who feel off-balance, 00:03:52.000 |
wobbly, agitated, fretful, racing mind, can't quite grab hold of peace of mind, 00:04:00.000 |
in the hope of helping us, let me show you what I saw and just draw attention 00:04:06.000 |
to some of these amazing explicit connections between second-coming thoughts in the Bible 00:04:13.000 |
and stability of mind that we all need in these shaking times. 00:04:20.000 |
So here's 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 and 2. Paul said, "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus 00:04:28.000 |
and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind." 00:04:39.000 |
Now, the reason that text jumped out at me after I heard this question was that a literal translation 00:04:47.000 |
is even more surprising. It says, "We ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken from your mind, 00:04:56.000 |
out of your mind." In other words, Paul saw that there were people in Thessalonica 00:05:04.000 |
who were going out of their minds. They were no longer able to be rational or reasonable. 00:05:13.000 |
You couldn't reason with them. The upheavals that were happening around them 00:05:19.000 |
and were shaking them loose from their minds were causing them to lose their stability 00:05:26.000 |
and a kind of hysteria or frenzy was taking control of them. 00:05:32.000 |
And it had to do with a combination of social circumstances and misinformation 00:05:39.000 |
about the second coming. And Paul's solution, this is amazing, I think. 00:05:46.000 |
For a lot of people, it would seem amazing. Paul's solution to their frenzy was to teach the truth 00:05:54.000 |
about the second coming rather than neglect the second coming. He didn't say, "Wow, you folks 00:06:02.000 |
are thinking way too much about the second coming. You need to stop thinking about it 00:06:09.000 |
and get a grip on reality, like where you live now, go to work." What he did, in fact, 00:06:19.000 |
was the opposite. He spent a whole chapter dealing with that instability 00:06:26.000 |
by teaching on the second coming. And so that's what I take away. Paul believed 00:06:32.000 |
that a right understanding of the second coming would not add to the frenzy 00:06:39.000 |
or the instability of life. In fact, it would be part of the remedy. 00:06:45.000 |
So that's my first text. Second one is from Jesus, and I think it's where Paul got 00:06:53.000 |
his thinking on this because the language is so similar. I've got a whole section 00:06:59.000 |
in the book on the similar language between Matthew 24 and the Thessalonian epistles, 00:07:04.000 |
which I think is just huge with implication for how they understood Matthew 24. 00:07:09.000 |
Jesus said in Matthew 24, 5 and 6, "Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' 00:07:19.000 |
and they will lead many astray, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars." 00:07:27.000 |
And then he says, "See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, 00:07:35.000 |
but the end is not yet." So Jesus recognizes that the world is going to be a destabilizing, 00:07:44.000 |
alarming, anxiety-producing place, false Christs, wars. The next two verses talk about famines, 00:07:54.000 |
earthquakes, endless difficulties as the end draws near, and he realizes that it is natural 00:08:02.000 |
for people to look around and be alarmed, frightened, uncertain, off balance. 00:08:08.000 |
So what's his solution? His solution is to give true instruction about the second coming. 00:08:17.000 |
Most of the chapter is for that purpose. So one remedy to our instability and anxiety 00:08:25.000 |
is not ignorance or disregard of the second coming, but solid biblical knowledge 00:08:35.000 |
about the second coming so we can be expectant and hopeful, but not be alarmed or fretful. 00:08:45.000 |
Here's another example of the connection between the second coming and the stability of our minds. 00:08:52.000 |
Philippians 4, 5 to 7, "The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, 00:09:01.000 |
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, 00:09:06.000 |
and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 00:09:17.000 |
Now most of us, most of the time, make the connection between the guarding of the hearts 00:09:23.000 |
and the guarding of the minds with prayer. Let your requests be made known to God, 00:09:31.000 |
and He'll guard you. But the preceding verse says, "The Lord is at hand. Don't be anxious. 00:09:39.000 |
The peace of God will guard your minds." So there's a connection. 00:09:44.000 |
There's a connection between a right grasp of the nearness of the Lord and Christian heart and mind 00:09:55.000 |
being guarded from anxiety and instability in fretting about the world. 00:10:04.000 |
Here it is again in 1 Peter 4, 12, "Beloved, do not be surprised." 00:10:11.000 |
In other words, don't be alarmed and thrown off balance and anxious. 00:10:16.000 |
Don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, 00:10:23.000 |
but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. 00:10:34.000 |
In other words, a right perception, a right anticipation of the glory of Christ appearing 00:10:42.000 |
and our joy in that day is a stabilizing force to keep us from being surprised, alarmed, 00:10:53.000 |
thrown off balance at the end time stresses and sufferings that are coming. 00:10:59.000 |
Let me give you one more example. 1 Thessalonians 5, 2, 2-5, 00:11:04.000 |
"You yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 00:11:12.000 |
While people are saying, 'There's peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them 00:11:20.000 |
as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. 00:11:25.000 |
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, 00:11:36.000 |
for you are children of light, children of the day. 00:11:48.000 |
In other words, Paul's remedy to fretfulness and alarm and instability in the last days 00:11:56.000 |
is right and true and balanced teaching about the second coming 00:12:02.000 |
and who we are in Christ as we eagerly wait for Him. 00:12:11.000 |
I had seen them all, but I had not seen them in the light of that particular question 00:12:24.000 |
This is, I think, a really good example of how we keep on learning and growing 00:12:32.000 |
and how the Bible is an inexhaustible reservoir of help for every kind of human problem. 00:12:41.000 |
Amen. Proven on this podcast week after week after week. 00:12:47.000 |
And this concludes a little four-part series on Pastor John's new book, Come, Lord Jesus. 00:12:51.000 |
Be sure to get a copy. I'm holding one right now. 00:12:55.000 |
And, of course, you can download the whole digital book online at desiringgod.org. 00:13:00.000 |
And our other recent episodes on the book include APJ's 1941, 1942, 1944, 00:13:12.000 |
Find all those episodes in our growing archive or subscribe to the podcast all at askpastorjohn.com. 00:13:18.000 |
I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you next time.