Through most of November late last fall the theme texts for each Sunday centered around Christ's Second Coming. Asked to preach on November 16, I chose the epistle text from First Thessalonians 5:1-11. A week or so before, massive fires that started in Santa Barbara, California where Don Johnson now ministers, were sweeping through southern California. But Don, Salem's former pastor, was in Virginia participating in a family funeral, which he found understandably hard. Tough times seem to abound all around us these days, don't they?
The sermon took as its title "What We Know and Do Not Know," referencing questions that have always occupied the minds of believers concerning the end times. Twenty some minutes can hardly be expected to penetrate the mystery that remains, except to affirm what can--and in my view--needs to be faced. My brother once addressed the crucial issue, I believe, by asking in one of his lectures for a simple "yes" or "no" answer to the critical question: "Are your bags packed?'
No single solution will ever be found to the mystery of Christ's coming again. No one knows the day or the hour. Not even Jesus knew. When it will be remains where biblically it is said to be, in the heart and mind of God alone. What matters in the long run has little to do with the details anyway. Our concern as human beings ought rather be focused on whether we and all others around us in God's world are ready.
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