THE PRESENCE OF THE END OF TIMES

The First Week of Advent
Word/ 1 Corinthian 1:1-9
THE PRESENCE OF THE END OF TIMES

Regarding Advent
Church has its own calendar different from the solar calendar of our society. Christmas and Easter also are included in the church calendar. Roman Catholic observes much more days than our Protestant such as Assumption of Mary, All Saints Day and so for. However, the first division of church calendar that the entire church observes is Advent. Advent is composing of 4 weeks calculating 4 weeks before Christmas. Today, 30th November, is the first week of Advent.

Advent signifies First coming of Jesus, his presence and his Second coming but the last regards particularly as important one. The faith for Second coming of ascended Jesus has been confirmed since Early Christianity. What is your opinion about such faith? If you are the person who keep Christian faith in your heart you may not deny his Second coming. However, you also cannot say you believe Second coming as the Bible says. Some of you may think you will ascend to heaven riding on the cloud or some of you may nullify the advent of faith, or most others think of it much seriously. In fact, there are not that many Christians who maintain their life thinking seriously about the foundation of Christianity. Outwardly they seem to keep their religion fervently but their inner status is far from Christianity. It is not because of their hypocrisy or irresponsibility but Christian faith itself has a difficult point to digest with our daily experience. For example, Jesus’ teaching of ‘But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first’ is hardly understood in this world ruled by principles of competition. When they enter into the depth of life they can understand the fact that there is no difference between first and last. Those who regard even faith as the matter of competition and self-satisfaction beat around the bush or deny the teaching of Christianity itself rather than accept it.

The advent of faith also is the same case. Those Christians who are proud of their religious life view this teaching vaguely. What does it mean when one says that Jesus will come again? If Jesus comes again then where he is now? According to the Apostle Creed, Jesus is seating at the right hand of God. Then where is God? None of us who are living in the post-Enlightenment age think that heaven is what people of New Testament ages thought it was. The people in the New Testament age understood heaven as a hiding place of life. So they thought it was natural for God to be in heaven, and for Jesus to ascend to heaven. Before their eye the mystery of life was in accordance with the unreachable mystery of heaven. Then what’s wrong with the teaching about Jesus’ second coming? If the Bible explains about these things in detail it would be good for us. Unfortunately we cannot find about this in the Bible. It signifies the honesty of the authors of the Scripture. They didn’t deal the incident of God as magic. They didn’t try to show others God’s work as something good with reasonable decoration. It is described in a simple and honest way by them those who have experienced God’s spiritual incident. It is alienated to our worldview today but their statement for Jesus’ second coming clearly includes spiritual reality. We are looking into what the spiritual reality is that today.

The Second Coming of Christ
Apostle Paul mentions about Jesus’ second coming at the head of his long letter to Corinthian Church. Seeded in his second mission journey Corinth was well-to-do city in those days. I’m not sure about the reason clearly but the Christian community in Corinth also maintained a well-to-do life. Look at verse 5. “For in him you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge--.” Paul’s word ‘enriched in every way’ basically they were enriched in religious matter but it may also include other necessary factors to live in. It might include financial matter too. Especially they were articulate about their knowledge of Jesus. They became the noted people among their society in belief and theory. If we change it in modern terms, Corinthian Christian were intelligent, educated middle class people. Paul neither absolutizes their rich nor denies cultural abundant life in this world. He was neither a stoic nor a hedonist nor a transcended person from the world nor a secularist. He was a realist who accepted and enjoyed his real life whatever situation was given either sufficiency or deficiency. He acknowledged the affluent life of Corinthian Christian as it was. According to Paul’s request for donation to Corinthian church (2 Cor. 9), we can assume Paul’s idea about worldly property. He focuses on God’s will, that is, spiritual sight in any situation.

Look at his spiritual insight in today’s text. Look at verse 7. “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” ‘The present life does not lack anything’ and ‘Advent of Jesus Christ’ is a contradictive situation. Jesus’ advent signifies the incident of the fundamental dismantlement of all human achievement in this world. All the conditions we want to achieve belong to these. Contrary to this, Jesus’ second coming is the life incident that will happen to transcendental and totally different way. The differences between the affluent life in this world and Jesus’ advent definitely occurs tension.

Shall I give you an example? A group of children gather and play a marble game. Some children lose and some children win. At that moment, their entire life is held up in a marble game. As evening comes, their mothers call them to be back at home. They have to stop their play. Once they enter in their home they can no longer play their marble games. It is because their home is totally different territory of life to a play ground.

Paul reminds this fact to Corinthian Christian who are living affluently. It means that, though they are living well without anything lacking, Christian life is the live coming out of that life expecting Jesus’ appearance. We don’t feel much difficulty to understand till this point. Though Jesus’ second coming sounds vague, the personal death of our friends or related people awake us the reality that the end of present life surely comes. However, there is a problem after that. We don’t have any confidence for what Jesus’ second coming and his appearance is all about.

It is not a strange phenomenon that we don’t have any confidence about his Second coming. Our confidence is given through mostly either our present sensitive confirmation or the incidents that practically happened in the past. However, Jesus’ second coming is purely future incident. How can we have confidence for the incidents that we have to expect only and that had happened only one time, which is Jesus’ resurrection? Here we can be on the horns of a dilemma. As an intelligent being we cannot have a groundless blind faith for this matter. Despite this we cannot but believe it as a Christian.

I cannot help you able to come out of such dilemma. I only partially explain the way that the Bible and theology suggest. However, this suggestion also cannot be the complete solution for everything. Even though it is a clear way the responses are different according to individuals. For example, there are some people who never understand God doesn’t show any favoritism to either we or to homo-sexualities. Once your mind is closed then you can’t see anything.

Fellowship with Christ
I’m returning the previous story that I mentioned earlier about the children who played a marble game. Let’s say there is a thoughtful child in the playground. The child may predict the game is not everything while he plays. Of course, the child knows the fact that he will go back home based on his past accumulated experience. However, though it varies according to individuals many live like they knew nothing of such things happening in the past.

I think we can imagine the world that will be happened to us through Jesus’ second coming at a certain level by intuiting the life in this world that we are experiencing now. The life we experience is transitory. Nothing in this world secures eternal life. If God exists God would prepare not such transitory way but eternal way of life. If we see it a little different angle, nothing is in this world fixed at the presence. The world including me is moving toward somewhere else. Where does it direct to? If God is the Creator is he prepared the hour to complete the world?

Such my word may not have a deceive persuasion power. It is because such logic has to meet an opposing argument at the similar level. In the last resort I cannot but say it through today’s content. Look at verse 9. “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” Paul mentions about the fellowship with Jesus Christ after making allusion to the time of Jesus second coming and the Day of Judgment. Here the second coming and his judgment almost have the same meaning. These incidents mean a transitory life in this world changes into a real life. Nobody decisively can tell about it in detail but one thing is very clear that it is the completion of life. At this point we experience and hope it by identifying with Jesus. It is because we believe that Jesus is ‘the way, the truth and the life. From him ‘the resurrection from the dead’ had happened. What does it mean? It means finally the end of world, second coming and judgment, the future incidents will be given to us through identifying with Jesus now.

I am naming it as ‘The presence of The End of times’. The end of times, the completion of life is not the far away future incident but as of today too. If now we are united with a real life it is the same status entered in the life world that will be completed at the end of times. Do you think it is right? Can you understand what it means?

People used to divide past, present and future chronically. Not only this, people divided you and me and others. There is a strict distinction between a good person and a bad person. People are accustomed with the life dividing this world according to their own standard. Once we are occupied with such manner we neither can understand the fact that the End of times have involved in the present life. Nor can believe. Nor can hope. However, Christian faith overcomes such chronicle time. It is because we basically believe that God created the world and the universe. The first creation has not ended but is connected to the world that will be completed at the End of Times. In between of creation and the End of Times the power of creation is leading us. Both the beginning and the End of Times are God’s creation. Then finally the End of Times has already entered into the presence. The End of Times rules over our today’s life with unknown mysterious way. We believe such work of creation and salvation is God’s salivation activity.

There is Jesus Christ at the center of God’s salvation activity that penetrates the creation and the End of Times. Identification with him is right way to participate in the life of the End of Times. How can we prove it? At this step we are required not proof but trust. Based on Jesus’ teaching, his activity and the incident that had happened to him, we have to believe Jesus as Christ. The word believing means to entrust our destiny and future to him. These are the people who live the End of Times presently. I hope such the presence of the End of Times may happen to you who meet the first week of Advent.