If
you are reading this on Friday or Saturday, it means that the earth survived.
Much has been written in the news lately about the Mayan calendar. The ancient
Mayans of Central America were extremely accurate astronomers able to predict
eclipses centuries in advance. They also had an extremely accurate calendar
which dated from their claim of the beginning of the world on August 11, 3114
BC. What caused the buzz is the fact that the Mayan calendar ends with the
Winter solstice in 2012, December 21. Many contemporaries around the globe embraced the
idea of the end of the world on that day. Many others rejected the idea outright.
Predictions
of the end of the world have been a constant. Every century has had multiple
predictions of the end of the world. It seems like we have one every year. Many
have achieved great notoriety, like the 1970 book by Hal Lindsey, The late
Great Planet Earth. Lindsey later pegged the Rapture in the year 1988. Guess
what? All the hundreds of predictions have been wrong. I told the people in church Sunday if the end is here I'll see them in heaven. Otherwise I will see you here next Sunday.
Jesus
teaching on the end of the world states “But of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”(Matthew 24:36) If no
one, not even the angels and, assumingly, the human Jesus, knew the time of
the end, the ancient Mayans certainly did not. But the speculation causes us to stop and think.
Like the old hymn questions, “Jesus is coming to earth again, What if it were
today?” Jesus also tells us that the last day will come upon us suddenly and
without warning. “As in the days of Noah”, He says. We will be going about life
as usual and things will come to a sudden stop and we will be with Jesus for
reward or punishment. To some, that may sound fearful. But we need not fear the
end. The key is to be ready, to be able to say with the apostle John, “Even so,
come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation
22:20)
Grace and peace.
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