Sunday, September 08, 2024

Its Radical Nearness

 

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to  show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent  and signified it by his

 

Jesus is coming soon!

It is nearer than we think!

It is so near, some even say

“In just another blink!”

 

This was noised abroad

Way back in the 1st Century

And some of the things Jesus said

Suggested that eventuality.

 

It was not Jesus alone

But some of the apostles too,

Peter, James and John

Were of a similar view.

 

Hebrews 1:1-2

 

Paul was of the same mind

And the writer to the Hebrews,

Not near as in 2000 years

But a lesser distant view.

 

Who did Jesus say would see him enter his kingdom?

 

Jesus said “this generation”

And even some standing still

Would not taste of death

Till all these things be fulfilled.

 

Were anyone of them

Still in in our company today,

Methuselah could not be the oldest-

Oh no, my friend, no way!

 

Jesus’ response to his disciples

Indicated radical nearness

And the queries they asked of him

Were of an urgent request.

 

Hence Jesus responded in kind

And they clearly understood,

It shocked the daylights out of them

Right where the temple stood.

 

The temple was their life

And Jerusalem was their city

Yet Jesus said when these things occur

From the city they should flee.

 

Flee to the mountains he said

For these be the days of vengeance,

What is written was fulfilled

It is all in the past tense.

 

This was counterproductive,

It should be the other way around

But Jesus was warning them

The temple would be torn down.

 

Why Jerusalem still hangs onto ancient archaeological mysteries

 

In a city refuge is found

But surely not at this time,

They must depart their cherished city

If safety was on their mind.

 

Jerusalem would be breached

It would be judgment time

And not one stone upon another

Of the temple they would find.

 

Their house would be desolate

As Jesus had foretold,

The end of the old Jewish covenant

Seemed a heavy load.

 

This was the great tribulation

About which the apostle John had warned,

As chronicled in Revelation,

This was the impending storm.

 

He used words like near

At the door and also at hand,

Jesus would be coming quickly

According to the Divine plan.

 

But this radical nearness

Does not apply to us

Two thousand years hence

Since the advent of Jesus.

 

In James chapter 5 and verse 8

There is more,

The coming of the Lord drew near!

The judge stood at the door! 

 

1 Peter 4:7

 

Peter said to watch and pray

The end of all things was at hand

The apostle Paul in Romans 13:12

Saw it as God’s unfolding plan.

 

Little children, it is the last time

This according to 1st John 2:18,

The “many antichrists” was the sign

And were already on the scene.

 

 Pin on Just the GOD in me

 

The things spoken of in Revelation

Were to shortly come to pass,

Not the future in the 21st Century

But the 1st Century that is passed.

 

Revelation 1:3

 

Blessed is he that readeth,

and they that hear the words of this prophecy,

and keep those things which are written therein:

for the time is at hand.

 

Paul presented a history lesson

In 1st Corinthians 10

Showing that idolatrous fornication

Was Israel’s problem.

 

After all of God’s mercies

And all His benefits to them,

They made and worshipped a golden calf

Despite being His children.

 

Twenty-three thousand fell

In one single day,

So, in chapter 10 and verse 11

Here is what Paul had to say.

 

Now all these things

happened unto them for ensamples:

and they are written for our admonition,

upon whom the ends of the world are come.

 

The ends of their world had come

As they soon came to recognize,

Certainly, to John and the apostles

It would come as no surprise.

 

It was radically near

As all the prophecies declared

And the fact they all came to pass

To me is biblically clear.

 

Stewart Russell © November 12, 2021

 

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