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"When Will the End Come? Just Watch!"
The Rev. Dr. Walter Dunnett
November 30, 2008
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Of perennial interest to many people are two questions: how
old is the earth (or universe)? And, when will the end come?
When scientists talk about the age of the earth/universe they
generally refer to an age of about 14 billion years. Some force,
often referred to as “dark energy,” continues to
push the bounds of the universe outward, farther and farther.
Dr. Glenn Starkman, director of Case-Western Reserve University’s
Origins Initiative, has written: “Most of the questions
we’ve been trying to answer are about the past. But I
think the big questions about the future are, in many ways,
just as interesting. “ He opines that the “cosmic-end
state comes when the universe nears 100 billion years old.”
By then, he says, long gone will be our sun and solar system,
having deteriorated somewhere around the 19 billion-year mark.
(For the context of these remarks, see the Fall/Winter 2008
issue of Think, the magazine of Case Western Reserve University,
in the article “Vanishing Act,” by Mark Anderson,
pages 20-25.)
In response to our two questions, let me share with you two
biblical texts, Isaiah 64:1-9 and Mark 13:24-37, read on the
First Sunday of Advent, 2008. They both have historical contexts,
and they both relate to past, present and future. The Isaiah
text, written to people at the end of a period of exile, begins
with a look backward: “O that you would open the heavens
and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.”
God, tearing the heavens like a tent being ravaged, would have
a response from the mountains, and the nations, as well. The
unnamed prophet looks to the past, as one Old Testament scholar
translates thus: “Oh that you had opened the heavens.”
Israel looks to past events, when God had delivered his people—whether
at the time of the Exodus, or from Canaanite oppression. What
will the future hold? Will God do it again? And, in the midst
of all this wonderment and petition the prophet writes, “Yet,
O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are the
potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).
Let’s face it: without a father, no children; without
a potter, no pots; without a craftsman, no artefacts. Thus,
in the midst of uncertainty, now and in the future, God is the
only reason for human existence, and the only refuge from the
uncertain and the unknown.
In another context, but with no less quaking of the knees,
we read of Jesus and his disciples leaving the vicinity of the
Temple in Jerusalem. The disciples exult in wonder: “Look,
Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings” (Mark
13:2). No secret about their excitement! They were referring
to the Jewish Temple built by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed
ruler of the province of Judea (31-4 B.C.E). King Herod was
a master builder, having constructed great edifices at Masada
(a three-tiered structure), one built and dedicated to Caesar
in Caesarea, the massive Herodium in the Judean desert, besides
the Jerusalem Temple. Yet today one can view (even with subdued
wonder) the massive rows of Herod’s stones at the base
of the holy Western Wall (or, the Wailing Wall), still a site
of prayer for Jewish men and women. The Master’s reply
to his disciples’ remarks is terse: “Do you see
these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon
another; all will be thrown down.” What would be the reaction
be of a pious, law-abiding Jewish disciple to such an announcement?
The central symbol of his faith would be destroyed; the holy
place wherein is carried out the public worship of God would
no longer exist; the enemy (here the Roman invaders) would have
defiled the sanctuary of the Most High. Then four of them, closest
to Jesus—Peter, James, John and Andrew—asked him,
“when will this be, and what will be the sign that all
these things are about to be accomplished?”
Three answers are given to the sign question—there will
be terrestrial and political catastrophes; there will be personal
suffering, along with proclamation of the good news “to
all nations”; and there will be a “desolating sacrilege”
(viz., a pagan altar erected to a pagan god) set up in the temple
complex. These events will be accompanied by dramatic celestial,
astral phenomena (Mark 13:6-25). Climaxing it all will be the
appearance of the Son of Man, “coming in clouds with great
power and glory.” And Jesus assured his befuddled disciples
with the assertion, that “heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away” (v. 31). How shall we
understand these words? Jesus cited certain Old Testament words
to describe what will happen (see, e.g., Isaiah 13:10; 34:4)—typical
prophetic apocalyptic language. Such descriptions refer, not
to the collapse of the space-time world, but to startling and
“cosmically” significant events, e.g., the fall
of great empires (such as had happened in the past historical
period—Assyria, Babylon, Seleucia). Then would occur the
appearance of “the Son of Man”—a figure in
the history of Judaism of great significance. In the Book of
Daniel (chapters 2, 7, 9) there is startling Messianic prophecy
of the appearance of a heavenly figure, who would overthrow
and destroy the kingdoms of the world. It was this prophecy,
“more than anything else, which incited the Jews to revolt
against the Romans” in the period 66-73. (On this see
Josephus, Wars, 6.312ff.) This period saw the destruction of
the Jewish Temple, the scattering of Christians from Palestine,
and the heralding of the gospel throughout the known world.
In predicting the destruction of the Temple, Jesus regarded
himself as having authority over the Temple. His coming in clouds
with power and great glory—language reminiscient of the
Old Testament description of the presence and power of God—gave
basis to his assertion that his words would never pass away.
Only a divine being could validate such a claim.
But the other question, when will this happen? This has intrigued
readers of the Scriptures for centuries. We still try to discover
the answer. In recent centuries there have been figures such
as William Miller, Judge Rutherford, John Nelson Darby (and
a host of followers). I recall a pamphlet published recently,
entitled, 88 Reasons Why Christ Will Come in 1988 (it sold a
few thousand copies). The same writer tried again, 89 Reasons
Why Christ Will Come in 1989 (just a few sold). In our text,
Jesus was quite specific, stating, “But about that day
or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). In other words,
let us cease from our speculations, for the time is a secret
known only to God. The Father has set such time within his own
authority, and it is not for anyone else to know (Acts 1:7).
That great Day of the Lord, spoken of so often by the Prophets
(from Isaiah to Malachi), will eventually appear. Our Lord confirms
this truth, and we must be satisfied with his answer.
But where does that leave us? As we move from one historical
period to another, and as the centuries pass along, we are to
carry out the commission left to the Church by our Lord (Matthew
28:18-20). We are to be occupied with that task during our lifetime.
Four times in this final section (Mark 13:33-37) Jesus commanded
his disciples to “keep alert,” “be on the
watch,” and (twice) “keep awake.” The first
word means “to chase away sleep”; the others to
be watchful, be on guard, and to be awake. As we hear his words
of instruction, let us be occupied with the task he has given,
to be witnesses of the good news of the love of God for humanity,
of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus, and to run the race with
watchfulness.
Rev. Dr. Walter M. Dunnett
Assistant Rector, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Glen Ellyn IL
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