Predicting the Future

The scriptures referred to are Hebrews 10:11-25 and Mark 13:1-8.

When the TV series Doctor Who was created nearly 60 years ago, it was supposed to be a family show which was to educate as well as entertain. This was evident by the fact that the Doctor's first 2 human companions were a science teacher and a history teacher. And whenever they traveled into the future, the series was supposed to tell its viewers a bit about science; when it went to the past, it was supposed to reveal a bit about history. That idea didn't last very long. People preferred monsters and aliens. When the current showrunner Chris Chibnall introduces figures from the past, like Rosa Parks, or looks into a future where global warming is unchecked, people have objected to any attempt for the show to do anything but entertain them. That's weird because science fiction should introduce you to new ideas and perspectives and possibilities.

I gotta admit if I had a time machine like the TARDIS, I'd spend most of my time in the past. Half of my Great Courses are on some aspect of history, like the histories of Biblical Israel, medicine, Byzantium, forensics, the papacy, espionage, Roman emperors, the church, myths, war and how the average person lived in various periods of the past. I am fascinated by how our current world came about. What changed Benjamin Franklin's views to the point that he went from being the owner of 4 slaves to being the head of the first antislavery society in the US? Why did war come so late to Uruk, the leading city of the Sumerian civilization? Why did Cardinal Richelieu, the French First Minister, prefer to hire British spies? Wouldn't it be fun to find out?

While I like all science fiction, the futures its writers predict seldom come true. They are good at predicting technologies, like smart phones which are an awful lot like the pocket-sized voice-activated personal computer shown in the British series Star Cops. Star Trek accurately foresaw that you could bring down societies run by computers. In fact, science fiction is much better at predicting dystopias than utopias. George Orwell's 1984 and its surveillance state seems to be the template for certain present day dictatorships. And the military is a bit too fond of AI to make things like 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project and 1983's Wargames look as outdated as the quaint 1964 movie version of H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon. Maybe that's because while technology changes a lot, human nature does not. Knowledge of history teaches us that.

Skeptics feel that Mark 13, and its parallels in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, must be fiction. How could Jesus possibly predict that the temple built by Herod would be destroyed or that Jerusalem would be besieged by Rome (Luke 21:20, 24)? Uh...because it happened before, at the hands of a different empire, the Babylonians? Because his country was a hotbed of hatred for the Roman empire? Because he knew one of his own disciples, Simon, used to be a Zealot, one of the terrorists dedicated to ending the Roman occupation? Because Jesus grew up just 4 miles from Sepphoris, a city which revolted after the death of Herod the Great and was destroyed by the Romans, who crucified all the men in the city?

Jesus didn't have to be psychic to predict the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple; he'd have to be an idiot not to realize that it was both possible and, given the political climate of the time, probable. Indeed Jesus withdrew himself from the 5000 he'd fed precisely because he knew they wanted to make him king by force. (John 6:15) Despite his teachings of turning the other cheek and loving your enemies (Matthew 5:38-45), Jesus knew they would want him to lead them against the Romans because the popular idea of the Messiah was that of a holy warrior like King David.

Jesus also knew that his followers would be only too likely to see the the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple and their own persecution and slaughter as THE end of the world. So he starts out by telling them to keep calm. Yes, things will get bad. There will be wars and disasters and cults built around false messiahs. Don't be alarmed. “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

I find Jesus' use of the term “birth pangs” interesting. First, as anyone who has given birth or was there for a loved one going through labor, you know that it usually lasts a long time. The average is 14 hours if you have given birth before. Yet I know someone who was in labor for 20 hours with each child she had. Even so, it can seem like an eternity to those undergoing it. Jesus' point is: don't act like the father in a sitcom who goes crazy when his wife begins labor. Get a grip. It's going to take a while.

But the other important thing about using the image of labor pains is that the expected result is the birth of a new person. And at the end of the birth pangs the world will suffer is a new creation. It seems like most people reading apocalyptic passages in the Bible, and especially the book of Revelation, want to stop and gawk at the train wreck of disasters mentioned. But the whole point is that the God who created the world we've wrecked will create a new heaven and earth, populated by people who are new creations in Christ. Remember, our message is not doom and gloom but ultimately good news, the gospel of what Jesus has done for us and what, through his Spirit, he is doing in us.

And he does it, as Hebrews tells us, “by the new and living way...” New in what way? We keep trying to bring about a better world the old way, the way of fighting and war and trying to impose control upon others from the outside. You couldn't find a better spokesman for this way than General George Patton, who said, “No dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country . He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Right now there are 40 wars going on around this planet, all following that logic. The old way doesn't seem to be working. We keep using force and spilling blood to get and maintain control over people as if that will miraculously not lead to more resistance and more force being used and more blood being spilled. So each side uses more and more force. And the foreseeable end result is an authoritarian state.

Contrast that with the Kingdom of God. It is established not by the old way of shedding the blood of others but “by the new and living way” of Jesus, who let his blood be shed once and for all. Nor is his kingdom imposed on anyone by conquest or by accident of where you are born. All its citizens are voluntary. And the control does not come from without but comes from within: from his Holy Spirit living in us. Quoting Jeremiah 31:33, our passage from Hebrews says, “This is my covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” The law is not arbitrary rules but the law of love, love for God and love for others. (Mark 12:29-31) More specifically, the law is Jesus' command to love each other as he loves us. (John 13:34) But we can't do that without the transforming power of the Spirit of Christ in us. (John 15:5) And if we let God's Spirit into our hearts and minds the natural result is love, along with joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Since that is what God's Spirit in us produces, when things do get bad, followers of Jesus do not become warriors. We are not to draw the sword or fight. (Matthew 26:52; John 18:36) We are not to judge or execute God's judgment on others. (Matthew 7:1) That's Jesus' job. (John 5:22, 27) Jesus calls us instead to be witnesses to him and to the gospel, and if necessary, martyrs. (Mark 13:9-11) Rather than fight, we are to treat the wounded in this world, the destitute, disabled, despised and disadvantaged, as we would Jesus. (Matthew 25:31-40) This is part of being a new creation in Christ.

There are plenty of adherents to the old way of getting people to do things by force and intimidation. This probably goes back to prehistory but by the Neolithic era we actually start finding clear depictions of war and evidence of walled cities and weapons used for war, not hunting. It is estimated that since 3500 BC there have been 14,500 wars, taking at the very least 1.2 billion lives. In over 5500 years of civilization, there have been only 300 years of peace. Maybe we need to rethink our methods.

And that's what Jesus offers. First, he heals the breech between God and us by taking on our sin and in essence letting our old sinful self be crucified and buried with him. Then by giving us new life, his life, we are able to face God and draw closer to him. (Romans 6:4-11) As our passage from Hebrews says, “...let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Being reconciled to God leads to our reconciling with other people, who were created in God's image. We do this by asking them for forgiveness for the ways we have wronged them and giving forgiveness for the ways they have wronged us. Few of the conflicts in the world are one-sided. Even if one side started it, over time retaliation and escalation result in harm being done to people on either side by both sides. And this gives everyone the excuse of trying to fix the blame, rather than trying to fix the problems.

Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry discovered that science fiction can offer insights into real world issues. And in Doctor Who, the title character, mediating a conflict between aliens and humans, utters this truth about conflict and war: “...it's always the same. When you fire the first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill...before everyone does what they were ALWAYS going to have to do from the very beginning! SIT. DOWN. AND. TALK.”

The Doctor goes on to say, “The only way anyone can live in peace is if they're prepared to forgive. Why don't you break the cycle?” That's from an episode that first aired in 2015. God has been trying to talk to us and tell us that for millennia through his Word. He says in Isaiah, “'Come, let's reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins have stained you scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'” (Isaiah 1:18) God is reasonable and willing to forgive us.

And he has taken the first step by not only communicating to us through his Living Word, Jesus Christ, but by ending the cycle of bloodshed through his Son's sacrifice. God Incarnate has taken upon himself the consequences of all our wrongdoing, ending their impact on our relationship with him. As Hebrews says, quoting Jeremiah 31:34, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” We can start with a clean slate. God has let go of the wrongs we have done. Can we do that with each other?

Our hope is founded in what Jesus has done for us and is doing in us. As Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” We trust in the promise of God's love and forgiveness and that gives us a solid basis for our hope.

So how should we respond to this good news? By sharing it. By sharing it with a world mired in the old way of dealing with problems, through force and harming others. By sharing it in the face of those who rely on force and wish to harm us. (Mark 13:9-13)

In a world rife with hate and bad deeds, doing the opposite is an powerful witness to the God who is love. Hebrews says,“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.” And since showing how love and good deeds make things better requires other people committed to doing the same, Hebrews reminds us that this means “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” The church is not optional for Christians. It is the community of those following Jesus, the body of Christ on earth, continuing his mission. It is not perfect which is why we are to “provoke one another to love and good deeds.” Doing such things is powerful and powerful behavior is contagious. We see that when we see a powerful example of people behaving badly. Mobs of other join in. Let us be part of God's counter-movement, displaying powerful examples of Christlike love and goodness.

We are called, not to be fighting others “but encouraging one another.” This world can get discouraging and if we try to tackle it alone, we can be overwhelmed and disheartened. But working together to spread the good news of Jesus in both word and deed is encouraging. And both we and the world need the encouragement of the love and forgiveness Jesus offers. “...and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Only God knows on which day all who ever will accept his grace and love will have done so, and when it will be time for this world destroying itself by its commitment to doing things the old way to be replaced by the birth of the new heaven and earth. That's why Jesus tells us, “But as for that day or hour no one knows it—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father.” (Mark 13:32) Not even Jesus, during his time on earth, knew. So we are not to try to concoct time tables or elaborate charts of all the Bible passages about the end of the world to work out a future no one but God knows. The followers of William Miller thought they knew Jesus would return: October 22, 1844. The day after was called the Great Disappointment.

Instead of going down the rabbit hole of predicting the end of the world, Jesus tells us, “Who then is the wise and faithful servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other servants their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom the master finds at work when he comes.” (Matthew 24:45-46) We can neither discover, nor hasten, nor delay the day Jesus returns. We can carry out the mission he gave us: “...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20) And never forget that his primary command is to love one another as he loves us. (John 13:34-35) Which may sound inadequate when facing a world at war with itself, but Jesus says, “...remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So he is with us, no matter what. Jesus also said, “I have told you these things so that in me you will have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Taking comfort from his presence with us, and courage from his power in us, we can say, with Paul, “I can do all things through the one who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)