Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 1:1-28; 1 Peter 1:1-12
“Now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written for you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, `Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)
It must be part of human nature to search and inquire; wanting to know the times of the things God has set in motion. But quite often it is not given us to know when something is to happen. And this can be downright frustrating at times. If we knew when a thief is coming to try and break in and steal our stuff, we could prepare and take the necessary precautions. (Matthew 24:43), but we are not given by God to know such things.
Having had nine children, it sure would have been nice to know when each baby would be born, so as to plan for it. And even though the doctors gave a due date for the expected arrival of each infant, wouldn’t you know that not a single one of these children of mine cooperated. Instead, usually at the most inconvenient times, the labor pains would begin suddenly for my wife, and we would have to rearrange our plans accordingly.
It is the same way with the date of Judgment Day. We would like to know when Jesus is coming back to take us from this valley of tears and sorrows to be with Himself forevermore in heaven. We want to think optimistically that if we did know, this would motivate us to work toward a goal to be accomplished by that deadline. But God doesn’t want things that way. It’s not our goal to set, nor our plan to make. It is the LORD’s.
Many have tried to predict from the scriptures the date of the Last Day, but all of their efforts proved to be utter foolishness. The disciples themselves begged for Jesus to let them know when He would return to usher in His kingdom in full. But it was not for them to know, either (Acts 1:6-7). In fact, as astonishing as this may seem, even Jesus Himself, the very Son of God, did not know when that day would be! (Matthew 24:36)
Jesus tells us simply that He does not know the day or hour. Jesus knows the laziness of our flesh, how we are tempted to put off studying or projects until the last minute. If we knew the date of that Day, we would have little urgency until it approached.
But not knowing the hour of His return, we are ever-ready, always in a state of preparedness. And what readies and prepares us? His gospel Word, which proclaims us forgiven in Christ Jesus makes us ready for the Judgment. His acts of love in the sacraments give us eternal life and everlasting salvation to prepare us for Jesus to come and take us home to heaven. In Word and Sacrament we find our expectant hope where Jesus is.