Today’s Scripture Reading (September
29, 2015): Numbers 18
If you are
reading this, then I guess the world didn’t end last night. According to some
it was supposed to be all over, at least according to some adherents of the
Four Blood Moons prophecy. I know that there will be some out there proclaiming
that something significant did happen, it is just going to take us a while to
catch up with it.
The prophecy
is tied to the book of Joel in the Old Testament which says that “The sun
will be turned to darkness and
the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Joel 2:31). A blood moon happens at the
eclipse of the moon and last night’s Blood Moon was the fourth Blood moon in a
row to appear on a significant Jewish holiday (There were blood moons during
the past two Passovers and two during the Sukkot [The Feast of Booths or
Tabernacles], the last of which occurred last night during the first day of the
feast.) While an interesting occurrence, and maybe slightly rare, Judaism is a
faith that measures its holy days by the movement of the moon, so four blood
moons is not an unheard of event throughout history. Many have proclaimed messages
about the significance of last night’s event, while others have cried out about
the dangers of such prophecies – and I tend to side with the ones who are proclaiming
danger.
But then, I
have a problem with prophecy. I get that we all want to know what comes next
for all of us who live on this blue marble. I understand that we would all like
to be able to tie into the next big financial collapse or, even more importantly,
the end of the world, with our own personal plans, but it doesn’t work that
way. Jesus himself told us that “about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). Jesus actually
borrowed the phrase from a belief about creation. The phrase, which Jesus
applies to the end, was coined to describe the beginning – no one knows the day
or the hour that the world was made (although this one simple fact has not stopped
us from trying to figure it out. If you are interested and believe in a young
earth, Archbishop James Ussher came up with the date October 23, 4004 B.C.E. at
6:00 p.m. – not sure which time zone. I wonder if anyone has made up the
tombstone yet – In Loving Memory of the Earth, October 23, 4004 B.C.E –
September 28, 2015 C.E. She had a long and fulfilling life. Ah, but I digress.)
The problem with prophecy is that it turns our focus toward an earthly
reality and an earthly inheritance. As a believer in the Christian belief in
the “Priesthood of all Believers” I take God’s word to the Levites very
personally. And God words clearly say that we were not to have any inheritance
in the land. God will be your share. God will be your portion. What that means
is that we, as the priesthood of believers, find our hope and our security –
our inheritance – in God. And if we really believe that, then this prophecy
game really doesn’t matter. We find our fulfillment only in him, and not in
knowing what comes next. What that means is that God holds our now, and our
tomorrow. Both are precious, but they are also both safe in his hands. And
therefore we live each moment of this life in the eternal now, trusting God for
everything that the future might hold.
One more note: We know that this world will end. Maybe not last night,
but sometime. But we who understand that God is our provision don’t have to
fear that. We can trust the one who holds tomorrow - even with the end of the
world.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers
19
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