Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2021]

In his 1953 play “Waiting for Godot”, Samuel Beckett introduces his two principal characters, Vladimir and Estragon. These are men of mature years who have fallen upon hard times, but they have heard that a benefactor by the name of Godot can restore their fortunes. The play describes the feelings and experiences of the two men as they wait to meet up with Godot, who never actually arrives. Beckett himself denied any religious connotations in his plot but many commentators have likened both the name and the unsatisfied wait to the experience of those who are waiting for Jesus to return and fix everything.

The return of Jesus is no longer regarded with such a high degree of anticipation as it once was. One common argument states “It’s been 2,000 years; if he hasn’t come yet then he’s not coming at all” but the counter argument “It’s been 2,000 years; the appointed date must be getting closer” must surely carry more weight, at least with those who believe His promise.

We concluded our previous reflection with a quotation from the prophet Malachi. Reading further in the prophecy shows that the day to which it refers will bring destruction to those who disdain the worship of the Almighty God but healing to those who revere His name. The final verses state that Elijah will come to give a final warning.

But Elijah had already come and gone. To whom do these verses refer? In Matthew 11, Jesus explains that John the Baptist had come to repeat Elijah’s warnings and to act as a forerunner of his own ministry. During that ministry Jesus spoke of his own second coming; he did not spell out when it will be but he described the circumstances:

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. … It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. [Luke 17 v26-27, 30 NIVUK]

So what do we know about the days of Noah? Adam’s two sons, Cain and Seth, had claimed land, built cities and established their own dynasties. The flood occurred during the 1656th year after the birth of Adam; Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, died aged 969 in the same year. Male life-expectancy in the 11 generations prior to the flood averaged 828 years, it was 263 years afterwards. More significant is this summary:

The [population of the] earth was corrupt [absolutely depraved—spiritually and morally putrid] in God’s sight, and the land was filled with violence [desecration, infringement, outrage, assault, and lust for power]. God looked on the earth and saw how debased and degenerate it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way on the earth and lost their true direction. [Genesis 6 v 11-12 AMP]

Do we recognise certain similarities with our own times? Might we be in the last days before Christ returns? I suspect that many generations of God’s people have thought the same. In the 1840s the followers of Baptist preacher William Miller were convinced that they knew the date, and prepared accordingly. They were wrong, but sooner or later one generation is going to be proved right, and it could well be our own. Jesus offers the following advice:

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. [Luke 12 v40 NIVUK]

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