2000 years of last days

A Quick Guide to End-Times Fever

In the early days

Christians thought Jesus

was coming back

any minute.

But time wore on.

How much longer would it

take?

Everyone knew For Sure

that start to finish

the world would last

6000 years

So someone needed to count the

years

back to Creation.

Dthen do the math!

YEAR

Jesus would be back500 years

after his birth!

But before long

a new Roman emperor

decided he disliked

Christians.

A lot.

He killed

and tortured

so many of them,

they were sure it

had to be

THE TRIBULATION.

After nine terrible years,

out of nowhere,

a new emperor

emerged.

c o n s t a n t i n e

He said the God of the Christians helped him

win.

So being a Christian was fine.

Better than fine. . . They

were Bankrolled!

It must not be The Tribulation

after all!

It must be

THE

MILLENIUM.

Maybe Jesus should

wait.

Then a horde of

barbarians poured out of

the east.

They sacked the city of

Rome.

For 800 years

Rome

had ruled the

world

If Rome could fall

Jesus MUST be coming back.

And Soon.

A bishop named Augustine

said

Not So Fast

Stop paying so much attention to

current events

or worrying about the powers-that-

be

Focus on the Reign of God for a

change.

OK, they said.

But how much longer will

it be?

He must be coming in the

year

1000!

. . . or not

In the late 1100’s Joachim

of Fiore devoted his life to

studying

The Revelation of John.

He had a chart!

He predicted that by 1260 A.D.

The antichrist would come to power

and the Tribulation would begin.

But afterwards people would

get

drenched in the Holy Spirit.

Then Jesus would come

back!

He told Richard-the-Lion-

Hearted that

a 3rd Crusade was a great idea.

Jesus might come back sooner

if the Crusaders could just

retake Jerusalem!

Later, Columbus studied the

Bible.

He decided Joachim had been

right.

The Age of the Spirit was

underway.

Jesus was coming back in 1656!

But there were prophecies to

fulfill first.

Unbelievers to convert

Jerusalem to

retake

Missionaries needed a short

cut.

Crusaders needed money.

Columbus sailed west to find

both.

And ran into the New World.

The Puritans went to the New

World too.

It seemed like a good place for

God to live! The New Jerusalem!

Why shouldn’t Jesus move Jerusalem to

America?

Especially if they whipped it into shape first.

Jerusalem

.

Later, spiritual renewal

poured over New England.

When it kept pouring they

called it

The Great Awakening.

The Millenium of peace and love was on its way!

And Jesus would be right behind!

One-hundred years later,

the Second Great

Awakening

jump-started everything

again.

If the church would just get busy

the Millennium could arrive in three

years!

Then Jesus would finally come.

Anti-Slavery The Rights of

WomenPrison Reform

Missions

And lots

of good stuff.

Christians got

busy.

They worked

for

But after the Civil War

they felt tired.

All their hard work

hadn’t fixed the world

after all.

Then they discovered John Nelson

Darby,

a former Irish-Anglican priest

with new ideas about the

Second Coming.

He said things wouldn’t keep gettingbetter and better until Jesus came back.

They’d get worse and worse.

But not to worry.

Jesus would come and rapture the

believers out before it got too

bad.

Then bring them back seven years

later

for the good part.

Christians weren’t so sure.

In 1900 years they’d never

heard of

Jesus coming twice in seven

years.

Or a secret-rescue-rapture.

But they liked how the

Darbyites talked so much

about the bible.

And the way they could show how bad

news like drought

influenza epidemicsthe Titanic sinking

meant Jesus was coming

soon.

By World War II nearly everyone who

expected Jesus

to come again was a Darbyite.

Even though most had never heard of him.

In 1948 when the U.N. created the State of

Israel

they all knew For Sure

that there was only one more generation to

go before

The End.

 

1981

?

1982

?

1988

?

1994

?

2000

?

2011

?

2015

?

Christians believe that someday

God will bring the world to an

end

When he does,

Goodness will have the final word.

On that Day,

Jesus will return to bring justice to the whole

world.

He will set to rights all the wrongs of history.

He will transform creation and reign with

love.

 

Though we see how our

efforts

to bring his kingdom

keep falling short,

We believe God wants us to

keep our eyes on his

Beauty and his Promises

While we wait and work

for

Love,

Justice and

Mercy.

Until that Day when

He will wipe every tear from

their eyes, and there will be

no more

death or sorrow

or crying or pain.

Revelation 21:4(NLT)

And that’s what the last days are all about

©2015 The Rev. Barbara M. Russo

Definitions: The Millenniam - the era of peace and justice when Christ will reignThe Tribulation - the era of unrestrained evil under the antichrist The New Jerusalem – the renewed city of God where God’s healing presence will dwell with his peopleThe rapture – when Jesus will snatch believers out of the world to return with them later The antichrist – the dictator at the end of human history who will promise peace but make war and oppose Christ.The second coming – when Jesus arrives to meet believers in the air and establish his reignThe last days – all of history following the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ before the second coming

Picture Credits:

1. Ascension by Steve Erspamer, SM from Clip Art for Year A , published by Liturgy Training

Publications.

2. Earth and moon by Vitaly Smolygin:

http://publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=34457&picture=2&large=1

3. Space galaxy by Dawn Hudson

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=86463&picture=space-galaxy

4. Constantine © Androniques | Dreamstime.com

5. Rainbow by Barb Ver Sluis:

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=3180&picture=enhanced-rainbow

6. Sack of Rome. Karl Bruillov.

http://madamepickwickartblog.com/2011/02/fall-of-rome-when-the-world-was-young/

7. Mitoraj Head Sculpture: Krakow by Jon Berghoff

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/mitoraj-head-sculpture--krakow-jon-berghoff.html

8. Copper moon © David Woods | Dreamstime.com

9. Saint Augustine in His Study by Sandro Botticelli, 1494, Uffizi Gallery (public domain)

 

10. Candle light by Eloi Khan

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=44977&picture=candle-light

11. Joachim circles: "Liber Figurarum Tav 11" di Beppeveltri - Opera propria. Con licenza CC BY-SA 3.0

tramite Wikimedia Commons - https

://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liber_Figurarum_Tav_11.jpg#/media/File:Liber_Figurarum_Tav_11.jpg

12. "The Douce Apocalypse 21r - Oxford - Bodleian Library" by Unknown - Ingo F. Walther, Norbert Wolf:

Meisterwerke der Buchmalerei. Köln u.a., Taschen 2005, ISBN 3-8228-4747-X; p. 187. Licensed under

Public Domain via Commons -

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Douce_Apocalypse_21r_-_Oxford_-_Bodleian_Library.jpg#/

media/File:The_Douce_Apocalypse_21r_-_Oxford_-_Bodleian_Library.jpg

13. Pilgrim Photo © Polygraphus | Dreamstime.com

14. Rapture:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=rapture+christian&view=detailv2&qft=%2bfilterui%3aimagesize

-wallpaper&simid=608038288872440717&id=4809991EBDB5137CDA69F1B617E9B4EE20DFC045&sele

ctedIndex=28&ccid=wqLQzxAe&simid=608033847876192599&thid=JN.CLkigMzHB70%2bgnOG4%2f9s

2A&ajaxhist=0

15. Astronomical Clock in Prague by Rostislav Kralik

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=59628&picture=astronomical-clock&large

=1