Let the celebration begin. Millennialism is on its long fast slide down.
Ever since Hal Lindsey's book in 1967, "The Late Great Planet Earth"
inspired by Israel's "Lightning War," tens of millions of Christians
have been waiting for the return of Christ to Jerusalem. Lindsey sold more
than 25 million copies.
Guess what? Jesus didn't return and its 2002! Oh where, oh where, can Jesus
be?
In comparison with today's not so wise men, 2000 years ago we can read
about real Wisemen in Matthew 2: 1-12. The real Wisemen had a star to follow
and they had a real text from the Bible. Psalm 119:160 states:"Thy word
is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth
for ever."
The millennialists today have no text, no star, no Wisemen, no Jesus ruling
in Jerusalem, and they came up short. The real Wisemen first went to Jerusalem
and then found the real Christ. The millennalists haven't found anything.
I noticed a huge stack of the "Left Behind" books discounted at
Sam's Club. It look's like all the millennialists have been left behind.
Of course, the millennialists will not admit defeat, they will just pick
another date, but there won't be another date as hot at 2000 or 2001 for
another 1000 years!
The axiom is: Wisemen follow the Bible, but fools follow their own
fantasies.
When the Wisemen said they came to worship the Christ, Herod and all
Jerusalem were troubled. This is because the clergy, tradition, and human
institutions had replaced the true worship of Christ with themselves.
Luther writes: "Apart from faith, all doctrine and life separate and
disunite mankind. The formation of sects is the inevitable result, even though
there may be only two persons in a house." LW13:7
They all saw the star. The Wisemen were not delusional. The greatest
scholars in Jerusalem, a city of nearly 250,000, checked the text, and told
Herod Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. By the Word of God and the
miraculous star the Wisemen traveled more than 1000 miles but Herod and the
clergy wouldn't go 5 more miles to Bethlehem.
Christ is to be worshipped not to be an earthly king like Herod and today's
milliennialists all believe.
One of the signs that expose those who hate God is that they hate true
worship. Herod and Jerusalem wouldn't worship Christ. They didn't feel any sin
or the need to seek grace. To seek true worship in Christ alone is to seek
release from the power of sin, which controls, consumes, and condemns all
humanity.
I expect that I will hear supposedly devout Christians tell me the rest of
my life that they can worship Christ in their own heart. What was wrong with
those Wisemen? Why didn't the Wisemen just worship Christ in their own hearts
instead of traveling over 1000 miles?
The texts of the Bible gave the Wisemen faith in Christ before they
traveled to see Him in Jerusalem. The texts of the Bible have given us faith
in Christ before we see him in the New Jerusalem, but we have miles to go
before we rest.
Before Christ returns again, conditions in the so-called church on earth
may be the same as they were in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. When the so-called
church hears of Christ's return, it will be as troubled as Herod and Jerusalem
at the news of His first coming.
Today's wisdom follows the polls. At the time of Herod, 99.9% of the
population was trouble by the news of the Gospel, which means by today's
standards the Wisemen must be wrong. Actually, the Gospel troubles the people
who are going to hell. However, the Wisemen were overjoyed when they found the
Christ, their Savior, and received forgiveness from their sins from Him.
"Faith neither knows nor wants to know whither, how far, how long, or
through what. When God reigns in us through faith, when we unconcernedly
follow Him, when we let Him hover over us and lead us, . . . all this is the
work of the Gospel." Luther's Works 13:6
The following is a collection of Luther's thoughts and prayers about the
Wisemen from Luther's Works Vol.10 pages 116-121.
"Oh, God in heaven, we have come a long way but there is such a long
road yet ahead of us. It is hard and lonely. Don't let us lose our path. Keep
your truth ever before us. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
blood of our Savior? Nourish our weary souls. Quench our thirsting spirits.
Open the gates of Your city to us. Mercifully greet us, life-long wanderers,
with Your waiting arms when we at last come to Your palace in Jerusalem
above."