A Second Run-In

I ran into Thomas again last weekend. If you haven’t heard about my previous run-in, see the post below. I thought I would be able to walk by Thomas again without being noticed, but he spotted me out. Bummer. His message: “Only 14 days left, man.” I said just one thing in response, “Actually Thomas, Jesus tells me that the judgment is tonight.” Thomas: “You’re going to fry for that, man. May 21st, you’re going to fry.”

Thomas didn’t realize that my comment was actually straight from Jesus’ parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:20: “This very night your life is being demanded of you.” I explained the comment to him, but he wasn’t listening. I learned from my previous encounter that this is how Thomas works: all talking, no listening. I didn’t spend much time there, just enough to say that he should read Luke 12.

Last time I came across Thomas, it got me thinking about the error of detaching God’s Spirit from God’s Word. This time, I was more frustrated by the fact that Thomas’ enthusiasm actually has the opposite effect of what he’s intending. Most people see quite clearly that Thomas is wrong, and then they assume that all talk about judgment is equally bogus. This plugs their ears to the true call of Christ to repent and be prepared “for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Luke 12:40)

I was left to wonder: If we don’t have the specific date of the Last Day, then how do we not engender laxity? We can’t fall into the error of the enthusiasts, who try to set a date by separating the Spirit from the Word. But nor can we fall into the error of saying there is no Last Day and no judgment.

So what is the Christian message regarding the Last Day? It has many parts, but I’m going to focus on two. First, that Day will come like a thief in the night. No one knows the exact date, not even the Son. The take-home point? Repent, set your faith and hope on Christ, love one another fervently, and be prepared. That’s the first part.

Second, the Day of Judgment hangs over our heads at every moment of our lives. The parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21) remains true: “This very night your life is being demanded of you.” The Last Day is not just some day down the road, but the Day on which all temporal history is taken up into eternity and judged by God. That’s why Jesus doesn’t say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven will be here in 14 days,” but, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

It is this day and this life that God judges on the Last Day. That – and not because we’ve pinpointed a date – is why the call to repentance and faith is urgent. Judgment is not merely a future event that we can afford to ignore for now, so long as we get serious when we know that it’s really coming. Because every moment of our lives is taken up into eternity and judged, it’s just plain stupid to postpone repentance.

So we don’t set a date, but nor do we ignore the call of Christ to repent. In contrast to these two errors, the Christian life is to be lived in light of the Last Day. With Christ as our foundation, we are to be building our lives on Him. (1 Cor. 3) When this temporal world is taken up into the eternal Kingdom of God, “the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.” (1 Cor. 3:13) Neither setting dates nor living in laxity, but faithfully building our lives on Christ as that Day draws near: that is how Christianity is to be lived and proclaimed.

I’m tempted to go find Thomas again. Love hopes all things, right?