I felt a little bit like Orson Wells must have felt when his broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' was aired and he scared everyone! When I realize that Nellie thought there had been another earthquake in Chili yesterday I realized I had to make my re-posting a little more obvious than just titling it 'Thoughts From This Time Last Year!" Tuesdays are kind of crazy so I may occasionally re-post something from the past on those days. This post is the second part of the one from yesterday.
The other day I wrote this post and thought that I might like to add something again today. Over my life from time to time I have heard people discussing the Second Coming of Christ and how scary it is. I have heard people say I am not ready yet to give up life as we know it, I still want to see my children grow up and have children of their own, or do thus and such first.
I have always found that a little perplexing. Why Scary? I guess if they really analyzed it what they mean is the things leading up to it will be scary. We do see evidence of that for sure. But if our heart is in the right place it will be a great day...not just dreadful. Through prophesy we know that no one except our Father in Heaven knows when this will occur, but the Lord has given us enough scriptural information to know ~ the time is at hand. We are truly Saturday's warriors living in the last days of the earth, as we know it. All we need to do is look around to realize things are accelerating and Satan is having his field day right now.
But we know that when He comes again there will be a thousand years of no sin, with peace, perfect health, no death, etc. How can we not want to say, "Hasten the Day!" If we have prepared ourselves by adding a little oil each day we should not fear.
Anyone who has held and loved a perfectly innocent baby that is seriously ill in their arms will want that day to come sooner than later! Anyone that has felt the ravages of war, or been the victim of a crime, or suffered in any number of ways should want to see Him return, and soon. If we are converted to Christ we will know Him when we see Him return and we will be filled with immense joy.
Gospel scholars often speak of something being a 'type and an image' of Christ. An example would be when we are baptized it is a 'type and an image' of Christ's death and resurrection. I am not a gospel scholar in the time honored sense, by any means, but I had this thought while pondering and praying a few years ago and to me it is true.
This is a painting of Jesus comforting his mother
but I see it as the way He will comfort
us all when we return to His presence.
Isn't everyone going to be present for the second coming? We may not be standing on the earth when THE Second Coming of Christ occurs but we will all have our own opportunity to experience it when we pass from this life to the next. Will our return not be our own personal 2nd coming when we see Him again?
Just like we fear the events leading to the Second Coming of Christ like natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, escalating crime, heartlessness, etc... we can definitely fear the approach to our own personal second coming. We should not fear our passing, but I think it is human to have some fear about what we will need to pass through to get there. Our death itself will be sweet, but the road may be rocky getting there with terrible illness, pain, suffering or whatever. Just like the Second Coming we do not know when it will occur. Only God is in charge of that. I just personally see a lot of similarities between the two events.
So my point here is that we should all be getting ready for the Second Coming, the big one and the smaller one. Because whichever one we do experience, we will experience one of them. And we should travel the same road in preparation for both. By staying on the path to the tree of life through our faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ we need not fear. We just add a little oil everyday and we will be protected.
Isn't that why we are constantly being reminded to study ponder and pray? Isn't that why we attend church, serve others and try to become more like Christ in word and deed? This is the time to prepare to meet God. When the need arises, the time for preparation is past. Step by step, day by day we can be ready and waiting for His return. And I love knowing how this story will end (although not really end, right?)~Christ will be victorious and the righteous will be with Him forever. We will be given all that He has by His grace, for doing so little in return. That is the definition of an endowment, receiving a lot by committing to a little. And that is why we do go forward with a perfect brightness of hope, laying all fears at the feet of the Savior.
The art work on this page contains the paintings of Liz Lemon Swindle, an artist I love for her amazing interruptions of the events of the Life of the Savior. Her work can be viewed here: Many of her paintings are for sale and they are magnificent when seen in person.
The other day I wrote this post and thought that I might like to add something again today. Over my life from time to time I have heard people discussing the Second Coming of Christ and how scary it is. I have heard people say I am not ready yet to give up life as we know it, I still want to see my children grow up and have children of their own, or do thus and such first.
I have always found that a little perplexing. Why Scary? I guess if they really analyzed it what they mean is the things leading up to it will be scary. We do see evidence of that for sure. But if our heart is in the right place it will be a great day...not just dreadful. Through prophesy we know that no one except our Father in Heaven knows when this will occur, but the Lord has given us enough scriptural information to know ~ the time is at hand. We are truly Saturday's warriors living in the last days of the earth, as we know it. All we need to do is look around to realize things are accelerating and Satan is having his field day right now.
But we know that when He comes again there will be a thousand years of no sin, with peace, perfect health, no death, etc. How can we not want to say, "Hasten the Day!" If we have prepared ourselves by adding a little oil each day we should not fear.
Anyone who has held and loved a perfectly innocent baby that is seriously ill in their arms will want that day to come sooner than later! Anyone that has felt the ravages of war, or been the victim of a crime, or suffered in any number of ways should want to see Him return, and soon. If we are converted to Christ we will know Him when we see Him return and we will be filled with immense joy.
Gospel scholars often speak of something being a 'type and an image' of Christ. An example would be when we are baptized it is a 'type and an image' of Christ's death and resurrection. I am not a gospel scholar in the time honored sense, by any means, but I had this thought while pondering and praying a few years ago and to me it is true.
This is a painting of Jesus comforting his motherbut I see it as the way He will comfort
us all when we return to His presence.
Just like we fear the events leading to the Second Coming of Christ like natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, escalating crime, heartlessness, etc... we can definitely fear the approach to our own personal second coming. We should not fear our passing, but I think it is human to have some fear about what we will need to pass through to get there. Our death itself will be sweet, but the road may be rocky getting there with terrible illness, pain, suffering or whatever. Just like the Second Coming we do not know when it will occur. Only God is in charge of that. I just personally see a lot of similarities between the two events.
So my point here is that we should all be getting ready for the Second Coming, the big one and the smaller one. Because whichever one we do experience, we will experience one of them. And we should travel the same road in preparation for both. By staying on the path to the tree of life through our faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ we need not fear. We just add a little oil everyday and we will be protected.
Isn't that why we are constantly being reminded to study ponder and pray? Isn't that why we attend church, serve others and try to become more like Christ in word and deed? This is the time to prepare to meet God. When the need arises, the time for preparation is past. Step by step, day by day we can be ready and waiting for His return. And I love knowing how this story will end (although not really end, right?)~Christ will be victorious and the righteous will be with Him forever. We will be given all that He has by His grace, for doing so little in return. That is the definition of an endowment, receiving a lot by committing to a little. And that is why we do go forward with a perfect brightness of hope, laying all fears at the feet of the Savior.
The art work on this page contains the paintings of Liz Lemon Swindle, an artist I love for her amazing interruptions of the events of the Life of the Savior. Her work can be viewed here: Many of her paintings are for sale and they are magnificent when seen in person.
4 comments:
That is a great post. I am so hopeful that we are in the winding up scenes and can't help but wonder when I see what is going on in the Middle East. I personally hope for it sooner rather than later. Wouldn't it be wonderful if what we are living through is the worst of it. I can't imagine things getting much worse than this, but of course, there seem to be no limits on how far humanity can sink. Also, thankfully, no limits on how far we can soar to help one another. I"m so tired of all the excess in all departments. I'm ready for Christ to reign on the Earth. I can't even fathom how great it would be to live under His rule. I left some comments on your past blogs, if you want to check them out. The crust for the fruit pizza was just a store bought sugar cookie dough, but make sure you use a pan with a rim. We didn't and the cookie dough raised and dripped off the sides of our pizza dish while in the oven, making a huge mess and stinking the house to high heaven!
You are being a great missionary Bonnie! Good for you! I just read an article in Forbes magazine that Tanner sent me that was about Clayton Christensen (he visited our Stake a few years ago). It was very cool how in this article that I'm sure they intended to be about his research and health issues - he kept referring to his spiritual experiences and the Church and his relationship with God. Didn't hold back at all for the lay audience that would read it - I love it! You do the same thing and I think that is awesome.
I have been so waiting for the LORD since I was in college back in 1972. I had started reading books on Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, and have been so drawn to our LORD!
What's so amazing to me is when the LORD reigns for 1,000 years and we with Him, that there will be mortal men and us, immortals with our changed bodies ruling with Christ!
I can't understand how mankind at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ, will still refuse His Personage and the witness of us who have been change to immortality!
I am so glad my LORD has saved me and I belong to Him! For One Day all of our tears will be wiped away by His very own fingers and we will enter Eternity with a JOY that only our new immortal bodies can understand. O, for that Day!
Love and hugs to you and yours,
Susan
Another beautiful repost Bonnie. I was sitting here thinking this morning that I probably, if I am lucky, have about 20 to 25 years left in this lifetime of mine, but then again I could only have 2 days left. None of us know for sure. All we can do is to make sure that we make the best out of each and every day and fill our lamps with oil continuously. I send love and hugs. XXOO
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