PEOPLE GET READY!

O You Had Better Watch Out

This is the time of year when all parents have an ally in establishing their authority. I speak of course of the mysterious and ancient Northman in his red wizard’s cap who descends upon us flying through the skies from his cold and barren keep in the land of eternal night. He arrives swiftly and unseen; no barrier, no bolt or lock can hinder him in his mission to dispense justice. If you are good, you get rewarded, but if you are bad – you will be given a token of your sins – a chuck of black anthracite or a bundle of dry tree limbs! Beware these symbols for "they do convict ye of your sins!"

Don’t doubt it! The ancient texts confirm this. They are ominous and fearful in their apocalyptic warning – "O, you had better watch out! O, you had better not cry! You had better not pout, and I am telling you why! Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you are awake, he knows when you are bad or good so be good for goodness sake!"
These are the pleading words of the old prophet Gene Autry pleading with children to correct their ways before the night time approach of the wizened agent of justice. This annual judge who rains down blessings and curses – the first words of the text confirm it – "You had better watch out!"

In March or July warning a child that Santa is watching just doesn’t have much weight. But in December the threat of his arrival can leverage good behavior. I still get chills when I recall my grandmother warning us that if we didn’t improve our behavior very quickly then we could be certain that the long-bearded, red-suited agent of justice would deliver us a bag of switches and cornbread. (I never quite understood the cornbread part.) Perhaps you also recall such warnings?

Isn’t it strange that Santa, good ole Saint Nick, is still such a beloved figure after such a scary prediction of his coming? If you didn’t know anything about Santa and only had the words of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and the countless warnings of parents throughout the ages – wouldn’t Santa seem like a vengeful, fearful being? A powerful figure with an omniscient gaze; you do not want to entice his disfavor. Yet children aren’t that intimidated. They are hopeful and have great expectations of the morning after his arrival.

I find it even stranger and a little disappointing that we are less hopeful and optimistic about the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (And when you compare it to the arrival of jolly St. Nick it is by far the more substantial and important event worthy of anticipation, right?) There’s an irony in the comparison of the general anticipation of Christmas morning versus the general anticipation of Christ's return. Try as we might it is nearly impossible to make the arrival of Santa something terrifying. Yet, as hopeful and joyous as we ought to be in our anticipation of Christ’s return, it is often a thought that fills the hearts of even the most faithful believers with dread and worry. Consider the words of this popular church song – "Jesus is coming soon! Morning or night or noon! Many will meet their doom! Trumpets will sound!" Certainly the judgment of the Lord is a terrible thing, but too often when we speak of his imminent return it is all doom and little or nothing is said of his mercy and the hope that his return inspires.

Is that really all we can expect of the Day of the Lord? If it is such a fearful and frightening event, if it seems that the best thing to do when Christ returns is to hide, then why did the first century Christians long for his return? Why did they pray, "Come Soon Lord Jesus?" Why is that day hoped for as the day that dawns when "the morning star rises in our hearts?" (2 Peter 1:19) The early Christians anticipated the second coming of Christ in much the same way that the people of Israel anticipated the first coming of the Messiah and the dawn of the Day of the Lord. In the preaching and teaching before Christ’s first coming and the second coming there is a consistent theme of getting ready and being prepared, but the message doesn’t end at "You had better watch out!" The preparation and readiness is a call to hope and something new and amazing.

People, Get Ready

But didn’t Jesus himself preach a scary vision of the return? Didn’t Jesus himself describe the last days as terrifying and ominous? That’s the way we usually hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:36-44 ... When I read a verse like this I instantly think of the rapture and end-time doom scenarios like you find in Left Behind. But here’s my problem – the setting and style of these Scriptures doesn’t fit with a tribulation view of the world. A theology of the rapture assumes that God’s people have it good, but it’s going to get really bad. But during the first century that was just the opposite. God’s people had it really bad – and they had no hope of things getting better. These images of separation, desolating sacrileges, and the like sound really eerie to us, but to oppressed people it’s just scenes from the "Nightly News."

Jesus isn’t trying to strike fear into the heart of the wicked. He wants the faithful to be ready! Not "You Had Better Watch Out!" but "People, Get Ready!" Jesus wants his people to know that the oppression they see all around them is not the way it is going to turn out. The worst things are never the last things! He wants them to know that when it looks bad and seems like the enemy is going to win, they shouldn’t give up and they shouldn’t lose hope. It is just the darkness before the dawn; it is just the cross before resurrection day. Just as he told Peter to be ready when they were coming to arrest him, Jesus is telling us to be ready because things may seem really bad. The readiness that Jesus calls us to is a hopeful, faithful readiness – not a hand-wringing, nail-biting, get ready to scream and hide beneath a rock readiness. New ways of thinking, living, and talking are called for because God is among us. His son lives with us and nothing can ever be the same again. Why? Because God has a future in store for us that is so grand it changes the way we live even now.

The conventional views of the end of time have missed the balance of hope and urgency that Jesus and the Old Testament prophets preached. With apologies to popular Christian writers in the 20^th century, the greatest prophet of readiness in the 20^th century was R&B singer Curtis Mayfield. He understood the balance between urgency and hope that calls us to do more than Watch Out! It calls us to Get Ready!
His song, "People Get Ready," was released in 1965, at the height of America's civil rights movement, and was an immediate classic. The song makes clear that redemption is offered to all, except those who clearly don't want it -- but nevertheless asks us to feel for them anyway. The haunting moan that floats throughout balances the seriousness of judgment with the hopeful lyrics – lyrics that express the hopes of people who are urged to start living in anticipation of something better ...

PEOPLE GET READY, THERE'S A TRAIN A COMIN' -
YOU DON'T NEED NO BAGGAGE, YOU JUST GET ON BOARD –
ALL YOU NEED IS FAITH TO HEAR THE DIESELS HUMMIN' -
YOU DON'T NEED NO TICKET YOU JUST THANK THE LORD

PEOPLE GET READY, THERE'S A TRAIN TO JORDAN PICKING UP PASSENGERS COAST T0 COAST -
FAITH IS THE KEY; OPEN THE DOORS AND BOARD THEM -
THERE'S HOPE FOR ALL AMONG THOSE LOVED THE MOST -
THERE AIN'T NO ROOM FOR THE HOPELESS SINNER WHOM WOULD HURT ALL MANKIND JUST TO SAVE HIS OWN –
HAVE PITY ON THOSE WHOSE CHANCES GROW THINNER FOR THERE IS NO HIDING PLACE AGAINST THE KINGDOM'S THRONE -

PEOPLE GET READY THERE'S A TRAIN A COMIN'
YOU DON'T NEED NO BAGGAGE, JUST GET ON BOARD -
ALL YOU NEED IS FAITH TO HEAR THE DIESELS HUMMIN' -
YOU DON'T NEED NO TICKET YOU JUST THANK THE LORD.

Hope: Anticipation and Preparation
I am not suggesting that there is no fear or urgency to be associated with the end of time, but our emphasis has been unbalanced. We should realize that there is more than a "You Had Better Watch Out!" event known as the Second Coming. Let’s balance the urgency and awe of Jesus’ return with hope, anticipation, and preparation.

Anticipation of something greater than the current state of affairs is central to the church’s proclamation. How can we share hope and good news if good news means nothing more than avoiding trouble? We believe and proclaim that God’s new heaven and earth is something worth dying for and living for! So we’re going to get ready!

Preparation - Our view of the coming of the Lord should mean more to us than just procuring insurance against the impending wrath of God. It means living today like it is already the Day of the Lord.

The coming of the Lord is not being pulled over by flashing lights, and grace is not simply getting a warning when we should have been fined. New ways of thinking, living, and talking are called for because God is among us. His son lives with us and nothing can ever be the same again. Why? Because God has a future in store for us that is so grand it changes the way we live even now. Hear again the message of Isaiah as he anticipates what it means when the Lord comes to rule ... (read Isaiah 2:2-5 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.)

The goal of God’s Messiah is peace. There is a happy ending. Some might be determined to write themselves out of the story, but God’s ultimate vision is to establish His rule so that peace rules. There is an end to war and conflict. People are focused on those things that give life, not the manufacture of death and destruction. People do not have to be dragged before the Lord; they rush to His hilltop throne to receive instruction. Out of that vision, Isaiah encourages us to get ready by walking in the light of the Lord. In other words, let’s live now like it is already that day. "People, get ready!"

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Morning Sermon, 12 December 2004

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