What Happens Next (2) We Must get This

I was reluctant to write yesterday that one of the beasts of Daniel has emerged, because most Christians will assume that this means that the second coming of Jesus is getting close. This is not what I am saying at all.

The problem is that most Christians have a totally distorted view of what is going to happen next. They believe that a few signs will be fulfilled, a nasty European Anti-Christ will pop up and then Jesus will return to rule as the divine demagogue. We just have to hang on a bit longer till he returns. Christians with these views love signs and they do not mind failure, because it means that Jesus is getting closer. Unfortunately, this end-time wishful thinking comes from the gospel according to Hal, Hag, Jeff and Tim and not from the scriptures.

The scriptures teach something quite different. Jesus had a mighty victory over evil on the cross. He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven at the right hand of the Father. From there he poured out the Holy Spirit on the Church. The Holy Spirit is now working on earth through his Church to establish the Kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated. Jesus will not return until that task is complete.

Jesus is not returning to rescue us. He is returning to receive a kingdom that we (the Holy Spirit and the church) have prepared form him. A little bit of evil will not bring Jesus back. He will not come back to rescue a struggling church. The only way to speed Jesus return is to allow the Holy Spirit to establish a Kingdom that is worth giving to Jesus as a gift.

The biggest obstacle to the kingdom of God is human political power. This comes in many forms, but it always opposes and undermines the Kingdom of God by offering the people of the world a false hope. Before the Holy Spirit can bring the kingdom of God to fullness, human political power in every form must be swept away.

The next climatactic event in human history is the collapse of human government and political power.