Behold, I am coming soon!
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our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. The word itself permeates the whole of his
earthly and super-earthly life, and it may seem too high for our
understanding to reach. There are few who can grasp it in its spiritual
meaning so that it can play a natural part in their self-understanding and
in their living for God. Yet we must recognize that the significance of the
life of Jesus and his disciples depends upon the fulfillment of these
words. Those people built upon them as a firm ground by which the results
of their activity would be guaranteed. But also, all the later disciples of
Jesus who carry in their hearts the kingdom of God on earth as the goal of
the Christian community are directed by these words to hope for the future
return of their Lord. Without that, it is useless to hope that the
community of God, his justice and truth, will come upon earth.
--
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
www.blumhardts.com
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"Behold, I am coming soon!" This saying divides the history of the
Christian community into two periods: first, the foretime, and then, the
time of the actual kingdom of God. The Savior himself is the beginning, the
Alpha, and the end, the Omega. With the coming of the Savior in the flesh,
the foretime has begun; all people should know this, for they are living in
it. In this time we have the gospel, "the power of God for salvation to
everyone who has faith" (Rom. 1:16). With this, the kingdom of God is
announced; and through its prophets it is founded upon earth.
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However, the reign of God in Christ has not yet fully penetrated our
world. It has made only a quiet beginning in those who believe, and is
yet unknown to the world. The faithful are but few. All the rest of
mankind, the masses, even though they hear the gospel are still under the
reign of sin and death, because they are not yet able and willing to
break loose from it.
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which reveals the love of God to the world. This hope is itself a world-
shaking power of God which we experience in Christianity in a general way;
even the unbelievers take part in that hope although they are not aware of
it. It is by this power of hope coming through the gospel that the triumph
of darkness is prevented; it no longer makes any headway. Wherever the
gospel comes, death is pierced through by the hope of life. Yet the hearts
of men are not free for God nor have they power for the victory over sin;
thus, things in the world seem to go just as they always have gone.
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The new (a new creation) is found only in secret, among the believers.
These we can call the forerunners of the kingdom of God, in whom God’s
righteousness already has a beginning. It is their calling to be faithful
unto death, to fight for the earth as being the property of God until the
Son of Man comes in the glory of his Father. It is only then that the power
of God in Jesus Christ will come to the peoples and to all the masses of
mankind. Then will become possible that of which Christianity and the
gospel are incapable in these times, namely, a judgment.
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"Judgment" means that, through the rigorous Spirit of God, a person comes to
know himself for who he is, making a division between what is good and what is
evil in God’s sight, and giving the evil over to be judged. Without such
judgment, no one, even in New Testament times, was great or blessed. In the
same way. it is not possible for the masses of mankind to be saved in the end
without the judgment which the Son of Man brings with him when he comes. It is
only in this final judgment that many things will collapse which we take as
good and proper today but which in fact have been only temporarily tolerated
by God.
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the time of Jesus’ coming. Before this time, they expected no true renewal
of the world as a whole. Likewise, we ought not lose faith when, for the
present, the world remains untouched and our faith can fight only in
secret. The world is not by that token lost forever. It awaits the final
revelation of Jesus Christ in which he will show himself as King of Kings.
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> So, regarding the world and the victory over it, all the apostles
> hoped for the time of Jesus’ coming. Before this time, they expected
> no true renewal of the world as a whole. Likewise, we ought not lose
> faith when, for the present, the world remains untouched and our faith
> can fight only in secret. The world is not by that token lost forever.
> It awaits the final revelation of Jesus Christ in which he will show
> himself as King of Kings.
>
Of course, a lazy waiting certainly is not appropriate, for the life of the
faithful is itself the beginning of the end, and upon the faithfulness of
these forerunners everything depends. The Savior himself, as well as the
apostles, made note of this. To those servants "who wait for the Lord" (Lk.
12:36), "the elect who cry to him day and night" (Lk. 18:7-8), presently
there is given, as answer to their longing, the words, "Behold, I am coming
soon!" Their faithfulness is a power that can bear witness to people today.
Without that, the gospel does not in itself have the piercing light that
makes people right and enlists them as comrades in arms in the company of
Jesus Christ.
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So it is a joyful thing for us to carry in ourselves the power of the
gospel: it brings light into the darkness of our world and is a help toward
the end-time coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when all flesh will see the
glory of God.