On May 14, a man walked into the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York and opened fire, killing 10 and wounding 3 more. Making this event even more despicable, were the racist motivations of the killer.
On May 24, a man walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and killed 21 people. Making this event even more despicable, is the fact that 19 of those killed were children.
These two events, ten days apart, illicit a common response from many (including me) … “Lord, how long?”
How much longer will this world be subjected to acts of senseless violence? How much longer until the guilty are brought to justice? How much longer until the Lord of the Earth makes the “kingdom of this world become the Kingdom of our God”?
What if Jesus were to come back RIGHT NOW and make it right. What if He were to thunder onto this planet again tonight and bring justice with Him. What if you heard a trumpet sound RIGHT NOW, and knew that this age was over … no more school shootings, no more racist acts of violence, no more wars in the Ukraine, no more sex trafficking? How would that feel? Would it be a sweet moment?
The knee jerk obvious answer is – YES! It would be amazing. It would taste so sweet. But, is there any part of His return that might taste a bit bitter? Some realities that could be hard to stomach? Well … the answer is also – yes. At least according the Revelation 10:1-11.
Know this … Jesus will return and when He does, He will usher in justice and judge all evildoers. As His followers, we should long for this day, and the events of this past week remind us of that. However, as His followers, there is also something that should disturb us about the second coming.
This Sunday at Wildwood Community Church, we will be in Revelation 10 for part 3 of our series “The Lord of the Earth.” We will look at what this passage tells us about the bitter AND the sweet of the knowledge of Christ’s imminent return. Make plans to join us this Memorial Day weekend at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00 … and bring friends!