What the H--- Was That?

October 19, 2016

What the H--- Was That?

And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.

1 Thessalonians 1:9

Dr. Tom Long was the guest speaker at our church a few weeks ago. I enjoyed serving as his host and having the opportunity to share several meals with him. One of my favorite books by Dr. Long is, Preaching From Memory, in which he affirms the importance for the church to actively share in the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to his friends in Thessalonica: “you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). In his book, Dr. Long recalled an incident in a movie theater after the showing of the movie, No Country for Old Men. At the end of the movie, the central character is recounting a dream in which he had a vision of being reconnected with his long deceased father. As the screen when black, a patron jumped to his feet and hollered, “What the h--- was that about?”  He didn’t get it. He didn’t get it because there is so little talk today about Parousia, or the theology of the Second Coming of Christ.

One of my favorite parts of the liturgy for Holy Communion is the part where I get to say: “When we share together in this bread and cup we experience anew the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we look forward to his coming again in final victory.” (Emphasis mine) Sadly, the twenty-first century church doesn’t emphasize this, one of the core values of the New Testament church, nearly enough.

Truly, the bedrock foundation of the first century church is incorporated in Paul’s affirmation: “. . . looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). This affirmation gives me pause to consider how important to my life of faith is the assertion that Jesus is coming again in final victory? Maybe you will join me in this pause.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.