Jesus said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
For the world in its present form is passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31).
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away (cf. 1 Joh. 2:17).
It feels like there is no place solid to stand and we become fearful. We hear of wars and insurrections and are terrified. We get to the point where we are ready to follow anyone who offers a solution, secular, spiritual, or otherwise. We hear many people saying, 'I am he,' 'I am the one who can solve this problem.' We hear them saying, 'The time has come' and we really long to believe it. We are tired of this shifting sand on which the world stands.
This morning, how many costly stones need to remain stacked just so for our lives to go well? Is it like a game of Jenga where we see them taken one by one. Is our situation teetering precariously? Or has it been rebuilt and knocked down again repeatedly? We certainly don't feel much stability in life if we need the costly stones of circumstance to remain neatly stacked. But we are called to a different foundation.
We are called to build our lives on the rock of the Word of God (cf. Mat. 7:24). "After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah" (cf. 1 Cor. 3:11). When we do we have peace even amid the trouble of the world. We have the peace of the one who has "overcome the world" (cf. Joh. 16:33).
The LORD is coming. Only he makes the world firm. Only his purpose lasts. We need to stand firm on the rock of his Word so that we are able to stand when we appear before him. Then, "when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (cf. Eph. 6:13).
When we aren't preoccupied with the shifting stands of the world we are able to prepare for those things that really matter instead of constantly trying to re-balance ourselves. The angels are coming with their sickles to reap the harvest. May they find us ripe with the fruits of the Spirit. They are coming to harvest this earth, and the earth's vines. We needn't fear. After all, God gives the growth within us (cf. 1 Cor. 3:7). We need not fear the wine press of his fury. Jesus himself "delivers us from the coming wrath" (cf. 1 The. 1:10) if we only let him do so.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
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