“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Solomon 2:11-13)
Last Sunday was the first day of spring, one of my favorite days of the year because it points us ahead to the better weather and the outdoor activities. Now we can grill, do yard work, and play golf and baseball – all the things God ordained and planned for man to do from the foundation of the world. After all, the Bible does begin with, “In the big inning…” The first day of spring 2010 in Kansas City was met with about 10 inches of snow, which made this winter the “snowiest” on record. Someone call Al Gore and tell him.
I absolutely despise winter. The older I get, the more my body craves its “creature comforts”. I have mentioned that since we are moving anyway to the new school building, why don’t we just go for it and all move to Arizona. No more scraping windshields, no more shoveling “trace amounts of precipitation”, and no more bundling up in parkas just to handle the daily routine of life. But then we would just complain about how hot it was all the time.
The above verses point to the culmination of our mission on earth as believers in Jesus Christ. The book of Song of Solomon is a “love story” about Solomon and his bride (one of the one thousand he had!), but it is more appropriately a “love story” about the King of Israel Jesus, and his bride the church. At the end of the passage, he speaks to his love to “arise and come away”. That is a clear reference to what we call the rapture of the church. It says. “…the winter is past”. March is the month when winter ends. “The rain is over and gone…” (April showers) “…the flowers appear on the earth…” (bring May flowers), and the “June bride” follows. Those verses have always intrigued me. Pentecost (the time the church began in Acts 2) is around June 1st. Since God is consistent, wouldn’t it make sense for him to end the church at the same time of the year he began it? I did not say the rapture would happen in June. Don’t make me a “date setter”. I have a one in twelve chance of being right. The danger in that is that when the calendar rolls around to July 1st, those who are driven by that type of “date setting” mindset get disappointed and lose focus for another eleven months. Even if I am right about a June rapture, we still have no way of knowing what year. Even though the Bible says we can know the “times and seasons” we also know that “no man knoweth the day or the hour…” (Mark 13:32-37).
I am eagerly anticipating the coming of our Lord to take us home to be with him. So should every believer. There will be no more snow to shovel, and no more hardship to bear. There will be, “…no more tears, no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
Yes, the coming of our Lord will be glorious. He told us to “Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13) Don’t sit around trying to calculate the date of his coming. He told us we can’t figure it out, so why try. Instead, serve him faithfully every day between now and then. Once he comes, your work is “in the books”, and there will be no more chance to do your best to honor him and share his truth with a lost and dying world. One of our old hymns says, “Give to the Lord your best, the best that you can do. As you honor him, he will surely honor you. So learn to run the race until the race is done. Reaching for excellence until the prize is won.” Give him your very best every day, because “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.” We will be delivered from this present evil world, but even more importantly, we will see our King get the glory he deserves.
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