Catalyst East 2010: Francis Chan

Yea Chan......! Let's go do it church........

Chris Beiler Waxes Eschatological

So the youth Sunday school class that I'm teaching just finished studying the book of Malachi....  Malachi 4 begins with a number of proclamations about the "day of the Lord."  I think it is really good for every Christian to meditate about eternal things.  Our perspective of eternity drastically affects how we live today.  More than just meditating about end times it can be a really good and fun activity to just dream a little about how things could happen based on the little snatches of information we are given.  So let's put a little flesh and blood to a couple of phrases from Malachi 4.

 ^1 [a]“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays [wings]. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. ³ Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty."

The phrase that I've been thinking about is that "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays."  This healing process is compared to the sun that rises in the morning.  Therefore it would seem that this is an event that isn't going to happen at the snap of a finger but will be more of a process.  Like John Piper in his commentary on Malachi 4 describes a sunrise on the ocean, 

"A thin line of orange and red appears along the water. Then it intensifies, brighter and brighter, and you see the brightness focusing more and more on the center of the line, until the flaming ball surges up out of the water. And then you watch it rise up, and in a sense it brings that whole red line on the rim of the water up into the air as though the sun had wings."

Because so many of the details of how the end times will be played out are somewhat obscure it is easy to think of these events as 5 second occurrences, but would a God who took the time to make man from the dust of the earth and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life and who formed each of us in our mother's wombs really just give us our new bodies with the wave of a wand?  No, I think this going to be something much more beautiful - maybe a long process but who cares because we have all of eternity to enjoy heaven.

                I see a beleaguered multitude of people standing at heaven's gate.  Despite the fact that these people revered God's name they are wounded and sick from their lives in and around sin. These people are crying because they are beginning to see reality.  They are gazing at truth in the flesh:  Jesus Christ.  Despite having followed Christ and having been his disciples they realize just how many areas they missed living according to God's plan.  These people have regrets for the ways they have spent their time on earth.  These people are crying for loved ones who have just been destroyed by God's judgement.  These people are beginning to see what salvation and God's love are all about and this reality brings them to tears.

               I see Jesus intermingling with the crowd.  Jesus takes time to sit down with each individual and speak to them about what is going on inside their heart.  He takes time to wipe the tears from their eyes, He talks to them about their disappointments, he heals their wounds and speaks word of healing into their lives.  He tells them who they really are and he gives them a new name that fits them perfectly based on everything that God has dreamed for them and their calling in eternity.  

             As each person receives the healing touch of the "Sun of righteousness" they in turn minister healing to the people around them.  I see this wave of healing, just like the sun rising in the morning, spreading throughout this multitude of people until the whole mood of the group changes and instead of this being a group of mourning, broken people it is a mass of celebration.  As Jesus gets around to the last people and has had time with each person this group of people is sent out from around God's throne and invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  Malachi says, "You will go out and frolic like well fed calves."  In my minds eye I see that the atmosphere has now changed completely in this huge group of people.  Everywhere people are going nuts with so much energy and joy that they cannot contain themselves.  A huge feast is laid out and people are jumping around, dancing their heads off, and engaging in the most holy partying that eternity will ever know.  All the Christians from eternity leaping around like calves released to pasture - yes this will be an interesting scene.  

           This, my friends, is the fruit of my time spend dreaming about the first while in eternity.