Is The Pendulum Swinging?
Ali Banisadr, “The Prophet (2020),” from the WSJ, 10/23/2020
We’ve been hearing so much lately about the end of this or the end of that. We hear often, for example, that this will be the end of democracy, the end of America. We hear all kinds of predictions about the end of the planet. We hear about the end of education, the collapse of our universities, our schools. We hear often about the end of the church, the Christian way of living. We listen to all of this with some measure of fear, perhaps a little skepticism, but something is at work out there to keep us on edge.
The other day I found myself absorbed by those amazing passages in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is teaching on the end times. The disciples are very curious, eager to hear what insight he has to offer. Things are not looking good, he tells them, as he proceeds to lay out some of the signs. As modern readers we are encouraged to listen up.
Here’s what Jesus has to say about what lies ahead:
At that time many will fall from their faith; they will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many; and as lawlessness spreads, the love of many will grow cold.
What a precise and penetrating projection. Notice this is not just what is happening as the world comes apart at the seams, but rather, it digs down into the cultural fallout, people falling from faith, betraying and hating one another, false teachers misleading, lawlessness across the land, love growing cold. We pause to catch our breath.
Jesus continues:
Take care that no one misleads you. For many will come claiming my name and saying, “I am the Messiah,” and many will be misled by them. The time is coming when you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. For nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes in many places.
And then he adds this provocative conclusion: “All these things are the first birth-pangs of the new age.” Hold that for a moment; we’ll come back to it.
I grew up in a teaching and preaching tradition with an intense curiosity about the “end times.” I suspect this curiosity reflected that particular historical moment—the destruction of two world wars, the lingering fears of Nazi nationalism, the horrifying threat of Communist Soviet Union, the beginnings of the breakup of a stable culture. It is easy to see how we would be thinking about end times.
In my dad’s late and fragile days, I remember him announcing: “The Lord will come again this year.” I confess I sat up straight in my chair. If my dad says it, this might be true.
But don’t we have the feeling, once again, we are living through end times just now?
I am no expert on the biblical teaching of end times, nor do I pretend expertise on the predictions of decline in our day, though I think about it a lot. But as I turn back to Jesus, I can only marvel how accurate he is about what will signal end times: Little to no faith in God; betrayal and hatred among people; false teaching that leads to question all truth; terrifying lawlessness of all sorts; love becoming cold, making us lonely.
Back to that line you’ve been holding: “All these things are the first birth-pangs of the new age.” Could that be the key for us here? Out of all the gloom and doom, the outright pain and darkness of our age, what if all this signals the birth-pangs of something new being born? Oh my! That’s what I want to claim. That’s what I’m watching for, every little signal that this new age, this new kingdom, is being born, on earth as it is in heaven. That’s the vision around which I want to shape my life.
I’m claiming this promise that the great pendulum of our world is beginning to swing, that out of utter nonsense we so often mouth, we are leaning toward common sense; that out of hatred and loneliness, we are longing again for love and kindness; that out of lawlessness, we are edging our way toward order and decency.
This is what Jesus says will happen as the pangs of birth give way to something new. Count me on board. Just maybe we’ve been through the worst of it. I think this is the note of comfort Jesus has for his disciples, and for us!