'Many will come in my name and say, "I am
he!"'
Numerous are those who
have claimed the mantle of the messiah. The turn of the century, in Jesus'
lifetime, brought about Simon of Peraea
and Athronges the shepherd boy --
each who made that assertion -- and of whom the ancient Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus wrote.
* A former Jewish slave,
Simon of Peraea led a failed rebellion against Rome. His corpse was left to rot
in the countryside, with many of his followers crucified.
* Athronges was a shepherd
who fought against Herod Archelaus. He, too, failed to overthrow the Romans.
"Beware that no one leads you astray."
After Jesus' death, the
messianic uprisings rose to a fevered pitch. The Kingdom of God was coming!
"In 36 CE, a messiah
known only as the Samaritan gathered
a group of followers atop Mount Gerizim, where he claimed he would reveal sacred
vessels hidden there by Moses. Pilate responded with a detachment of Roman
soldiers who climbed Gerizim and cut the Samaritan's faithful multitude to
pieces." [i]
Josephus wrote about a
"prophet" named Theudas who
in 44 CE promised to part the Jordan river. He misled hundreds of followers
with his Moses-like prediction. His battle cry was the Promised Land would be
reclaimed from Rome! Cuspius Fadus, procurator of Judea, wasn't enthralled by
Theudas' promises so he sent troops to squash the charlatan. Theudas' head was
cut off, carried into Jerusalem, and the movement was scattered.
Another "King Messiah"
promised to lead the Jews to a Promised Land without enemies. A Jewish sorcerer
called the Egyptian, "gathered
thousands of followers on the Mount of Olives where he vowed that, like Joshua
at Jericho, he would bring the walls of Jerusalem tumbling down at his
command." [ii]
Imagine how that went over. The crowd was massacred.
"What will be the sign?"
How often have we asked
that same question? Or something along the lines of "If I only had a
sign," "If I knew when it would happen," "If I could just
get a hint into the future." Usually followed later by "If I had only
known!"
Specific to verse 4,
Peter, James, John and Andrew were expressing concern to what Jesus had declared
earlier -- not one stone of the Temple would be left upon another. For them, Jesus'
prediction would be considered "the end times." They wanted to be
prepared.
"The end times."
Seemingly, everyone has an opinion when it will be: now… and way back when.
Did You
Know…?
Among the claimants who
have predicted "the end":
* St. Martin, Bishop of
Tours, believed the end of the world would happen before 400 CE;
* St. Gregory, Bishop of
Tours, provided an end-time window to transpire between 799 and 806 CE;
* Pope Sylvester II
believed the apocalypse would occur on January 1, 1000 (the end of the
Christian Millennium);
* Pope Innocent III stated
the world would end in 1284 CE -- 666 years after the rise of Islam;
* Martin Luther claimed no
later than 1600 CE for the end-times;
* Christopher Columbus
wrote in his Book of Prophecies
for the end of the world to be 1656 CE;
* Cotton Mather prophesied
the end for 1697 CE; when that didn't happen, the Puritan minister gave it two
more tries: 1716 CE and 1736 CE;
* Charles and John Wesley each
made end-of-the-world predictions: 1794 and 1836, respectively;
* Pat Robertson announced 1982
was the date for Christ's return, then after that date passed, he revised it for
April 29, 2007;
* Nostradamus predicted
July 1999 as the date for the world's destruction;
* Jerry Falwell (as did
Isaac Newton, Jonathan Edwards, Edgar Cayce, Ed Dobson among others) stated
2000 CE would be "the end."
Remember December 21,
2012? The New Age interpretation of the Mayan calendar claimed this date for
the end of the world.
What do all of these predictions
have in common -- besides being forecasts when the world was to end?
They were all wrong!
Nevertheless, prophecies
of the future and of the end sells. It's a HUGE money-maker. Consider how the
public gravitates toward the doomsayers. In the 1970s, Hal Lindsey's book The Late Great Planet Earth sold
over 20 million copies. What about the Left
Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins -- published from 1995
to 2007? A large segment of the "buyers" were Evangelical Christians.
What do you think Jesus
would have to say about this?
"I have already told you everything."
Easier said than done (and
accepted). As Joe * shared with the study group, "The search for God is
difficult and ongoing." We want to know more, and we want to know more now!
What happens in our
anxious lives is we yearn for answers; we desire guidance. With a God who is
invisible, "We look for that person in the here and now who can lead us to
the Promised Land," said Patrick *.
Yet as C.J. * mentioned,
"It's difficult to sort out the truth from all of the lies. How do you
find the truth?"
Jesus knew human nature
extremely well. With his days on earth numbered, he warned his followers to be
aware -- "beware" -- of being led astray; of being deceived. There
would be con artists who would put on a dazzling, exceptional show. The Good
News could be easily derailed because of the glitz and glamour of empty, false
promises.
That was then but what
about now? How simple is it to be distracted -- thinking three steps ahead,
worrying about tomorrow or months/years in advance? Do we put our faith in others
who aspire to lead us astray?
Instead of placing an
inordinate amount of energy on what is to come, what if we shifted our efforts
to live more in the present? To be in the moment? To put our trust and faith in
the living God?
Our lives here on earth are
fleeting (time-wise). Let's live into the Good News right now instead of
thinking how wonderful it will be in Heaven and wishing that day would soon
arrive.
But as Norma * stated,
"Right now is the hard
part."
NEXT
The trifecta of
"doom," the map of eternity
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