Talking about the end times and the second coming is nothing new. I have been hearing talk about this longer than I can remember. This said every time we have an event like 911 or perhaps what we are facing these days this topic seems to ramp up in popularity. One has to only look at the posts on social media to see that this is an event that means a lot to many of us.
I, of course, can understand why this is the case as I shared this sentiment for much of my journey with Christ until I recently began to notice something new. But before I share this new discovery, as usual, a bit of background to help you understand.
One of the biggest breakthroughs I have experienced in my life which has made an incredible impact on my journey has been the reality of living in the present. This has enabled me to connect and experience God in a way that I seldom did before I started practicing this way of being. Many were the days I spent all of my time chasing an idea of Jesus mainly made up of a combination of what I heard from others and my inner dysfunction. I spoke about him an immense amount. Discussed him and his return often with others that also claimed to know him yet when I closed my door I knew he was no more than just a burdensome religion in my life.
As I became present he became real. I now realize that the biggest difference between then and now is that today I experience a living being and then I simply followed an illusion called god that I had created. This illusion, as with all illusions, did very little to heal my reality which meant that if any change appeared in my daily life, it was down to discipline and hard work instead of an organic and inner transformation. Fear and anxiety were constant companions of mine instead of the peace and stillness the presence of the real Yeshua is meant to bring into our lives. And if I am blatantly honest what was really behind my desperation with his return was the feeling that when this event took place I would finally be able to stop pretending so hard.
Every time we had an unusual event, as these days, all my fellow end timers and I did was start telling people to repent so they too could hopefully join the imminent rendezvous in the sky. While we did this we failed to realize how insensitive we were at times of the situations that people were facing. You know things like a family member dying of cancer. Or perhaps the home provider having recently lost his job or an imminent home eviction due to not being able to pay their mortgage. Now please understand that while I get that the sentiment behind the plead was genuine. Yet the reason so many were turned off then as they will be today by this plead was that what supported it was not as real as what people were facing.
You are probably wondering why I am telling you all of this if the topic was supposed to be about the second coming. Well, you see I have found that ever since I began to experience within me the embrace of the resurrected Christ my desperation with Jesus coming back began to fade away.
I believe this happened because I was able to suddenly see that though the second coming is something to look forward to if we are not careful it can and will blind us from the fact that Jesus already came – and is here now.
As I took a further and honest stock of myself I discovered that much of what revolved around my desire for him to come back was based more on escapism than seeing him face to face. There was this deeply misguided hope that his coming back would liberate me from all the weight and pain I carried inside. Yet while I did that I missed the fact that all of this could begin to be healed and freed right here right now. In other words, there was no need for Jesus to come back for this to change as his offer was still as valid today as it was when he first shared it.
Furthermore, His prayer in the book of John shows us that while we are trying to get out of here, he instead asks that we are actually sent into the very place we can’t wait to leave behind. This absent state of living leads us to miss the Kingdoms’ presence within us and all around us thinking that it is somewhere else and later. We need to understand that those around us as we do, need God now not later. They need hope and peace now. Not later. They need unconditional love and someone who is here and can give it to them now. I believe this is the reason Jesus told his disciples to stop thinking about dates and times as this was not as important as what was before them then and is within us now – HIS PRESENCE.
When one looks at this at face value it is nothing more than a convenient way to avoid some real hard questions about our lives and what we really believe. So please allow me to invite all of us to consider seeing the meaning of this desire so many of us have differently than we have before. Consider with me the fact that what we desire is valid and real however how we interpret its fulfillment isn’t. Maybe what we think will happen to us when we are caught up in the clouds is a desire that will be fulfilled now on this earth when we finally decide to engage God within our hearts instead of just our minds.
Jesus was very clear with us when he told us what would transform our lives. He didn’t point to the rapture or any special event. Instead, he pointed to death as the gateway to a healed and free life when he told us to first take up our cross. It is easy to see why we would prefer getting caught up in the clouds to put an end to our suffering instead of dying egotistically. Yet, our often preferred choice shows the fact that many of us are still failing to understand that life has always been standing on the other side of our egos death and not somewhere in the sky.
I know in my life as I began to allow this process to begin my cries for Jesus to return began to turn into cheers as I started to hear him welcoming me into the present moment from within my heart. This is why I would love to invite us to spend some time in the next few days meditating on the fact that Jesus didn’t come to tell us how life finishes as much as he came to tell us how it begins. And that primarily his message didn’t revolve around us joining him in the clouds as much as it did in the moment we are in right now.
