The Days Will Come
Stories
Contents
“The Days Will Come” by Peter Andrew Smith
“Divine Will Brought About by God’s Design” by Frank Ramirez
The Days Will Come
by Peter Andrew Smith
Luke 21:5-19
“Repent for the end is near!” the wild looking man thrust a pamphlet into Vera’s hands. He then moved back to the edge of the sidewalk. “Stop wasting your time!”
Vera stopped at the nearest trash can to throw the pamphlet away but was caught by the cover showing an idealistic scene of everyday life and the announcement that the end of the world was at hand. She flipped it open and the text inside detailed all the recent events which it claimed proved that the end was soon to come. She stuffed the pamphlet into her pocket and hurried down the street. She noticed Pastor Neil’s car was in his parking spot as she went into the clothing shop the church ran.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“No problem.” Gladys looked up from the clothing donations she was sorting. “There’s still time before we open.”
“I thought I might actually be early this morning.” Vera grabbed some other donations and started sorting them.
“Things happen. Did you walk?”
“I did.” Vera paused. “Have you seen the man camped down at the end of the street?”
“The one with the sign saying the end is near?”
“Yes.”
“I did.” Gladys cleared off the counter. “He is from out of state not too far from where my sister lives.”
Vera looked at the other woman out of the corner of her eye. “What did you think?”
“About what?”
Vera swallowed. “His message.”
“He seems very sincere in his beliefs that the end is near.”
“What do you think? Are we in the end times?”
Gladys rubbed her chin for a moment. “I suppose we probably are. We’re certainly closer to the end of time than we’ve ever been.”
“Then we should do something.”
Gladys turned to her. “We are.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re distributing clothing to people who are in need.”
“But if the end is coming, we should be praying, studying, preparing in some way.”
Gladys sighed. “I have been asking Pastor Neil for a Bible study on Revelation and other apocalyptic texts in the Bible and he tells me he is working on it.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Gladys took a deep breath. “What would you do differently if you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow?”
“I probably would call my brother.” Vera paused. “We didn’t leave it very good the last time we talked. I’d want to make sure my family knew that I love them.”
“Sounds like you should do that today then.”
Vera frowned. “Do you think the world is ending tomorrow?”
“I have no idea. Jesus tells us that we’ll have no warning when the end comes.”
“Then why did you tell me to do those things?”
“The truth is that we should always be doing the things- forgiving and loving- that Jesus commands. Why wait?”
Vera opened her mouth and then closed it. The two women went back to sorting donations and getting the clothing shop ready to open.
“Are you saying we should always be ready for the end of the world?”
“Dear, when you are as old as me you are always thinking that the end could be any day. So you don’t leave anything undone if you can.” Gladys smiled. “My mother always used to say that we should live every day like it was our last but don’t do anything to make it our last. That was one of the things she used to help her follow Jesus.”
“That makes sense.”
Pastor Neil came into the shop. “All ready to open for another day?”
“We are,” Gladys said. “Vera and I have been talking about the street preacher down the road.”
“Oh?” Pastor Neil narrowed his eyes. “Has his message troubled you?”
“His message got me thinking,” Vera said. “Should we be doing more?”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Do you think we are wasting out time with our outreach because the end might be near?”
“Not at all.” Vera shook her head. “I think we should be doing more.”
“Like what?”
“Well I know there is a food bank downtown but that is a problem for lots of people in this neighborhood. Is there anyway we could use the back room and provide some emergency food for people in need?”
Pastor Neil nodded. “It might take some work, but we should be able to do that.”
“Good,” Gladys said. “And I still would like that Bible study on the apocalypse.
He turned to Vera. “Would you be interested as well?”
Vera smiled at him. “Absolutely -- because I think that by remembering what Jesus taught about the end of time we can be better followers today.”
* * *
Divine Will Brought About by God’s Design
by Frank Ramirez
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
When Thomas More (1478-1535) published a work of fiction titled Utopia in 1516, he did his best to make it sound like non-fiction. The book, written and published in Latin, described an island in the South Pacific off the coast of South America supposedly discovered by the narrator, with a perfect society operating with a perfect government for pretty much perfect people.
The word utopia is based on Greek and could mean “ou topos” meaning no place or “eu topos” which means good place. Perhaps he meant that a good place exists no place. The island had no lawyers. Problems were settled in a civilized manner. The people had no army and avoided conflict. When war was necessary, they hired mercenaries to fight for them. Everyone worked two years on a farm as agricultural work and that was considered honorable and necessary but otherwise each family had two slaves. Slaves were either foreigners or criminals. Adultery was one of the crimes that could result in slavery.
The quest for the perfect society, and to describe it in an exciting enough way to cause others to want to make it happen now, and in this world, is an endeavor as old as time. For some, that perfect society was in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod described a Golden Age in his poem Words and Days, that was created by Chronos, a more ancient god than the ones who supposedly reigned Mount Olympus at the time he wrote. The humans of this golden age lived without sadness, never worked, age and drank merrily all their lives, and died peacefully when it was time.
The Greek philosopher Plato imagined a perfect society in a city he called Kalliopolis, which means literally Good City, in his book The Republic. The people were ruled by a king of reason. The book records dialogues by the philosopher Socrates, things he may or may not have said, covering everything about the way people live and think.
Of course, these utopias were describing things that ought to happen, not the world as the writer saw it. Take the perfect society of utopia described by Sir Thomas More. It was everything the England he knew was not. That’s often the case with the many utopias that followed. Edward Bellamy’s perfect society for instance described in his utopian novel Looking Backwards published in 1887 described a country where women were as valued as men. More recently in our times writers described not a utopia, but a dystopia, the world even worse than we observe it. Take the classic dystopia “1984” by George Orwell. He saw abuses in the post World War II world of England in 1948. He switched the 4 and 8 to make 84, and that gave him his title for a world in which the slogan “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength” which makes it clear that the values we cherish can be turned upside down by dictators.
In utopia, reason reigned. Not so in England. More supported King Henry VIII, but refused to recognize his claim to be the head of the Church of England. They also refused to accept the annulment he granted himself in his marriage to Catherine of Aragorn. For this the Lord High Chancellor and counselor to Henry VIII was beheaded. It is said his last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Move “in some ways” here. From emc: what does move “in some ways here” mean? Maybe the author could be more concise? But the utopias described by Isaiah in this chapter, or Jeremiah’s new covenant or the new Jerusalem of Revelation are not the product of human wisdom which is sadly lacking in every society, but divine will brought about by God’s design!
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 28, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
“The Days Will Come” by Peter Andrew Smith
“Divine Will Brought About by God’s Design” by Frank Ramirez
The Days Will Come
by Peter Andrew Smith
Luke 21:5-19
“Repent for the end is near!” the wild looking man thrust a pamphlet into Vera’s hands. He then moved back to the edge of the sidewalk. “Stop wasting your time!”
Vera stopped at the nearest trash can to throw the pamphlet away but was caught by the cover showing an idealistic scene of everyday life and the announcement that the end of the world was at hand. She flipped it open and the text inside detailed all the recent events which it claimed proved that the end was soon to come. She stuffed the pamphlet into her pocket and hurried down the street. She noticed Pastor Neil’s car was in his parking spot as she went into the clothing shop the church ran.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“No problem.” Gladys looked up from the clothing donations she was sorting. “There’s still time before we open.”
“I thought I might actually be early this morning.” Vera grabbed some other donations and started sorting them.
“Things happen. Did you walk?”
“I did.” Vera paused. “Have you seen the man camped down at the end of the street?”
“The one with the sign saying the end is near?”
“Yes.”
“I did.” Gladys cleared off the counter. “He is from out of state not too far from where my sister lives.”
Vera looked at the other woman out of the corner of her eye. “What did you think?”
“About what?”
Vera swallowed. “His message.”
“He seems very sincere in his beliefs that the end is near.”
“What do you think? Are we in the end times?”
Gladys rubbed her chin for a moment. “I suppose we probably are. We’re certainly closer to the end of time than we’ve ever been.”
“Then we should do something.”
Gladys turned to her. “We are.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re distributing clothing to people who are in need.”
“But if the end is coming, we should be praying, studying, preparing in some way.”
Gladys sighed. “I have been asking Pastor Neil for a Bible study on Revelation and other apocalyptic texts in the Bible and he tells me he is working on it.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Gladys took a deep breath. “What would you do differently if you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow?”
“I probably would call my brother.” Vera paused. “We didn’t leave it very good the last time we talked. I’d want to make sure my family knew that I love them.”
“Sounds like you should do that today then.”
Vera frowned. “Do you think the world is ending tomorrow?”
“I have no idea. Jesus tells us that we’ll have no warning when the end comes.”
“Then why did you tell me to do those things?”
“The truth is that we should always be doing the things- forgiving and loving- that Jesus commands. Why wait?”
Vera opened her mouth and then closed it. The two women went back to sorting donations and getting the clothing shop ready to open.
“Are you saying we should always be ready for the end of the world?”
“Dear, when you are as old as me you are always thinking that the end could be any day. So you don’t leave anything undone if you can.” Gladys smiled. “My mother always used to say that we should live every day like it was our last but don’t do anything to make it our last. That was one of the things she used to help her follow Jesus.”
“That makes sense.”
Pastor Neil came into the shop. “All ready to open for another day?”
“We are,” Gladys said. “Vera and I have been talking about the street preacher down the road.”
“Oh?” Pastor Neil narrowed his eyes. “Has his message troubled you?”
“His message got me thinking,” Vera said. “Should we be doing more?”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Do you think we are wasting out time with our outreach because the end might be near?”
“Not at all.” Vera shook her head. “I think we should be doing more.”
“Like what?”
“Well I know there is a food bank downtown but that is a problem for lots of people in this neighborhood. Is there anyway we could use the back room and provide some emergency food for people in need?”
Pastor Neil nodded. “It might take some work, but we should be able to do that.”
“Good,” Gladys said. “And I still would like that Bible study on the apocalypse.
He turned to Vera. “Would you be interested as well?”
Vera smiled at him. “Absolutely -- because I think that by remembering what Jesus taught about the end of time we can be better followers today.”
* * *
Divine Will Brought About by God’s Design
by Frank Ramirez
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
When Thomas More (1478-1535) published a work of fiction titled Utopia in 1516, he did his best to make it sound like non-fiction. The book, written and published in Latin, described an island in the South Pacific off the coast of South America supposedly discovered by the narrator, with a perfect society operating with a perfect government for pretty much perfect people.
The word utopia is based on Greek and could mean “ou topos” meaning no place or “eu topos” which means good place. Perhaps he meant that a good place exists no place. The island had no lawyers. Problems were settled in a civilized manner. The people had no army and avoided conflict. When war was necessary, they hired mercenaries to fight for them. Everyone worked two years on a farm as agricultural work and that was considered honorable and necessary but otherwise each family had two slaves. Slaves were either foreigners or criminals. Adultery was one of the crimes that could result in slavery.
The quest for the perfect society, and to describe it in an exciting enough way to cause others to want to make it happen now, and in this world, is an endeavor as old as time. For some, that perfect society was in the past. The Greek poet Hesiod described a Golden Age in his poem Words and Days, that was created by Chronos, a more ancient god than the ones who supposedly reigned Mount Olympus at the time he wrote. The humans of this golden age lived without sadness, never worked, age and drank merrily all their lives, and died peacefully when it was time.
The Greek philosopher Plato imagined a perfect society in a city he called Kalliopolis, which means literally Good City, in his book The Republic. The people were ruled by a king of reason. The book records dialogues by the philosopher Socrates, things he may or may not have said, covering everything about the way people live and think.
Of course, these utopias were describing things that ought to happen, not the world as the writer saw it. Take the perfect society of utopia described by Sir Thomas More. It was everything the England he knew was not. That’s often the case with the many utopias that followed. Edward Bellamy’s perfect society for instance described in his utopian novel Looking Backwards published in 1887 described a country where women were as valued as men. More recently in our times writers described not a utopia, but a dystopia, the world even worse than we observe it. Take the classic dystopia “1984” by George Orwell. He saw abuses in the post World War II world of England in 1948. He switched the 4 and 8 to make 84, and that gave him his title for a world in which the slogan “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength” which makes it clear that the values we cherish can be turned upside down by dictators.
In utopia, reason reigned. Not so in England. More supported King Henry VIII, but refused to recognize his claim to be the head of the Church of England. They also refused to accept the annulment he granted himself in his marriage to Catherine of Aragorn. For this the Lord High Chancellor and counselor to Henry VIII was beheaded. It is said his last words were “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Move “in some ways” here. From emc: what does move “in some ways here” mean? Maybe the author could be more concise? But the utopias described by Isaiah in this chapter, or Jeremiah’s new covenant or the new Jerusalem of Revelation are not the product of human wisdom which is sadly lacking in every society, but divine will brought about by God’s design!
*****************************************
StoryShare, November 28, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
