FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2020
(Part 10)
THE KING OF KINGS
November 26, 2019
Today’s readings:
Daniel 2:31-45
Daniel 3:57-61
Luke 21:5-11
Many kings and kingdoms have arisen throughout human history. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon were among the more powerful ones. Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream, which only Daniel was able to interpret. “You, O king, are the king of kings; to you the God of heaven has given dominion and strength, power and glory” (Dn 2:37). Notice: it is God who gives humans the kingship and their kingdoms.
But these kingdoms eventually fade away. According to Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, there would be succeeding kingdoms—Babylon, then Media, then Persia, then Greece. Then Alexander the Great would partition his kingdom among his generals. All human kingdoms will fade away, but “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.” (Dn 2:44).
Throughout history, many other kingdoms have arisen and fallen. The Roman Empire lasted for over 1,000 years. The most powerful nation today, the USA, has been around for just 243 years. But the Kingdom established by God through His Son has lasted for two millennia, and will last until and beyond the end of time. It is founded on the Rock that is Christ. That Rock is “the stone you saw hewn from the mountain without a hand being put to it” (Dn 2:45a). “It shall stand forever.” (Dn 2:44c).
Christ is the foundation of the Church, which is his body on earth. It is made up living stones, which are all of us. But the physical structure of churches will fade away, just as the Jewish temple was destroyed. “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” (Lk 21:6). This will happen at the end of time.
As people asked Jesus then, we also ask now, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” (Lk 21:7). What are the signs of the end?
* There will be many false prophets who will deceive many (Lk 21:8).
* There will be wars and insurrections (Lk 21:9-10). There have always been wars throughout human history. But today, wars and insurrections (war within a nation; citizen against citizen) have come to very many countries.
* There will be many natural calamities (Lk 21:11a).
Tragically, we are missing the signs of the end.
Today, false prophets abound. There are the cults. There are the false religions. But there are also the many so-called Christian groups that are not truly Christian, in their denial of God as Trinity and the centrality of the Eucharist. And among the Christian groups, there are the preachers of false gospels such as the prosperity gospel, the New Age, even Freemasonry. Even in the Catholic Church, there are modernists who are looking more and more to the centrality of man rather than of Christ. Our Church is failing to preach the one true gospel and the uniqueness of the one Church founded by Jesus himself.
Today, people look to the United Nations, or to sub-groupings such as the European Union, to foster peace and unity in the world. All are miserably failing. People are looking for peace, when they do not know the real meaning of peace. Peace can only come in and through the Prince of Peace, who is Jesus. People are looking for unity, for justice, for solidarity. But we can only be truly united under the banner of Christ; there can be justice only under the righteousness of God; there can be solidarity only in the Spirit.
Today, there are many tragic natural calamities, such as earthquakes, famines and plagues. We are experiencing more and more such things as droughts, flooding, landslides, forest fires, etc. Now certainly man has some responsibility, as in our lack of selflessness we pollute the earth and fail in equitable sharing of the world’s goods. But what is the world proclaiming? The false narrative of global warming (a.k.a. climate change), which is blamed for every bad thing that is happening. If what is happening are signs of the end, is not God trying to alert us? We are attacking fossil fuels when we should be attacking sin and immorality. We are looking to making this world a physically better one, when the spiritual rot continues to deepen.
If we recognize the signs of the times, we must realize that we are indeed in the end times. Of course, this is not about making false predictions, like false prophets through the years, who claim, “The time has come.” (Lk 21:8c). In the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day. It could be another millennium before Christ returns. But we are already in the end times.
What then do we do about it? Follow not the lead of the world. There is only one way to prepare, and that is to build our life, our homes and our Church on the Rock that is Christ. Every day that Jesus delays in returning is an opportunity for us to preach the gospel of salvation in him. We must have a great sense of urgency in doing our mission.
We look not to earthly kings, not to secular governments, not to false prophets, but only to the King of kings. We build our house on Rock. Then let all of creation “praise and exalt him above all forever.” (Dn 3:57-61).
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