Readings for today: Acts 1-4, Psalms 110
I love the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. I first read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit in grade school. I was captivated from the start. The world he created is beautiful and tragic all at the same time. Good and evil in perpetual conflict. The powers of light and darkness in constant tension. Victory is never permanent. History is always tilted downwards not upwards. This squares with Tolkien’s own understanding of our world. In one of his private letters, he writes, “I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect 'history' to be anything but a 'long defeat' — though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory." I believe this with all my heart. It squares with the experiences of my life. I’ve been all around the world and my heart has been shattered by all I’ve seen. The pain. The suffering. The disease. The death. The violence. The conflict. The hatred. It’s frankly overwhelming and a sobering reminder that the inevitable march of moral progress is a myth. We may become more technically proficient but cannot produce righteousness.
None of this is a surprise to God. It’s why He sent us His Son and it’s why He pours out His Spirit. “‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” This world will come to an end. The sun will cease to shine. The moon will turn to blood. The earth itself will break forth in fire and smoke. The principalities and powers of this world are destined for final defeat but they will not go quietly. They will seek to steal, kill, and destroy all God has made, especially the creature made in His own image. Yes, we will catch glimpses of Jesus’ final victory. Miracles and signs and wonders. Healings. Exorcisms. Resurrections. Most importantly, salvations. All of these are signs of God’s coming Kingdom breaking into this broken world.
The “long defeat” that Tolkien talks about is not defeatism. It’s not resignation. It’s not hopelessness or learned helplessness. It is Christian realism at its best. It’s the embrace of a thoroughly biblical understanding of life in this world. As Christians, we stand on the threshold of this world and the world to come. And our call, under the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, is to tell the people of this world the good news of the world to come and to act in such a way that our lives bear witness to the new creation. This is why God sent us His Son. This is why God sends us His Spirit. His Presence will sustain us in the long defeat of these last days until He comes again.
Acts 2:17-21 NET
https://bible.com/bible/107/act.2.17-21.NET
Readings for tomorrow: Acts 5-8