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Longing for the Kingdom

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lauriellen:
Every year, without fail, as the summer days wind down, the nights start to cool down and the first signs of fall begin to show, my heart begins to fill with such a longing for the Kingdom of God, that it feels as if my heart will burst. I can only attribute this to my childhood being raised in WWCOG and the anticipation and excitement that always came with the fall Holy days, especially the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day, and the hope for all mankind that they represent. Although I understand that we are not required to 'keep' these days, I do miss the symbolism they represent, and I miss the excitement of listening to what a 'wonderful world tomorrow' we had to look forward to. In those days, we thought the Kingdom was so near, meaning it would not be long before Jesus returned to rule and reign on  earth. Now, it seems so far away, and unlikely to happen any time soon, that I can not help but be discouraged and depressed. I am tired, I am weak and I am worn (to quote a favorite song, lol). I LONG for the day when:

Mic 4:2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Mic 4:4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
and
Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

I know that God is perfect in all of His ways, His timing is perfect, and it is selfish of me to wish this would all happen SOON, but I can help to earnestly pray THY KINGDOM COME, Thy will be done.

lilitalienboi16:
Lauri,

I know the feeeling. Just yesterday as I was in the library studying I was overcome by the same desire and longing. I've shared this song before but its one of the reasons I'm so fond of it. Ill share it again incase you havnt heard it yet. I do believe His return is very near. At least the fig has began putting forth her leaves.

 http://youtu.be/jxTl3SrS5mg

I often times find myself with the very same yearning you do. I believe its the spirit of adoption crying out, "Father, Father..."

God bless,
Alex

lauriellen:
Wow. That is beautiful. Thanks Alex.  :)

Kat:

Hi lauriellen,

I think every single generation of the elect must surely have hoped that they were the last generation. We know that even the Apostles thought that Christ was soon to return to them and reign on earth. Maybe many of the elect down through the centuries had good reason to think they were in the last days with some of the horrible plagues and wars they experienced.

But is our day any different that we should have more reason to hope that the day of Christ's return could be near? There is this Scripture in Daniel.

Dan 12:4  "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

We certainly are running "to and fro" with all the mass transit on land air and sea. But this "knowledge shall increase" what does that mean? Well here is a brief review of what has happened just in my lifetime, the last 50 years have been replete will technological advanced, so very far beyond anything else accomplished in our recorded history, over thousands of years, to date.

There is no question that the computer has changed the world so much, that now we say we are now living in the computer age. In was in 1975 that IBM becomes the first commercially available portable computer. Since then computers are now used daily by millions and have transformed the way things are done, to a great degree and in virtually every area of life.

Certainly it is because of the computer, but now it is the Internet that far supersedes the computer in order of importance. It stores an unimaginable immense amount of knowledge and is available, to some degree, to just about everybody in the world. Our daily lives have dramatically changed as we rely heavily on the internet for information gathering and research, shopping, news, and all sorts of communication from around the world. There is no doubt that the Internet is not only the greatest advancement of the technological world, but in history.

I have thought about how great this knowledge we have at our fingertips is and what that means... we are able to pull information together from vertically everywhere on earth in mins. This strikes me as being so profound that all the people of earth are now able to share their knowledge with everybody else on earth this easily. No real language barriers anymore either... I have a translator that pops right up on my computer and puts the page in English for me. So this has lead me to a comparison of sorts.

Gen 11:5  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
v. 6  And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
v. 7  Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
v. 8  So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
v. 9  Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

It seems to me that the computer has pretty much again restored us with one language. Does this have anything to do or indicate these are the last day, well I don't know, but it sure is interesting.

I guess what I am saying is that you have no reason to think Christ's return "is so far away," it could be any day the way I see it. And also something I'm very conscious of, there is no certainty of our next breath, life is a short and fragile thing. And His return and kingdom will be reality, in the next moment of awareness, after we take our last breath.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

lauriellen:
Thank you Kat. I agree. I don't think any of us really know. Some say near, some say far. I tend toward near, but that may just be my wishful thinking. I think Ray was wise not to put an emphasis on end times prophesy and stick to how we should be living now. I have also thought a lot about how the internet has allowed THIS gospel to be preached into all the world as a witness, probably on a greater scale than ever before.

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