Is there a verse about "looking to the sky" regarding end times?
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Randy Kluth
Well-Known Member
Good question.
Acts 1.10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?
We're often told by "imminency" advocates that we need to keep our eyes peeled to the sky, just in case the Lord might come, and we have to be ready. It's as if focusing our attention on the sky somehow keeps us ready for that event!
But you know and I know that being ready for Christ's coming requires that we always be walking with the Lord, staying humble, doing our jobs, witnessing, working, loving, etc. True preparation is moral readiness, and not keeping our eyes trained on the sky!
Have you ever gone whale watching? I have, and it's fun. But you just don't know where or when they're going to leap up out of the water. So you have to keep your eyes trained in a general area where they may appear.
But it isn't this way with the Lord's coming. He merely asks us to always be doing what we're supposed to be doing. It isn't even as though he may just suddenly appear at any moment, either. It's just that he wants us to always be clothed in righteousness, and thus ready for the Kingdom.
The passage above indicates that the Disciples kept their eyes on the sky in vain. That wasn't what Jesus wanted them to do. He wanted them to be about their business of preaching the gospel to the nations. They certainly weren't supposed to expect Jesus to reappear at any moment! They had a job to do. And he wanted them to always be doing that, not just to get others ready for the Kingdom, but so that they would keep themselves ready for the Kingdom too.
We are told to be watchful, ready, and vigilant. Much of this exhortation has to do with remaining aware of possible deceptions and misdirections. Since this age is characterized by satanic opposition and human error, we have to remain vigilant all the time. None of this has a thing with expecting Jesus to come from the sky at any moment.
We are also called upon to set our minds on things above. This is simply so that we maintain our gaze on Jesus' righteousness so that we do not be moved away from it. We are to remain firm and to stand in Christ. Hope this helps?
Stumpmaster
Well-Known Member
Mat 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (30) And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (31) And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Randy Kluth
Well-Known Member
That does not appear to be a looking to the sky *in advance* of the event. It is an instant recognition of the event as it happens in real time.
Certainly, it can be said that we are in a sense looking to the sky for the Lord to come. But it is not, in my opinion, an expectation that he can come "at any moment." That is the point I wish to make. I think the question regards looking for Christ's coming *in advance.* Or so it seems to me?
Davy
Well-Known Member
Yes, there is a Scripture pointing to that idea...
Luke 21:27-28
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
KJV
In that Luke 21 chapter, and in the Matthew 24 and Mark 13 chapters, Jesus gives that as part of the 'last' SIGN of the end, which is about the day of His coming and gathering of His Church.
Those chapters are called Jesus' Olivet Discourse. They are for His Church still today also. The events He gave there with His last Sign, about His coming, are the events that Apostle Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 4 about the gathering of His Church.
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