‘…at the dawn of the third millennium, humanity wakes up to an amazing realisation. Most people rarely think about it, but in the last few decades we have managed to rein in famine, plague and war. Of course, these problems have not been completely solved, but they have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges.’
Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli ‘historian’ and author wrote the above extract in his introduction to Homo Deus, in 2017. It was an extraordinary claim back then, but now it just seems like a poor joke. For just two years after publishing this book, what happened? A global plague struck – called Covid – killing over 6 million people. Two years after that, war broke out in Europe once again, resulting in the death of tens of thousands, and leaving millions as refugees. Moreover, the resulting economic crisis has caused widespread famine in large swathes of the Middle East and Africa. It hardly seems that human beings have managed to ‘rein in famine, plague, and war’, does it?
However, though Harari is clearly mistaken as to what we should expect in this third millennium, Jesus is not. For in Matthew 13, as he speaks to the crowds in parables, he makes it clear what we should expect – not an end to suffering and evil, but the persistence of it.
This is sobering, but it is also helpful to know. Jesus’ words rid us of any false expectations we might otherwise have of thinking we will be able to create heaven on earth. It’s easy to say we believe Jesus, or to believe him in a ‘big’ sense, but often it’s the smaller inconveniences, frustrations and disappointments that catch us unawares. But until we reach the new creation, suffering isn’t the exception but the rule.
Jesus is also clear that telling the people the gospel will be hard now. In the Parable of the Sower, the growth of the seed of the word is choked and hampered and destroyed by many things. The evil one, a lack of roots, trouble and persecution and the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth can all snatch the word away. The world is a hard place to both become a Christian and to remain a Christian, and it will get harder.
However, that is not all Jesus has to say. Having managed our expectations, he also tells us that there is hope for the righteous (Matthew’s word for a believer). We can and should expect that the gospel will continue to spread throughout the world, impacting and transforming lives as it does so. As surely as the word is rejected, it will also be accepted. The seed will spread, the fruit will grow and the crop will yield a hundred times what was sown.
In fact, as surely ‘as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is [God’s] word that goes out from [his] mouth: it will not return to [him] empty but will accomplish what [he] desire and achieve the purpose for which [he] sent it’ (Isaiah 55:10-11). God’s word will continue to be the means of salvation in this hard world.
But we should also prepare for a day of reckoning. The Parable of the Weeds makes that clear – the wheat and the weeds grow together in the field until harvest comes. Both are gathered in: the wheat into the barn and the weeds into the fire (Matthew 13:24-30).
Jesus doesn’t mince his words. A time is coming when the righteous will be saved, but the rebels will also be punished. Do you feel troubled by that? If so, let me gently ask you, how troubled do you think God is at the mass hatred of him and rejection of the means of salvation he has given? Do you think he is indifferent or just nicely tolerant?
And I wonder if we find this uncomfortable because we haven’t (yet) been mercilessly persecuted for our faith, as over 360 million brothers and sisters around the world are daily. Jesus’ future judgement of the wicked is a great comfort to those whose pain and injustice will not end this side of eternity.
And for those of us trusting in our Lord and Saviour, his death on the cross that secures our salvation is very good news. We know we ought to face judgement – ‘there but for the grace of God go I’, as the saying goes. So let this future reckoning spur us on, as we seek to reach those who aren’t yet trusting in our Lord Jesus. Wouldn’t you love to see them join us as we gather round the Lamb and sing praises to our Saviour?