Minute Meditations

Spring is a wonderful time of the year! With it we see the world come alive as it were from the dead of winter and the birds return while the leaves and blossoms appear on the trees.

Solomon aptly described this glorious season, saying ”Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” Spring is an excellent proof that things are not always as they appear. If we had never witnessed the rebirth of the earth in the springtime and only saw the cold dreariness of winter we could assume that it would always be so. If we had never seen the dawn with the sun rising as a ball of fire out of the east but only observed the dead of night in darkness so dense that it almost can be felt we might assume that it would always be so. From our own personal experience we know not to judge the day by its first few hours, and we understand that regardless of how cold and bleak the winter is, that with the coming of spring the earth will come to life with grass and flowers and the singing of the birds. Spring is slow in coming when compared to the dawn, for one happens every day and the other only once each year. There is a time coming to this earth that will make the most glorious springtime seem like an Antarctic winter by comparison and it is slow in coming by man’s standard of time. This does not mean that it won’t happen and we are very foolish if we judge things as they appear to us.

Peter tells us about those who would say, ”Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Peter also, a few verses later, declared, ”But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” The lesson is clear to those who have ears to hear. The sin and wickedness – the sickness and sorrow – the threat of war and the fear of economic collapse will not always continue. Just because it has been this way for as long as we can remember is no proof it will always be so. There is a Godly springtime coming when ”the dead in Christ shall arise and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up,” and if we want to be a part of that glorious new age we had better be preparing for it now. The farmer who doesn’t prepare for spring during the winter months is caught short.

Jesus told us that when we see the fig tree shoot forth that we know that summer is nigh at hand. He then adds a word of warning saying, ”So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of God is very nigh at hand.” We have witnessed ”these things” of which Jesus spoke, come to pass including the budding of God’s fig tree, ”Israel.” ”Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” The return of Christ and the ushering in of God’s glorious springtime when ”the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose,” is upon us. Let us then rejoice and be exceeding glad and prepare to meet Him when He comes.