Linus has one of Jesus' less gentle statements up on his blog; I don't know why exactly. You can ask him if you think you'll get a straight answer. Linus's quote occurs in the same passage as one of my favorite enigmatic sayings:
"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!"
Is he saying that he longs for the day of judgment? Most of the time, God is said to be slow to anger, not eager to punish. I suppose the best answer is that he's longing for his own day of judgment. He knows that the abyss lies ahead of him and he wants to get it over with:
2 comments:
So how do we reconcile this quote with the many other quotes offering blessings of peace, including the angels announcement of Jesus's birth?
And what does this mean for those of us who, just to make it one more day, rely on some semblance of hope and healing for a wounded, violent, conflicted culture? Must I wish them all death by the sword?
I think what Chaka was getting at was that the day of God's judgement is both great and terrible. Great in that God will make everything right and terrible in that the the forces of evil (satan,demons, etc.) and the unrepentant will get there just punishment (note I did not say evil doers because repentant evil-doers get mercy). So when Jesus says that he longs to set the world on fire it's not bad because it brings so much good.
A good way to gain a better understanding of Last Things is to read Lewis's The Last Battle, which I just finished two days ago. Now, don't scoff linus, I have read the other books in the Narnia serious twice. I just never read The Last Battle because I always wanted there to be one left to read. It was worth the wait.
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