Pregnancy and Parousia

These days my cell phone is always charged, rarely turned on silent (except for Sunday services and even then it's on vibrate) and never more than an arm's length away and I don't even own a crackberry and as of yet I have not been assimilated into the iPhone collective (however, resistance is futile). No, this is the life of expectant fathers as well as their expectant brides. Great expectations, indeed. The crib is built, the changing table is ready (for all those apocalyptic diapers) and the car seat is locked and loaded; be prepared isn't just for the boy scouts. Tomorrow marks the 39th week. June 15th is the due date (at least the one the doctors gave us) but that is only an educated guess, because no one really knows the day or the hour; in my case, even the father doesn't know! Anticipation and anguish lead to joy (John 16).

So, as we wait with anticipation for the birth of our firstborn, this morning, I couldn't help but think what a marvelous picture all of this paints for us concerning Christians and the Parousia, Christ's second coming. We wait; we watch; we keep awake; we must be in a constant state of readiness - lamps trimmed and burning, wedding garments (and diaper bags) at the ready, for any moment we could hear the sound - not of my cheap Virgin Mobile going off - but the trumpet's blare and the cry of the archangel: "Behold, Zion; your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation...It's time...Thundercats are go! Christians await the return of the King, not with calculators and mystical algorithms, but with the sure and steady Word, with his promise: "Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age." We are his bride, the church, pregnant with expectation, anticipation, hope, and faith in what is not yet seen but will soon be revealed (and is already the reality - see Revelation) - for he is at the very gates.  Our Lord is coming, like a thief in the night, like a newborn baby - when He is good and ready, and in the fullness of time, just as He did in his first parousia. And what an unending joy that day will be.

Therefore, as St. Paul reminds us: But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11