Posted on April 12, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.” – John 14:27-28 (NKJV)
With a lot of wild and crazy stuff happening in our very unsettled world today, the Christian battle cry rings truer than it ever has, “Come Lord Jesus, Come!!” It is as if the entirety of Christendom is ready for Jesus as “He comes riding on the clouds, shining like the sun, at the trumpet call.” As much as I wish that was true, not the part where Jesus comes back (I’ll get to that in a few) because that is true, it’s the entirety of Christendom being ready part that kinda stumbles there. If I’m still privileged to be considered a Christian after my feet hit in the floor in the morning, I’m gonna say that I may not be as ready as I should. Got that oil in the lamp stuff to consider, just sayin’…
I think one of the things that was in the “back then” and is very relevant today, is we still want a sign. I’m taken back to a movie (that would be more a cult classic) where individuals are chasing one of the many messiahs around Jerusalem when he suddenly drops a shoe/sandal/gourd. Even though they couldn’t agree on what item was the sign, they all agreed it was a sign that they all had to do something likewise in order for them to outwardly appear to be followers of the man they’ve been chasing through the streets. We’re like that in a way, we want to be able to interpret the news and point to the Book of Revelation and say, “See I told ya that was a sign.” Well, if Jesus says He doesn’t know the appointed time (see Mark 13:32/Habakkuk 2:3) all that will make you is a follower of the news channel you’re chasing around the television, again, just sayin’…
But there is another small sign that folks seem to be content in its understanding and that is The Folded Napkin (https://allpoetry.com/poem/12249332-The-Folded-Napkin-by-Earl-W.-Pearl). If you Google this I think you’ll find that 99.99% of the results point to Jesus’ Return. So, basically it goes like this, the folded napkin had to do with the Master/Servant relationship. When the Master was done eating and done wiping the roasted red pepper hummus (BAM) from his fingers, hands, mouth, and beard, he would wad up the napkin and toss it aside, signaling the servant to clean up the table. BUT, if the Master folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate it signaled that he was coming back. In John 20: 6-7, you’ll see that Simon Peter notices the cloth that was over the face of Jesus in the tomb was folded up on the slab where Jesus once was.
“…and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.” — John 20:7
Now, I won’t disagree on the folded napkin being a sign of Jesus’ Return BUT I wanna put on my Romans 12:1 glasses for a moment. It’ll be a converted Pharisee that would pen, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” And right in front of Peters eyes might be the sign that really points the place where Jesus will return to us. A place where a body is laid to rest and return to dust.
Yes, Jesus was crucified on The Cross but He rose up off of, what we may consider, an altar of sacrifice. I realize that’s a bit of a stretch but still, what a cool notion it is to consider that if we really took Romans 12:1 as it is written, then it is the altar of sacrifice where Jesus returns to us, individually, giving us that chance to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). The Master-Servant coming back to The Table, to revel Himself to you, as if you’re upon the road to Emmaus with your heart heavy, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)
From his book titled “Who Put Jesus on the Cross?,” Tozer makes this observation, “This is the kind of age and hour when the Lord’s people should be so alert to the hope and promise of His coming that they should get up every morning just like a child on Christmas morning—eager and believing that it should be today!” Like I stated earlier, some mornings ain’t so Christmassy but they ain’t so dog day afternoon either. I say that with confidence because I realize it’ll take Jesus to get me through whatever. Yeah, it ain’t just a napkin anymore. Amen?
Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, and a father. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.
Think About This: “Apart from the second advent of our Lord, the world is more likely to sink into a pandemonium than to rise into a millennium.” — C.H. Spurgeon
The Daily Bible Reading:1 Samuel 9-10. You can download our 2023 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here.
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Consider a retreat at America’s Keswick retreat center.
