London is agog with last minute, feverish arrangements to welcome athletes and representatives from different countries of the world.  The Olympics is biggest sports event of all which holds once every four years and this time it is the turn of London to open its arms wide in welcome to people from different tribes and nations.

For those of us living in and around London, it is a mixture of excitement and sacrifice, because of adjustments we will have to make especially in moving around, owing to the increased number of people who will be coming into the city either as fans, officials or athletes for the events.

As I think about the Olympics and the hub of activity going around me, I think of another event that has been foretold, the one which will have global significance. The coming of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

"Look! He is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see Him. Even those who pierced him will see Him. All the nations of the earth will be sad because of Him. This will really happen! Amen." (Rev 1:7)

I could not help but draw the similarities and differences between these two events.  The similarity is that they are both events which command global attention and affect almost all the nations of the world. This is where the similarities stop.

Christ’s coming is an event of a greater dimension, which makes the Olympics pale into insignificance.

Unlike the Olympics where the venue and date is often picked and announced many years before it would hold, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is an event in the future holding at a set time only known by God.

While some athletes see the Olympics as the ultimate achievement in sports, the coming of Christ is a matter of life and death.  Winners in the Olympics will go back to their countries with pride while losers will go back still holding their heads high that they competed in the Olympics.  The above scripture portrays a time of sober reflection, for the nations of the earth when they see Christ.  Why would the nations be sad?

It is no secret that the nations of the world, led by the West, have departed from God. Efforts are being made to discourage the preaching of the gospel and to encourage the worship of self. Sin and immorality are seen as choices man must be free to make and even encouraged to do so. It should therefore not be a surprise that the nations of the earth, led by the politicians and the elites will mourn when they see Christ coming in the air. The same Jesus that have been criticised and ridiculed by professors and their lecture rooms where their utterances are taken with godlike reverence.

Jesus Himself confirmed His coming in Matthew 24:30 ‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’

During the Olympics, there will be much celebration as well as times of sadness. Jubilation for the winners and sadness for the losers but both of these will be momentary emotions.

The coming of Christ will be a note of finality. Celebration for those who believed and held on to their belief till the end and a time of weeping and mourning for those who ignored and simply dismissed the Lordship of Jesus.

Many of the participating athletes have had four years to prepare for the Olympics and have put in their best, sacrificing their time and effort to be their best at the games. Sadly, not many people are waiting for the coming of Jesus, talk less of preparing for the event.

As Christians, we ought to learn from these events and the feverish preparations that precede them. This is how we ought to steadfastly prepare for the Lord’s coming. Let us not be like the unwise virgins who failed to make adequate preparations for the bridegroom (Matthew 25)

May we all be ready for the greatest global event to come, which will shake the earth to its very foundations.

 

Steve Popoola is the editor of Biblepraise Newsletter and the owner of Biblepraise Fellowship Online at http://www.biblepraise.org. He lives in London where he works as an IT professional. He serves in the ministerial team of his local church as well as in the music ministry. He is the Moderator/Editor of Biblepraise Newsletter. He can be reached through His email address, steve@biblepraise.org