We hear much about the coming millennium these days, and will hear even more as we enter the new year and the countdown begins.
Many people really believe that such moments are pivotal in the human and religious experience.
And the scripture passages we have heard this morning, certainly fit in well with this Y2K event. Throughout Scripture, one of the common refrains is that the final act of God's salvation is coming. In the Old Testament, it is described as a time of peace for all God's people, when the Messianic King will come and the good will be rewarded and evil destroyed. The New Testament sees in Jesus a partial fulfilling of those prophecies, but shares his vision of yet another coming, a coming coupled with the end of all time. Peter and the book of Revelation see that time as a fiery ordeal for believers, but yet a time of great joy, for Christ's glory will be revealed.