"IT'S HALF-TIME'

In South Africa, it's rugby. In America, it's football. In Brazil, it's soccer. So, what do all these sports have in common? Why, "half-time" of course. Those games are played with vigor and intensity so midway through the game, the players have to take a break. This is a time of refreshing drinks and words of encouragement or condemnation from their coaches. The spectators, enthusiastic or depressed, take time out at that point to go to the concession stand or to the rest room. In the rest room they don't rest and at the concession stand, they do not concede, but we won't go there.  So what does that have to do with Christianity? Hmm, quite a lot actually.

 

First of all, when the Old Testament revelation ended, it was a kind of "half-time." A young co-coed was once sitting between a rabbi and a priest at a religious conference. Trying to be impressive, she exclaimed, "Sitting as I am between a rabbi and a priest, I feel like I am sitting between the Old and the New Testaments!"  Bursting her bubble, the priest said, "Miss, that is usually a blank page!!" But there was much more than a blank page between the two Testaments. Antiochus Epiphanes IV had desecrated God's temple with pig dung and entrails, smearing it on the sacred vessels. This event so infuriated the Jews that it became a turning point in the history of the struggle between the Seleucids (Antichus' people) and the Maccabees (the militant Jews of the day). The Maccabean rebels resorted to guerilla warfare taking to the hill country of Judea. Though this was a period of no divine revelation, God was nevertheless preparing the land for the coming of his Messiah. The Jews wore their enemies out and came out the victors. In 167 B.C., the Jews cleansed the Temple and re-dedicated it. This is the origin of the feast of Dedication or "feast of lights" (Hanukkah), which was in the winter,  perhaps December, in the Northern Hemisphere. Notice where Jesus was in John 10:22. There are some historical chronicles--1 Maccabees 4:59 and 2 Maccabees 10:5ff--that detail those events. They are not canonical nor Biblical books--the Biblical scholar, Jerome, called the books of this period "The Apocrypha."  Though Jerome knew that they were not inspired books but simply historical accounts of that period, the Catholic Pope of his day insisted on including them in the Catholic version of the Bible. So there is much more than a blank page during that "half-time."

 

Secondly, and this is much more relevant to me and you, there comes a "half-time" in our lives, too. How old are you? Prepare for a shock now! If you are 35, or at the outside 40, you are at the halfway mark. It's "half-time" for you. You are now "middle-aged." (Did I just hear a blood-curdling scream?) I know--you don't agree. But consider the facts of the case. Though the longevity of the patriarchs ran into hundreds of years, Genesis 5, God  eventually reduced the number to 120 because of man's rebellion, Genesis 6:3. Well, the rebellion didn't stop, so the years were further reduced to 70 or by reason of strength 80, see Psalm 90:10-11. I guess God had enough of man's insubordination.

 

So all you middle-agers out there, what are you going to do about it? From now on, time will accelerate for you. The last half goes a lot faster than the first half. Just ask any septuagenarian (70-year-old). When you were six, you couldn't wait to be 21. In fact, you told everyone you were six and a half or almost seven, remember? Now, we lovable oldies try to hide the effects of age under a bushel of make-up. (I know that I am going to be crucified at half-time for this article!)  And, of course, clothes cover a multitude of sins!

 

Here's the rub--"what thou doest, do quickly!" Do you intend to bring someone to Christ? Do it now! Do you intend to right a wrong? Do it now! Do you intend to thank someone for shaping your spiritual life? Do it now! Do you intend to tell some dear one that you love them? Do it now! Do you intend to have a closer walk with God? Do it now! Do you intend to be more faithful in your worship? Do it now! Do you intend to help some struggling soul with a problem? Do it now! Do we get the picture?  "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," it is said. Time is filled with swift transition. Do you intend to become a Christian? Do it now! There's danger and death in delay!

 

Love you all,