Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come. (Matthew 24:7-8)Yesterday was the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 down in Houston, TX. After the Alamo was overwhelmed and all inside it killed, along with another humiliating defeat at Goliad, TX, General San Houston was getting desperate and the Texicans were getting mad.
He came up to the San Jacinto River and found General Santa Anna, the dictator of Mexico, and all his men having their afternoon siesta. Houston and his men attacked, even though Santa Anna had superior forces and the won. Santa Anna tried to get away by disguising himself as a peasant soldier but people recognized him. Sam Houston sent him back to Mexico in disgrace. Years later, oddly enough – and this is true – he invented chewing gum and sold the formula to William Wrigley who made a pile of money from it. This makes no difference, except that it is interesting.
The point? I am not sure. Except for maybe the fact that I am a Texas historian living in Missouri (a worthless combination) and it is my article. But yesterday the culmination of a war was celebrated. Texas received its independence and was a nation for nine years until it became a state in 1845.
How many more wars have been fought? How many more victories have been celebrated? How many more nations established and then subsumed into other nations? How many people have fought and died and then more people fight and die.
There was the American Revolution, the Civil War (Boonville had a battle in the Civil War over 150 years ago), then the Mexican-American War, WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan – and the hits just keep on coming.
But what remains constant? God is still here. He says that things will continue until he comes again. People worry about the end times, but Jesus just says stuff will happen and then more stuff will happen until finally one day he comes back.
But when? Is the warring a sign of his coming? No. Jesus himself didn’t know when he was coming back and we won’t either. In Mark 13:31-33, Jesus said: However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. Even Jesus didn’t know.
I am sure that in the Texas of 1836 there were those who saw the end near. People saw it in all the other wars and were afraid. Every time a war came, people were sure it was the last one and God would be here soon.
But he hasn’t come. So we look toward his coming when he gets ready. And we live our lives in such a way that when he does come, we will be with him.
I think it should be amazing that I could somehow blend Texas history with the Second Coming. But life just seems to connect all over, doesn’t it? Even Texas history and the Second Coming.
Y’all come back, you hear?
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