KELSIE PETERSEN | Contributor and a Boy-Mom |
Growing up in the Adventist church, I don’t think I could even count the number of times I heard an adult discussion where one or more of the grown ups involved solemnly stated that “we truly are almost in the end times.” We heard it from the pulpits, in Sabbath School and summer camps. Talk of “the end times” was a commonplace topic. For years and years after leaving Adventism, I admit having a bad taste in my mouth when it came to eschatology and Bible prophecy. Even 20 years post-Adventism, it’s not something I have a deep desire to dive into. The closest I’ve ever come is to read the book of Revelation out loud to my husband on a long road trip. We were both amazed, but yet not surprised, to find that when read from beginning to end, it didn’t say at all what Adventism had led us to believe it said. That was enough for me, and I closed the proverbial book on further study of eschatology. While not unimportant, there were just topics that were (and are) a higher priority for my spiritual walk.
Over the past months and recent years, I have noticed more and more people in my Christian circles talking about this topic. People are looking at the world around them, at how quickly everything is changing, how intense many situations are, and they are paying attention. I’ve heard a few people just in recent weeks say the phrase I heard often in Adventism, “I think we are getting close to the end.”
Whether one wants “No Kings,” or would support a king-like approach to an earthly government, what is the reality for us as believers? It’s easy to get caught up and be divided by political stripes, but how do we root ourselves in a Biblical WORLDview?
This morning, as I was looking over my feed on a social media platform, a post caught my eye. It was referring to the fairly recent “No Kings” movement in the USA. I don’t know much about this particular movement and the events surrounding it, but the wording of this particular post got me thinking about how we see, and live in, the world we find ourselves in. Whether one wants “No Kings,” or would support a king-like approach to an earthly government, what is the reality for us as believers? It’s easy to get caught up and be divided by political stripes, but how do we root ourselves in a Biblical WORLDview?
When we survey the history of our world, we see the mess “we” have made of it over the centuries and millennia. As human beings, we have tried what feels like every form of government, leadership, and hierarchy. All have failed us in one way or another. Wars have been fought over them people have given their lives to advance, or protect, the ways they believe. Kings, no kings, committees, parliaments, senates, chiefs—you name it. We’ve tried it all. And here we find ourselves, with an increasing number of Christians looking around them and wondering “Are we close? This can’t go on.”
Adventism Replaced by One King
The phrase that came to me as I was pondering this on my way home from school drop off this morning was “One King.”
In Adventism, it was nearly cultural to imagine and eagerly look forward to the Second Coming, but it was more about being vindicated in our Sabbath keeping, about being proven right. Jesus would come back, take us all to heaven, and then everyone would know that we were right….about everything. It was about escaping the “bad” things of this earth, like poor health and sickness.
As I thought about what the phrase “One King” might mean to a believer in Jesus, it reminded me that looking forward to Christ’s return is so much more to me now. Am I looking forward to being relieved of health problems for myself and my loved ones? Absolutely. Am I looking forward to “no more sadness or pain?” You bet I am. But the best part, the thing I am looking forward to the most, is the One King. There will be no more strife over whose “guy” is better, or if the other guy’s “guy” is secretly evil and out to destroy civilization. There will be no more miscommunication and misunderstanding; no more misrepresentation of others to make a point. For forever and for eternity, we GET to be forever in the presence of the One King.
He is the One King who will reign in justice and mercy.
He is the One King who will bring peace.
He is the One King who will draw all men to Himself.
He is the One King who we will worship together, side by side, forever.
He is the One King who has made a way for us, by sacrificing Himself – in our place.
Sometimes, as former Adventists, we tend to put ourselves into a unique category, and there surely are unique characteristics and experiences to having been a part of the Seventh-day Adventist church, of having left that, and of having being born again. As much as we, individually and as a group, have unique stories and paths that led us here, and even as much as we walk different journeys on this side of Adventism, we walk together, looking forward to the One King, anticipating Him, ready to welcome Him and worship Him forever.
As we wait (not as we “waited” in Adventism, with fear), as we navigate the complex and fallen world we live in, with its fallen people, fallen leaders and fallen systems, I pray that we keep this in the front of our minds, this anticipation of our One King. I want everything I do to be for His glory and for the good and glory of HIS kingdom, the one we wait for, the one in which we have a true and full hope: the kingdom of the One King. †
- One King! - October 23, 2025
- A Life of Reasonable Service Includes Sacrifice - July 10, 2025
- Led By a Child - May 9, 2025