I took one acting class while at Pitt....this back in the early70s. I had one scene that I was to work on....from Neil Simon's....Barefoot In The Park. I was the character Paul Bratter. It was supposedly in a small apartment's living area....and I would stand on a chair....and look up at a hole in the skylight....and say a few things to that hole that had snow flittering through it. I think I coulda' been a contender had I not quit. Anyway....when I pulled that chair over to the front of the class....as the phrase goes in theater....the stage was set....there was no scenery....and the only prop...the chair....was in place.
Literature uses that phrase a lot....the stage is set....or....the stage was set. In other words....everything is in place....nothing else is needed. The disciples asked of Jesus what the sign would be for His coming and the end of the age....this in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21. The stage was not set....for many had to come in His name saying that they were the Christ....and there would be wars and famines and pestilences....(pandemics)....and earthquakes....and persecutions and betrayals....and hatred everywhere....and lawlessness....and coldness....and false prophets....and the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world.
Less than fifty days later....just as Jesus was to ascend to the Father....the same disciples and others asked Him if He at that time was going to restore the kingdom to Israel! They must have forgot about the wars and pestilences and everything. Jesus told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them....and they would be sent to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria...and to the ends of the earth....and then Jesus was taken up!
Early in Paul's missionary journeys....while writing letters....he wrote to the Thessalonians because someone had told them that Jesus had already returned. Paul straightened them out and told them that a rebellion....or a falling away would come before Jesus returned....and that the man of sin...or lawlessness....the son of perdition....or the son of destruction....would be revealed.
I submit to you that all of the above has happened....and the gospel has indeed gone throughout the world....(as it pertains to the Second Coming)....and that the falling away is already in progress....but this man....whoever he is....as of today.....has not been revealed.
So the stage is not quite set....for there may be scenery and props all over it....but it still awaits the entrance of that son of perdition....of which Judas was also called....before Satan...."entered into Judas called Iscariot."
Acts 1:6-9
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Luke 22:3
John 17:12
Title:
Shakespeare....As You Like It
Elvis....quoting Shakespeare....Are You Lonesome Tonight
