Jesus Is Coming Again

Obviously the second coming is one of the most important subjects in the Bible. Enoch, the seventh from Adam spoke of it. So did Job in the oldest book in the Bible. Then every prophet of God focused upon it. About one verse out of twenty-five in the New Testament relates to it in some way. In one sense, the whole of the Old and New Testaments relate to His second coming. God’s time line of dealing with man on earth culminates with this great climatic event. His coming is our blessed hope.

Is Jesus coming again? I believe so. People are thinking about the end of the world today more than ever before. Many books are being written about matters of the end time. Popular secular movies focus on apocalyptic events. New Age gurus with Messiah complexes mix a little fact with a lot of fancy to manipulate followers to participate in terrible, tragic and futile acts. Every earthquake, natural disaster, shocking crime, political fiasco, military conflict, mass famine, threat of worldwide disease plague or terrorism, reminds us of the signs of the end times so clearly outlined by our Saviour.

But even so, it seems His coming will surprise the world. Jesus said that no man knows the time of His coming. He will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. He said, "At an hour when you think not, even so, shall the Son of Man come."

The prophetic clock of God’s eternal time table is ticking. No angel or demon can hinder or stop it’s progress. Man has a date with destiny. God’s eternal purpose will be consummated. No mortal man, priest or potentate, rich or poor, popular or powerful, can stop the movement of the hands of God’s prophetic clock. Every grain of sand trickling through the hour glass of time brings us closer to the end time events predicted in the Word of God. - John White

We cannot stop time, nor should we wish to, but we can put it to good use in the meantime. We can do as the prophet said, "Prepare to meet our God.." We can follow the advice of the wise man and redeem the time. Or as one poet has said, "In time, take time, while time does last. For time is not time, when time is past."

In order to wisely live in these times we are commanded to be watchful. In order to be watchful we need to be informed about future events of the second coming. Since it is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment, the second coming should be important in our thinking and life. We should start each day with the thought and prayer, "Lord help me live this day in the light of your coming."

Someone has said, "No man lives carelessly whose last thoughts at night or first thoughts in the morning are, "Jesus is coming." We who are Christians should help our lost friends understand what it will be like to be left behind at His coming. Living with an acute awareness of the second coming should move every Christian to be a constant, consistent and compassionate witness of Jesus.

It is significant that after Paul tells us we Christians must all appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ, where it will be made apparent whether our life has been valuable or worthless in the Lord’s service, that he follows this with this statement, "Therefore knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" I believe this could only imply that we should be deeply concerned and committed to warning the lost of the judgement to come upon those who reject the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. (See II Cor. 5:10-11, I Cor. 3:9-15) Did you ever consider that the only thing or entity we can take from this world to the world to come is the soul of another human being? (Prov. 11:30, Dan. 12:3)

Is There Not A Cause?

What is lacking in the world today is a real committal to a cause. People are without direction. Like ships without rudders, tossed to and fro upon the restless waves by every wind of teaching or philosophy. Apathy permeates every echelon of man’s mundane and material existence. Nothing appears worth living or dying for. The question that leapt to the lips of the shepherd boy, David when he faced Goliath, needs to once more echo among God’s people in our land and in every land upon God’s good earth. The shepherd boy who became the man after God’s own heart cried out, "Is there not a cause?" He then proceeded to do mighty battle in the power of God for the noble cause of the destruction of evil and the preservation of God’s chosen people.

We seem to once again live in a day similar to the catastrophic day following the era of the Judges of Israel. Anarchy prevails and everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes. Which is normally what is wrong in the eyes of an eternally righteous Almighty God. All seek to be captains of their own souls, masters of their own fates, sailing their own ships and rowing their own canoes down the river of life, with no worthwhile spiritual destination or safe harbour in sight.

Even Christians seem to be afflicted with the same deadly malady, as they allow this world and it’s god to establish their standards, select their priorities and set their agenda. The failure of Christians to fully commit to Christ and present themselves as living, dedicated sacrifices to His cause, has led to great confusion in the world.

We are overwhelmed by the moral and ethical crisis threatening to destroy our nation and other nations with cultures previously called Christian. We are confused by the popular philosophies of secular humanism, relativism, situational ethics and post-modernism that have captured the hearts and minds of the masses. We are now seeing a deadly so-called emerging church movement threatening even evangelical Christianity.

We are puzzled by the prevailing promiscuity of our society. We are perplexed when the culture cries, "Assert your rights. If it feels good, do it!"

But God is calling for committal today on the part of His people. He is looking for those who will stand up, speak up and won’t be shut up, no matter how powerful the pressure or painful or embarrassing the world’s rejection. Those who will not cave in or succumb to the ridicule or scorn of their peers, the press or politicians. Those who will not be overly concerned about what the mainline or mainstream will think or say about them.

Those who are more concerned about God’s approval than the acceptance and applause of all the world around them. Yes, God is seeking those who care more about the future of their family, than financial success or failure. Those whose principles are not for purchase at any price. Those who do not mind the world knowing who they are and where they stand. Those will hold the line against accommodation and compromise whatever the cost.

Those who take seriously the words of Christ who said, "No man can serve two masters." Because truly, as has been said, "Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, in the strife "twixt truth and falsehood, for the good or evil side."

Only as people are truly converted and accept the challenge of true discipleship and the calling to commit their life and living to Christ, will the tides of evil that threaten to inundate and overwhelm our world be effectively countered.

The Perfect Place

Have you ever considered the best place to be in time of trouble? For the small animal, scurrying for safety in order to escape the sharp talons of a circling shadow, it may be crack in a rock. For the fox, relentlessly pursued by the pack, it may be his den. For the child, it may be his mother's arm. For the soldier, it may be a simple foxhole. For the weary traveller, it may be the light up ahead. For all these, who seek shelter in time of trial, trouble or tribulation, there is a perfect place.
Late one afternoon, many years ago when we lived In an area known as tornado alley, the flash of continuous lightening lighting the darkening sky and constant echo of the terrible roll of
thunder warned of impending disaster. As night approached, I became quite concerned that I might find a place of protection for me young family. I sought a place and found it.
But there were others who were not as fortunate. The next day, as a pastor, I visited my cousin, one of the survivors of the terrible storm that came that night, in a local hospital. His body was bruised, broken and battered. He told me of his ordeal. He, his wife and his in-laws, saw the same storm approaching, They hurriedly began to prepare to go to their elaborate outside concrete storm shelter to spend the night. Just as his wife approached the door to rush outside, she turned and embraced him and said, "Oh no, it's too late.." The next thing he remembered was being spun around high in the air as the terrible wind wrenched his wife from his arms. His wife was found a few hundred metres from him. She and her mother didn't survive.  They did not make it to their perfect place of shelter and refuge.
Sometimes a Christian needs a perfect place of shelter during the inevitable storms of life. The Christian life at best is a stormy and sometimes troubling and terrifying experience. Jesus said it would be so when He told us that in this world we would have tribulation. But the exact location of that perfect place for a Christian may vary with time and circumstance.

The perfect place for Noah was an Ark, Even though it had never rained in all of history, he was called to warn his friends and neighbors of the inconceivable judgment of God and invite them into that perfect place of shelter. He preached and warned for one hundred a twenty years, but they would not heed, so only eight souls found refuge in God's perfect place,

The perfect place for Enoch was taking a walk with Jehovah. Someone has envisioned it like this, "Enoch and Jehovah were walking along one day, and talking as they as the always did, when God noticed they had gone much further than ordinary. It was a long way home for Enoch. So God said to Enoch, 'Why don't you just come along to my place tonight, it's much closer than yours. It's a perfect place for you."
The perfect place for Abraham was not in the land of his birth, the Ur or Chaldee, but as a pilgrim and sojourner on a journey to a promised land. A city whose builder and maker was God. Later, the perfect place for his son, Issac, was lying atop a rough stone altar of sacrifice, on top of a mountain, trussed up hand and foot, awaiting the thrust of his father sacrificial knife.
The perfect place for Joseph was a pit, a prison and then a throne. The perfect place for Daniel was a lion's den. The perfect place for the three Hebrew children was a fiery furnace The perfect place for Job was sitting in an ash heap, covered with boils from head to toe, being tongue lashed by his fair weather friends and nagged by an unrelenting wife. The perfect place for Jonah was the belly of a whale. The perfect place for David was hiding from the wrath of Saul in a Judean cave. The perfect place for Elijah was beside a brook being fed by the ravens. The perfect place for John the Baptist was in Herod's prison awaiting the executioner's axe. The perfect place for Paul was a basket on a city wall and later a cold, dark, dank cell in the Marmertine prison on the banks of the Tiber river.   The perfect place for our Savior was a manger, a garden, a hill and a cross.
What do all these places have in common and what is the perfect place for a Christian? Obviously, it is sheltering in the very center of God's will. Even in the greatest tribulation, those who turn to God and trust in Him, will find a perfect place of rest and peace!