Posted on 12/11/2017 7:53:13 AM PST by Gamecock
Predictions about the future return of Jesus have spawned so many bizarre distortions of religion that we have witnessed a severe overreaction among many Christians to our future hope. Some of us live as if Jesus Christ is not coming back. We gild the past and try to freeze the present. But the present is made crucial because of the future. It is because Jesus is coming back that we know that what we are doing in the present counts.
Martin Luther thought Jesus was coming back in his day. Jonathan Edwards thought He was near in the eighteenth century. Both of these titans were wrong. Yet the time of His return is years closer than it was in Luther’s day. Each day that passes makes the return of Jesus closer. It may well be very soon.
When Jesus comes, I want to be ready. I want to be like Elizabeth and Mary, like Simeon and Anna, people who were ready and watching for the appearance of Christ, people who are vigilant, people who watch for the signs of the times and have a hope that will not embarrass them. They long for the vindication of Christ. They yearn for the triumph of His kingdom. They labor with the certain knowledge that their labor is not in vain.
Coram Deo As you labor today in behalf of the kingdom, remember that your work is not in vain.
Passages for Further Study
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Ping
Up is down, good is evil, transgender...and now we get lectured by preterists. Crazy times.
I wouldn’t study 1 Thessalonians without the 2nd letter. Especially the 2nd chapter since it is a direct response to the reaction of the believers to the first. :)
Great Topic. Thanks.
If I’m not on the END TIMES ping list, please put me on. Don’t think I’m on it. Haven’t been getting pings.
So those of us who think we may be seeing biblical prophecy come true right before our eyes should not get excited or say anything. OKAY. GOT IT.
It's right there are people who are taking prophecy too far...and it's truly misleading people.
We do see a realignment of nations and leaders active today on the world stage.....but least one jumps too fast God has in the past slowed it down pretty dramatically. When Israel became a nation in the 40's many believed it would not be long before God would bring the curtain down....yet here we are decades later. I think it's good to be aware of the movement nations are taking....and Israel is always a key as well. This should tell us all that the Gospel message needs to continue to reach the unsaved...and THAT is our first concern.
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