"And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in all
the world as a witness
to all nations, and then the end will come."
Matt 24:14
******************
Let's begin with prayer....
"Father God, thank You for reminding us in Your word that this world is truly coming to an end. And all who are in the world will be held accountable to You in the end. Thank You for Your mercy and grace toward us in that You have given us a warning that one day we will all stand before You....some in confidence and some in shame.
I pray and ask the forgiveness of my sins because I do not want to hide in shame at Your coming. I want to be able to stand in confidence and speak freely when I see You. I pray that You will wash me clean with Your precious and holy blood. I pray that You will renew me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit this day.
I life up to You the ladies reading this study. As she faces a new week, I pray that You will come alongside her and encourage her as many different issues come up. I pray that You will convict us of our sins and keep us in Your word. I pray that she will walk with You today.
In Jesus' name.....amen."
******************************
When He Appears
The Lord is very clear throughout the Bible that there will be an ending to the world. By definition alone, what has a beginning must have an ending. And this world clearly has an end.
In our opening verse, Jesus gives clear instruction to His disciples that many things must occur before He returns. Because John was there when Jesus spoke, he wants the early believers to remember the wise words of Christ:
1 John 2:28-29
"And now little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him."
As Christians, we know that when God said, "Let there be light..." time and space began. Our lives, our history as we know it has an ending. God will turn out those lights that we see and time and space ends.
Therefore, we would be wise to know that we all have an "appointment" that not even our deaths can stop. That appointment is when Christ appears in all His glory and we meet Him in a very personal way.
But Jesus spoke of many things that must take place before His appearing....
Please read:
Gentiles must come to faith and this is done through preaching the gospel message:
-Matt 24:14
-Ro 10:17-18
The Jews must return to the land:
-Ro 11:25-29 Paul wrote that all Israel will be saved when "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in". But right now, some are still blinded to the gospel.
False Prophets and False Christs appear-
-Matt 24:11
-Matt 24:5 & 24
-2 Pet 2:1
-1 John 2:18 & 22
-1 John 4:3
Apostasy from the faith & tribulation for the faithful will occur:
- 2 Thess 2:3
-1 Tim 4:1
-2 Tim 3:1
-Rev 3:10
-Rev 7:13-14
-Is 1:19-20
-Is 2:10-11
The appearing of The Antichrist:
-2 Thess 2:3-12
-Dan 7:25
-Dan 8:25
-Dan 11:36
All these things will happen before Christ returns. As we already know, the Apostles took the gospel message to many Gentile nations where many believed. And we know that the Jews returned to their land in 1948. Among us now are false teachers and the false gospel as well as the apostasy which has already begun. Next will come the tribulation in which the faithful will either fall away or suffer great trials.
The actual date of Christ's return in unknown:
Matt 24:36
Zech 14:7
Acts 1:7
We are to be ready for His return:
Matt 25:1-13
"Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."
Be ready!
****************
All this John already knew because He heard Jesus' warnings in person. So, you can imagine the urgency in John's writings to the new church. We would be wise to heed this warning as well: Abide in Him.
Stay, remain, endure so that when He appears, we can have confidence and not be ashamed.
Ro 9:33
****************************
Life Application
As Christians, we are to look forward to the coming of Christ always. Do you look and pray for His coming daily? Actually, when we were waiting at the starting line at the marathon, I was hoping the Lord would appear before the gun went off.......
Do you earnestly seek His return?? I know that as I grow older, I certainly do. When I see what this world is becoming, I definitely do pray for His coming!
Last year, at the heralded Sundance Film Festival, a small independent film was wowing critics and disturbing others because of the subject matter:
beastiality
This "taboo" that so far remains a taboo was dealt with in this film which showed men who love having sex with horses. Many of the critics, as Liberal as they are, were sickened with how the director handled this twisted subject. He tried to liken the man/beast sex act with normal man/woman sex.
If this subject still makes ultra-Liberals uneasy, it is a miracle. Because you and I know that soon this subject will be readily accepted world-wide. And that day is coming sooner than we think.
This is why I pray for the Lord's return. I do not want my son to grow up in a world that is so darkened by sexual sin. I weap for those unsaved people who will remain here on earth after all the Christians are taken away with Christ. With us will go all the morality in this world.
If we think things are bad now, imagine this world when all morality is gone.
Ladies, this is why we must be ready for His appearing. We want to be able to stand in boldness and confidence at His coming.
John wrote: "When He appears..." and this literally means when Jesus is unveiled and set before us. What a glorious sight that will be!
Just think of the young bride on her wedding day. She is giddy and excited for her groom to see her in her finest apparel. She does not want to hide and cower in shame at his arrival because her dress is soiled or ruined or that her veil is torn. She wants to stand and receive him as her own. She prepares many months in advance to ensure that this day....this ONE day....is so special, so set-apart from all the others days.
The groom sees all this preparation as a sign of her love for him. Imagine a groom seeing his bride only spending a few minutes preparing for her wedding day. How would he feel?
Those who claimed to be Christians and yet fell away from the Truth of God's word will run in shame at His appearing. Those who turned away and followed the false christs or false gospels will be ashamed at his glorious appearing.
"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him."
So, John tells us to be ready for His appearing....because if we claim to be Christians, then we will not only abide in Him but fervently WANT to abide in Him. That is what it means to know Him....to truly know Him as our bridegroom.
Be ready for your bridegroom who loved you so much He willingly hung on a cross and bled for you until His death. Then, He conquered death for you so you no longer have to fear!
Prepare yourself for that special day when He appears. Show Him how much you love Him by preparing yourself for Him.
Please read:
Eph 4:20-24
Ro 8:13-14
Ro 12:1-2
Ro 12:21
Then you can stand in all confidence at His glorious appearing and see Him as He is.
*********************
Until next time....
"In the person of Christ meet together infinite glory and lowest humility. Infinite glory and the virtue of humility meet in no other person but Christ. They meet in no created person, for no created person has infinite glory; and they meet in no other divine person but Christ."
-Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) (Altogether Lovely, 1997, p. 22)
Blessings,
Ruth
No comments:
Post a Comment