Well, for those of you who don’t know me well, I usually jog on a treadmill six days a week, and this was one of them. If you’ve ever worked out on a treadmill, you know it is next to impossible to get through it without changing visual input- music just doesn’t cut it. So, being in a peculiar mood this morning I decided to throw in 2012, the disaster movie. Probably not a good idea as then I had to drive my son to his bus stop and I was picturing the road fracturing in front of me because of an earthquake- and we don’t really get those here.
Still, the message of the end being near started right in the New Testament with the disciples who taught that one day Jesus Christ would return for all His people, His enemies would be defeated, the old world would end and the new world would arrive. People can laugh at those who carry signs saying the end is near all they want, but the truth is that we are closer to the end now than the disciples were- 2000 years closer!
We don’t like to think about that- but why is that? Are we afraid of what can happen to our bodies? What will happen to our children? Are we afraid of persecution? Or are we just afraid we aren’t really ready, and maybe, just maybe, God who knows our hearts, will leave us behind? So, if we don’t think about it, it won’t happen, right?
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… 1Cor. 15:52
…the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout… and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th. 4:16 -17
sudden destruction cometh upon them… and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 1Th. 5:2-6
These scriptures are clear that two events will happen at God’s timing, and we’ve got to watch (be vigilant- attentive to discover and avoid danger, or to provide for safety) and be sober (to abstain- used chiefly to denote a restraint upon the passions or appetites; to refrain from indulgence). Both the ‘rapture’ and Jesus’ second coming will happen for all God’s Word will pass, even the smallest part (Mt. 5:18; Lk. 16:17).
Why does He warn us? So we can be ready of course. Our hearts, minds and bodies must be right before Him. He wants us to be holy (1Pt. 1:16 ), circumcised of heart (Rom. 2:29 ), and to abstain from fleshly- bodily lusts- desires (1Pt. 2:11 ). How you doing on those points… for me, I keep thinking I gots a long way to go!
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night… what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God… 2Pt. 3:10-12
What if the Antichrist is already here and just working behind the scenes? That would mean the end is during our generation. Are we ready for the end? Are we doing what God wants us to? Are we living righteously? Are we godly in a godless world?
Perhaps I should just stop watching movies that depict the end.
Still, the end is coming and I ask… am I ready?