Discerning the Signs but Looking for the Lord
I do listen. As I get older, I forget more easily, but I do listen to people’s concerns. In the last several years, a number of devoted Christians have asked me some form of the following question: “Are we close to the return of Jesus Christ?” As with any Biblical teaching, we must be careful with this subject. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Later, in Acts 1:7, He added, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.” Paul wrote in I Thesssalonians 5:2 that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Thus, date-setting defies God’s Word and dishonors our Savior. However, in Matthew 16:3, Jesus pointedly asks, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times?” We do not know and cannot know the exact time of Jesus’ Second Coming and the resulting period of the Tribulation, but we are told to seriously study the signs found in Scripture. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
An eighteenth evidence of the end is found in the passage that we considered in part yesterday, Luke 17:20-37. In verses 28-32, Jesus compares the coming cataclysm to the conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:1-19:38). In II Peter 2:6-9, the same event is provided as an “ensample” to us to avoid such “unlawful deeds” (verse 8). Verse 9 then connects to the promised future judgment. The great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was, of course, gross sexual behavior. We do not need to discuss the details, but we can all agree that ours is an age of perversion that perfectly mirrors Romans 1:24-32. Verse 32 is a superb summary of carnal people, “who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Can anyone deny that this sign of intensifying sexual depravity is fully evident today? Let us heed the words of the 1800’s preacher John Jasper: “May sinners be warned, and God be praised.”