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 time?” 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.)
Another indicator of the impending end is the neverending existence of conflict. As we approach this end, war will continue and increase. Jesus said in Mark 13:7, “When ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.” Verse 8 adds, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom… these are the beginnings of sorrows.” Last century, we fought two world wars. Now, we live under the threat of nuclear annihilation. I remember a conversation around the dinner table during my freshman year in college (an extraordinarily secular school). As I was wrestling with the gristly ham (thank God for home cooking!), the subject of discussion turned to the possibility of nuclear war. Someone asked for my opinion. After finally managing to swallow the nearly inedible comestible, I said that I did not believe that a nuclear conflict would be the end of the world, but that final judgment would instead come from the throne of God (Revelation 4-19). At the end of my senior year, a friend (even though he was a fan of the New York Yankees) came to me and asked if I remembered that conversation. I did, but only because he brought it to mind. He told me that he went home after that discussion, dug out a Bible that he had never opened, and read the book of Revelation. Eventually, he trusted in Jesus as his Savior. God is so good that He can take even our fear of nuclear obliteration and use it to draw us to Himself. His words of warning are always designed for our benefit. “Be ye not troubled.”