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.)
Discerning “the signs of the times” is important but is not to be our focus. We are commanded to look for the appearing of Jesus (Titus 2:13), to know that He will remove us before the Tribulation (Revelation 3:10), that the absence of the restraining power of God the Holy Spirit requires the absence of the Church (II Thessalonians 2:7), and that we cannot be the objects of His wrath (Revelation 6:17; I Thessalonians 1:10; 5:1-11). The careful student of Scripture will also note clear contrasts between the Rapture (which, as we have seen, must occur before the Tribulation) and the Second Coming of Christ (which must happen after the Tribulation). For example, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 pertains to Christians only (verse 16 “in Christ), and Jesus meets us “in the air” (verse 17). However, at His Second Coming, Jesus will again walk this earth (Zechariah 14:1-4); specifically, “His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east” (verse 4). The precise geographic detail is compelling, as is the fact that “all nations” (verse 2) will be there not to welcome Jesus but to oppose Him; clearly, these are not Christians! We also see that the teaching concerning the Rapture should be comforting (I Thessalonians 4:18), whereas the grisly battle that accompanies Jesus’ return to earth is grimly necessary and hardly consoling (Revelation 19:11-27). The imminent return of Jesus, for us before the Tribulation, is consistent with His character and with the promises of His Word. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).