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.)
I think quite often about the Rapture of the Church, the return of Jesus for believers prior to the Tribulation, a doctrine of comfort that we have considered for the past week. However, I am certain that I do not think about it enough. Why don’t we all spend more time meditating upon “that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13)? Certainly our current affluence draws our attention away from the glories of heaven; often, we are quite comfortable here. Similarly, like Martha (Luke 10:38-42), we are busy and easily distracted. Also, since we have never seen anything as dramatic as Jesus appearing for us in the clouds (I Thessalonians 4:17), it is challenging to comprehend it; we have no present frame of reference. Of course, it is exactly the fact that the Rapture is so completely distinct that we should be so excited about it. Our God is ever creative and is always doing something new – new and glorious. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).