TIME FOR ACTION
Make the Most of Your Time
We have but a short time left to serve our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Anyone who studies prophecy should be stimulated into action, for the time of our departure from this earth is very near. This present opportunity to serve our wonderful Lord will soon be past, let us be careful that we do not waste this precious time.
Some who claim to be teaching the word of God say, "The Lord could delay His return another few hundred years." I do not hesitate to say this is the lie of the devil. The devil would like us all to be scoffers. A scoffer is anyone who does not really believe the Lord is coming soon.
2 Pet 3:4-5 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
The closer we get to the return of the Lord, the more scoffers there will be. We must be careful that we do not allow them to influence us to become scoffers ourselves. How can Christians say the Lord may not return for another hundred years, and worse yet, for a few hundred years. Such an interpretation only encourages Christians to live for this world and not for the Lord. We are supposed to be expecting the Lord to return soon and living every day as though it was our last opportunity to serve Him.
Luke 12:16-21 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
We should not be making long range plans for our retirement and we should not be putting away money for future generations who are not even born yet, as some are doing.
In this day of affluence we could plug many people into this story as the rich man, even many Christians could be substituted in this story as the rich man. The modern day translation is simple, someone who has worked hard and saved for retirement and has not been rich in good works. When we keep our focus on the Lord's soon return we are more concerned with doing the will of God than we are with accumulating wealth for a future on this earth. We build up treasure in heaven rather than on earth. It is sad to think that many of us have been so foolish with the time and other resources the Lord has given us. As we focus on the Lord's soon return we will be careful in the use of our time and money, we will be wise and not foolish. The reason the Lord gave us all the prophecies, about the end time and the rapture and His return to this earth, is because He wants us to always be expecting His return. The Lord also wants to motivate us to be encouraged in living for Him and not for this world, to build up treasure in heaven and not on earth.
Matt 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
When I consider the Lord's soon return it makes me want to live a life that is fully pleasing to the Lord, knowing that I do not have much more time to serve Him. It is my heart's desire to hear the Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." The belief that the Lord is coming soon motivates us to live what remains of our short time on earth for Him and not for ourselves, to invest in heaven and not on earth.
Paul did not teach the early Christians that the Lord may not come for hundreds of years, but he taught them that the Lord's return may be at any moment. If the first century Christians were encouraged to look for the Lord to return in their lifetime, how much more should we be encouraged to look for His return in our lifetime.
1Thes 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1Thes 5:8-10 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Notice in the above verses, Paul says to the Thessalonians "we and us" and not they or them, the Thessalonians were expecting the Lord in their life time. Paul never gave the least little hint that the Lord would not return for hundreds of years, but here in the time of the end some Christians are teaching that the Lord may not return for hundreds of years yet. A teaching that is not biblical, but is a lie of the devil. Remember how Jesus rebuked Peter.
Matt 16:21-23 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Anyone who teaches that Jesus Christ may not return again for a hundred years is doing the same as Peter did when he rebuked Jesus for telling His disciples about the things that He was soon going to suffer. Peter was speaking for Satan and not for God just as some are speaking for Satan today. Peter was being a stumbling block to Jesus, just as some are being a stumbling block to other Christians today. Peter was not seeking the interest of God but of man, just as some are not seeking the interest of God but of man today. I know that these are strong words but we must be careful that we are not used by Satan, as Peter was. Nowhere in the word of God do we find any statement to the effect that the Lord could delay His return another few hundred years.In light of the prophecies we have been given, I cannot see how any Christian could truly believe the Lord may delay His return another few hundred years.
It seems that everyone is afraid to be classified as a date setter, but we are not setting dates when we say the Lord is coming soon.
Maranatha
All Scripture taken from King James Bible
* Bible Studies by Max Swan
Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD. (NAS) Jer 9:23-24