The End - ‘Are You Ready’ Pt 3
‘But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that the end is near’ Luke 21:20.
‘But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days’ Daniel 12:13.
‘…and of His kingdom (Jesus) there will be no end’ Luke 1:33.
Words, Circa 2008: ‘I hear the echoes in the street’s everyday; people on phones, people frowning, people rushing here and there. Now the pace of life is so great. The world is shifting profoundly, in the middle of a global GFC. Housing and stock markets are in world crisis; debts are high, fuel and food are expensive. Human body systems are failing: taxed hearts, fat arteries, confused minds, and tender souls being crushed under the weight of the accelerating ways of the world. It’s all getting harder and some people just can’t do it anymore; humans are not built for this. But in the modern world we have to eat, drive cars, and live in a home. True peace and rest evades us still as we rush about in the human will; trying to make it happen, trying to make it all safe and perfect, in a world that we forget is already fallen, spiralling out of control and heading for an end.’
‘In the days of Rome the elite had chariots, today nearly everyone has a family ‘chariot,’ but the horsepower is fueled by oil, controlled by a few of the elite in the world - mainly in the Middle East. The few are multi billionaires many times over, who, in a society of strict religious code, ironically expend their wealth on all things excessive, luxurious and western. The global masses in their four wheeled chariots continue to pollute the whole world at unprecedented levels, running to and fro at the mercy of the oil barons and the fickle share market economy. But how long can we all live like this? Are we at the end?’
Today it is 2021, the world now watches everything on devices anywhere. The Internet gives unprecedented instant global access to the Christian gospel. It is a reminder that the end is actually near; because the magnificent gospel will be preached to the whole world and then the end shall come (Matthew 24:14). But is the global Church ready for the end? Or are we blurred to the signs of the end by all that we see and do? We are also told in scripture to be ready for the end, by reading and understanding the signs of the end, as they will let us know when it is obvious that the Lord’s coming is very near. This piece is a reminder that the end is real, we must endure, be ready, and not be distracted from the truth, in a world spiralling out of control
The lessons are in scripture everywhere about the end and it is wise that we learn them. The end ‘song’ is getting louder and louder as the years pass by, and the melody of the words of Jesus tell us to be ready. It’s a ‘hook’ we all must have playing repeatedly in our hearts and minds…
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. No one knows about the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” Matthew 24: 32-44.
The lesson here in being ready and understanding the signs of the end, is that everything will appear normal before Jesus returns. People will be falling in love, getting married, partying, drinking coffee in the café’s, eating in restaurants, doing all the human stuff, and then BAM! He will ‘break into the world’ like a thief does into a house, unexpected, and turning this world as we know it completely upside down.
The Disciple Mark tells us that ‘those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning of the world, until now – and will never be equaled again’ Mark 13:19. The prophet Daniel echoes this, ‘there will be a time of distress such has not happened from the beginning of nations until then’ Daniel 12:1. Paul’s disciple Timothy tells us, ‘that in the last days perilous times will come’ 2 Timothy 3:1. The prophet Amos calls it a ‘day of darkness’ Amos 5:18. Daniel also asked God this question: ‘How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?’ Daniel 12:6.
We should also be asking that question today, as we are commanded in scripture to keep watch, understand, and be ready for this to happen; sadly many Christians today are not. The world has many entangled up to such a degree that their Christianity has become something else altogether. The Lord replied to Daniel and said, ‘those who are wise will understand’ Daniel 12:10. Then the Lord said,‘You will rest, and then at the end of days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance’ Daniel 12:13. Those days are now very close.
‘For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you Brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief.”1Thessalonians 5:2-4.
If we are in the Light of Christ and not in the devil’s darkness, the truth of the end should not be overwhelming, negative, or doomsday, causing you to give up. The ‘heavy’ truth should inspire you to be even more diligent in your life, and more desirous to be effective in our world for Jesus, and for his return. When you know the scriptures, about what happens at the end, it certainly looks horrendous for those who are lost. Our world and the way of life as we know it will cease to be, but our salvation in Christ is coming at His return, and He has a wonderful plan beyond all our dreams; in that, we all must trust.
However, a great shaking will come, and in fact is already steadily happening. When you consider the end, and being ready for it, you clearly see what truly matters; that people are to meet their creator and know Him, and to find their future security is through Him alone and nothing else.
The Bible says everything in the end will be shaken – are you ready for it? “For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations (Jesus), and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts’ Haggai 2:6-7.
“See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven (Haggai 2:6)” Hebrews 12:25-26.
This is a lot of heavy shaking going on, and it is going to get the attention of everyone on this earth! The shaking is likened to the undulating waves of a field of wheat in the wind. It will come in waves causing the earth, sky, and heavens, to move in, out, up and down. There will be quaking in the earth, shifts in the sea, signs in the heavens, things will happen that will make people very afraid. It will happen quickly like the spring of a plague Locust, jumping from leaf to leaf. We can see these things are happening exponentially already. It also means there will be test, trial, hardship and the shaking off of all the distractions of life. Why? God loves us and does not want to lose any of His children.
There is a lost world that needs to know the absolute truth that God is real, He is coming back, and all that we pursue in this world is absolute vanity in context. God has a purpose beyond all what we see and do in this life, and it is far greater than we can ever envisage. Are you ready for it?
Consider any person, any society, anywhere… ‘Her fingers ached of late, starting to feel brittle like little chocolate Crunchie bars left in a fridge. Pain shot up her left arm. The sinews in her wrist (the ones that feel like little bass guitar strings) twitched all by themselves, she stared at her forearm, her mind swimming in a soup of thoughts from thirty years ago - when she was forever young, svelte and beautiful. Those days when she baked in the sun with abandonment, and was a carefree soul with limitless possibilities ahead of her; when dying was something other people did.’
‘The small brown patches were now increasing in number on her weathered hands,‘cancer?’ she thought in fear. All of a sudden she felt old again. In her mind she was still young, fit, and sharp, but 59 was the real number. On her head the grey hairs were now thick, her body was dying with an in-built entropy use-by-date, and she could do nothing about it. How she hated that, how she just did not understand…’
‘She was fortunate to be working from home in these past pandemic years, but it was still a safe computer job in an office, be it her own, work that had nothing to do with her undiscovered God given purpose and calling, except to keep paying the skyrocketing mortgage, food, fuel, and the never-ending economic demands of the very troubled times on earth. Every day she questioned what was important, she feared for what was left of her future, her children, and her small grandchildren; the fear and anxiety was overwhelming and getting worse.’
‘She understood now that death was inevitable for every person, and somehow it was inching closer to her; she could see, and feel it coming. Yet, after all these years, life still did not make a whole lot of sense. “What is life all for – just this?” She asked herself in her coffee break. She loved her husband, had nice friends, a nice house, a safe car, a safe job, elite private health insurance, a healthy superannuation, everything was safe, but she felt so deeply insecure; the feeling was getting worse.’
Who will answer all her questions and help her get ready? The signs of the end are all around her, but she can’t see them for what they truly are, through the fog of unbelief and the blur of the everyday busy demands of the world. Do you see them? Are you ready and willing to answer her questions? Boldly share and step out of your comfort zones.
“Beloved… knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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 creation.” For this they wilfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
“Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” 2 Peter 3:1-12.
There…it is written…amazing…the earth is going to be loosened, broken up and dissolved, literally! God is not willing any perish. What then is really important? Look around your suburb, your nation, at all the grand achievements of men and history. One day… it is not going to be there. What manner of person are you to be as a Christian in the end? Are you ready for the end?
By Stephen Bennett 10/11/2021
Author - The End - He who endures shall be Saved
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The End - He who endures shall be Saved
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