Are You Ready?

I thought to spend this time to talk of the eventual return to earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not like you’ve not heard of this before. But as Martin Luther once remarked, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.”

The first time Messiah Jesus came to us, He came as a Lamb – John the Baptist called Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But this time when He comes to earth, He is not coming as a lamb. He is coming as a Lion – the Lion of Judah. The apostle John describes Him this way in the 19th chapter of Revelation:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire . . . From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

His return might be imminent. I believe SO imminent that we could hear that trumpet before I finish this message. But even if He does not return for another 100 years – everyone on this planet will meet Him one day when our souls stand before Him at the judgment seat of Christ.

That ought to be a fearful thought for everyone who does not follow in obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And so Peter writes in the third chapter of his second epistle: This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

Did you notice the word ‘reminder’ in that passage? Why did Peter feel the need to remind his readers about the second coming? Because human nature is such that we just cannot stand for very long on our tiptoes in anticipation of something, even something exciting.

Let me illustrate my point with an experience I had two decades ago when Nancy and I lived in San Diego.

The highway department had posted notices for a couple of weeks that they planned to fill in the dozens of potholes near our house. They couldn’t fix the road soon enough. I’d nearly driven our minivan into the craters more than a few times.

But because I saw the notices each day, I soon stopped paying attention to them. Before long, the signs disappeared into the background. So, when I left the house one morning and turned the corner, the unusually smooth ride startled me. For the first time in months, I didn’t have to dodge potholes or worry about a repair bill for the car.

Now here’s the point I’m trying to make. Asphalt highways are not the only places ravaged by potholes. Many of us slam into craters along life’s highway. Heartaches jar us to the roots of our teeth. Failures break our confidence. If you’re like me, you’ve had your share of troubles. Maybe more than your share.

Then someone points out the signs along the road to the Celestial City: The rough places will be made smooth (Isaiah 40); In the twinkling of an eye we shall be caught up to be with the Lord (1 Corinthians 15); I will come again and receive you to Myself (John 14).

There are so, so many promises. Over and over, season after season, we hear them. We talk about them. We debate their meaning. Before long, they become old friends.

And that’s the problem. Because they become so familiar, we stop paying attention. The signs of the times get lost in the routines of life and living. We focus so much on dodging the next pothole that we no longer remember the promise that one day all who belong to Christ will leave the house, turn the corner – and find the road paved.

Has that happened to you? Are you on your tiptoes waiting for Jesus to return, or are you settled into your daily routines – like I am settled into my routines – that we don’t hardly think about the sound of that trumpet when the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive at the time shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to be forever with the Lord?

Two thousand years, we have waited. But think a moment how long the Jews of Jesus’ day had been waiting for the FIRST coming? It was at least 1500 years from the time Moses first introduced the promise of the Messiah who would fix what Adam and Eve broke; But Adam and Eve, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel, lived long before Moses.

It would not be unreasonable to say the Jews of Jesus’ day had been waiting for the Messiah for, well, maybe their own two thousand years.

And, of course, Jesus DID COME, as promised. And He will come again, as promised. But as was true in the first century, the second coming of Christ also has its detractors today. Why?  Because, they will say, after 2000 years Christians are still waiting.

As many of you know, St. Peter dealt with that same dismissive argument even in his day. Here is what he wrote in the third chapter of his second epistle:  Mockers will come with their mocking, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (verses 3-5)

But then the Holy Spirit has Peter answer the mockers this way: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (Verses 8-9)

God delays His final return to give as many as will come a chance to repent. But – and this too is important – His patience is not infinite. There comes a moment for every individual, as well as for every nation, that God finally says, “Enough. You have had many, many chances to repent, and you refused. Now comes the judgment.”

And woe to that person and to that nation to whom God says, “You had your final chance.”

As I have already said, I believe we are living in the end days, the very hours before Jesus returns for His Church. I believe it to be so because of the many ‘signs of the times’ that seem to be burgeoning toward the sound of that final trumpet – signs that have NEVER been in place since the first century. Sure, there have always been plagues and wars and famines and earthquakes. But NEVER have we seen the following signs that must be in place before the Lord returns.

First, Israel is back in their land after 2000 years – back in the Land where they have to be for many of the end-time prophecies to be fulfilled – prophecies spoken by prophets such as Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and the New Testament apostles such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul. We do not have time to look at those prophecies, but every student of Scripture is quite familiar with them and they are easily researched if you have access to the internet.

Second, like no other time in the history of earth, technology now enables every government in the western and eastern worlds to track their citizens from the time they leave their homes until the time they return at night. Have you noticed how ubiquitous are those cameras on every street corner and in nearly every place of business? In fact, China is already employing such technology as part of their social credit/demerit system. If a citizen does not live according to the government’s rules, the citizen loses more and more of his or her rights.

Furthermore, that same technology now enables governments to enforce microchipping of every person in western and Asian nations in order to not only track people’s movements, but to permit or prohibit any kind of economic transactions. Revelation chapter 13 speaks specifically to that prophetic measure.

Yes, 2020 is different than any other era in earth’s history when it comes to the impending and complete fulfillment of end-time prophecies.

Which now brings us to the application part of my message. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness . . . Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless . . . (verses 11, 14)

Most of you know I have been a Registered Nurse for 35 years. For the last ten years or so I worked as a nurse educator both at the bedside and in the classroom.

One important detail I always drilled into the minds of my nursing students had to do with making a proper “Room Assessment” at the same time they do their patient assessment. It is not enough, when the nurse comes on shift, to simply assess the patient – vital signs, level of consciousness, wounds, and so forth. They need to ALSO assess the availability of the emergency equipment, such as the suction canister and tubing that must be at the bedside of every hospitalized patient.

I repeatedly told them – based on my own experiences – “The time to discover you need suction equipment at the bedside is NOT when you actually need suction equipment at the bedside for your patient.”

That principle of preparation is also valid in other areas of life. For example: If you don’t believe Christians in America are at the precipice of wide-scale persecution – much more than we are now witnessing – then you have either not been paying attention to the daily and nightly newscasts, or you are simply closing your eyes to reality.

Are you aware that churches of the churches being burned down in the US? Are you aware of the stacks of Bibles that were burned at a protest on August 1 in Portland, Oregon? Did you know churches in the US are being ordered by their various state governments to severely limit the numbers of congregants who can attend worship services – even if they practice social distancing and wear masks? 

Are you aware that the US Supreme Court, on July 24th – two weeks ago – rejected a request from a church in Nevada to block enforcement of state restrictions on attendance at religious services. Although casinos, restaurants, and amusement parks are not so restricted to the numbers in attendance at their businesses, CHURCHES, on the other hand – regardless of the size of their building – were restricted to no more than 50 congregants at any one time.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said the case was nothing less than religious discrimination where the state of Nevada favors Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.

Please listen. The time to discover we need to know our Bible better, and to develop a closer walk with Jesus is NOT when we actually need to know our Bible better and have a closer walk with Jesus.

Next year may be too late to do it as easily as we can still do it.

Yes, the waiting can get wearisome. But know this: Jesus is coming for a people who are looking for Him, who are READY for Him, who live lifestyles without spot or wrinkle.

What that means for me is that I continue to walk with a holy walk, faithfully obeying Jesus' commandments, and earnestly warning others that whether the Lord returns tomorrow, or next century – to warn them that they might meet the Lord tonight in sudden death. And they must prepare their hearts and their souls today, while God has graciously given them that chance to prepare.

The time to learn you should have lived for Jesus in NOT when you are standing at the Judgment Seat of Christ.