God's Word to the Wise

There is far too much time spent on the eschatological details of the return of Jesus. I don’t care if they put 666 on my forehead, or Trump is the antichrist, or if there are 35 earthquakes in a certain time period. God has revealed His blueprint for what His people need to be doing as we await Jesus’ glorious return, and splitting doctrinal hairs as to what are the signs of His imminent return is not in His plan. 

Rather than speculating about the “Signs” of the return of Jesus, we need to be engaged in the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

Since Jesus can return at any moment (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) people need to know how to be prepared for His return. We need to focus on sharing Christ (The Gospel) with everyone we can. Jesus commanded His disciples, (That’s Us) to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20) The Scriptures also instruct how the Christian is to live until the Lord returns.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”(2 Peter 3:10-18) 

Pastors, stop wasting your and your people’s time, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:44)