1 Corinthians 15:50-52
– “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a
mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
We are living in what the Bible
defines as the last days. Frances Dixon
wrote, “The certain and glorious fact of the second advent of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ is so clearly stated in the Bible that even a child can
grasp the truth that Jesus, Who first came to earth some two-thousand years
ago, is one day coming again the second time.”[1]
What is the greatest event on God’s
time calendar? According to the Scriptures the greatest event on God’s Calendar
is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible talks about the Second Coming in the Old Testament, the Gospels,
the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and the Revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 15:51 the Apostle
Paul writes concerning the mystery of the coming of the Lord. What is this
mystery? It is what scholars call the
Rapture of the New Testament Church.
Paul reveals more of this mystery in his letter to the church at
Thessalonica.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 reads, “But
I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen
asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in
Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means
precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord
Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel,
and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then
we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the
Lord.”
This great event, His Second
Coming, has been maligned, abused, and even denied in Christian circles. The Apostle Peter addresses these doubts in 2
Peter 3:3-4, “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.”
How do we know that we are living
in the last days and we are near to the coming of the Lord? In Matthew 24 and Luke 21 we learn that there
will be specific signs that reveal that we are close to the greatest event on
God’s calendar.
In Matthew 24:3-14 Jesus reveals
some of these specific signs that will occur before His Second Coming.
·
Verse 5 – False Christ and deception.
·
Verse 6 – Wars and rumors of wars.
·
Verse 7 – Nation against nation, famines,
pestilences, and earthquakes in
various places.
·
Verse 9 – Persecution, betrayal, and hatred.
·
Verse 11 – False prophets.
·
Verse 12 – Lawlessness and the love of many
growing cold.
I believe we are near to the greatest
event on God’s calendar. In light of
this information how should we live? We
must draw near to God. James the
half-brother of our Lord writes in James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Jesus gives
these instructions in Matthew 24:42, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what
hour your Lord is coming.” Verse 43 – “But know this, that if the master of the
house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not
allowed his house to be broken into.”
Verse 44 – “Therefore you also be ready, for Son of Man is coming at an
hour you do not expect.”
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