To say we are living in the last days is an understatement. I believe we are close to the next greatest event on God’s prophetic calendar, the rapture of the church. The Apostle Paul defines the rapture in I Thessalonians 4:15-17, “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. 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.”
I believe we are in the last of the last days. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter rose with the eleven and began to preach these words in Acts 2:17, “‘And it shall come to pass in the last days’, says God, ‘That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’”
How do we know we are living in the last days? The disciples asked Jesus this same question in Matthew 24:3, “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” He answers their questions by revealing the following signs in Matthew 24:4-8, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Where are we on God’s prophetic time clock? We are in the beginning of sorrows. Luke 21:25-26 says, “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.”
How do we prepare for the coming of the Lord? John 3:3 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” As believers, we must watch and pray. Mark 13:3 says, “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” To watch means to be spiritually alert. We must live with an expectancy that Jesus could come at any moment.
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