Eternal life resides in Jesus and in Him alone. No one else! This is true now and will also be the case after Jesus removes His true church from the earth.
In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What do people need the most? The answer remains the same as it’s always been: A clear understanding of the Gospel. By this I mean that people need Jesus, not the one that so many today create in their mind but but the One revealed on the pages of Scripture.
My parents owned a trucking company that began, many years ago, by catering to farmers with such services as hauling their livestock to the Chicago Stockyards. One of my dad’s customers lived in a large two-story farmhouse that had a pinnacle rising above the roof with windows on all sides.
I remember asking my dad about this unusual feature and he told me that the previous owner of the house built it as a place to watch for the Lord’s return. The idea of someone building a room for that purpose impressed me as a small child (I was about eight years old at the time).
I now understand that although building such a watchtower might have displayed faith in Jesus’ promises, it’s not what He had in mind when He instructed us to “watch” for His coming.
The Lord’s command for us to “watch” is perhaps the most ignored of all His direct instructions to His followers. I can’t remember hearing a pastor of a local church preach on it although many of them repeatedly stress the necessity of the Great Commission because the Lord Himself commanded us to spread the Gospel to the world.
After He answered the disciples’ questions regarding the signs that would mark His “coming and the end of the age” in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:3ff), the Lord gave His followers (us) three specific instructions:
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).
“Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13).
Today, as we see the fulfillment of all that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 rapidly approaching, is this not the time we especially need to “stay awake,” “be ready,” and “watch”?
Although the farmer who built the watchtower may have had good intentions, Jesus had other things in mind than sitting in a room in anticipation of His return. Let’s take a look at how watching for His return applies to our day.
Watching begins with believing what Scripture says about the end times. In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked this question at the end of His parable about the persistent widow, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Why would the Lord to insert this particular question at the end of a parable about the need for persistence in prayer? Just as it takes faith to persevere in bringing our requests before the Lord, does it not also take the same determination to remain hopeful of His imminent appearing as we wait year after year?
Watchfulness begins with believing what Scripture reveals about Jesus’ imminent appearing. Christians who lack such a belief often place all their hope in future aspirations for this life rather than eternity and as a result, remain blind to how world events point to the nearness of the Rapture.
We watch by paying attention to the many signs of the rapidly approaching Tribulation. The Rapture can happen at any moment and without warning. However, because it occurs before the start of the seven-year Tribulation, we take note of the many signs pointing to the nearness of this time of God’s wrath upon the earth. We understand how the news headlines of our day align with how Scripture describes the last days.
The lawlessness that’s growing exponentially in American cities at this moment aligns perfectly with what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11. The apostle described antichrist as a “man of lawlessness” and noted that the “mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in preparation for his arrival on the world scene. The current and dramatic uptick in lawlessness is but one more sign of the nearing seven-year Tribulation that heralds the soon appearing of Jesus.
We watch by serving the Lord. In the parable of the “faithful and wise servant,” Jesus said, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Matthew 24:46). Believing what the Bible says about His return leads to activity, not passivity.
As believers, we all have diverse gifts and different callings in the body of Christ (see Romans 12:3-8). Knowing that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing should cause us to be all the more faithful in serving the Lord in the way He has gifted us and called us to serve and share the hope we have as the Lord gives us the opportunity to do so.
Watching implies that we are ready. Of course, readiness for the Lord’s return implies that we have already put our trust in Jesus as our Savior and depend on Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. All those in Christ will participate in the Rapture regardless of what they believe about it.
As New Testament saints, we strive to maintain a close walk with our Savior so we are ready to suddenly find ourselves in His glorious presence (read 1 John 2:28).
Yes, it’s been two thousand years since Jesus commanded His followers to watch for His coming and yet we are still waiting. Is there any advantage in it for our day? Yes, I believe there’s many benefits for us in watching for His appearing.
The Apostle Paul, who initially anticipated that the Rapture might happen in his lifetime, wrote that the Lord will reward all who love Jesus’ appearing with a “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). There’s always been a reward for those who long for Jesus’ appearing, the Rapture. Not only that, but there’s also temporal advantages that flow from our watchfulness.
Watching for Jesus’ appearing puts this life in perspective. Believers who fail to watch most often become preoccupied with their future in this life and as a result lose sight of eternity and all the many blessings that await them. The Lord’s command to watch keeps us from adopting such a myopic perspective on this life; one that brings little comfort when the fierce storms of this life strike and turn all our aspirations, plans, and goals into dust.
There’s a definite blessedness that flows from keeping one eye on eternity as we go about our daily tasks and look to our future. Watching for the Lord’s appearing constantly reminds us about the difference between eternal realities and those that are temporal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
The reassurance that such awareness of Jesus’ imminent appearing brings to us doesn’t depend on how soon it might happen, but rather arises from the absolute certainty that someday Jesus will come to take us home to glory, thoroughly destroy the lawless kingdom of antichrist, and establish His rule of justice throughout the nations.
Yes, the growing violence in our cities, government corruption, and constant rumors of wars distress us at times. However, calmness returns to our souls as we remember that the Bible said the end times would look like this and that God remains sovereignly in control of all things.
My new book, Invitation to a Lavish Feast – Wisdom’s Path to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, is available on Amazon. In it, I provide a compelling defense of interpreting Bible prophecy according to the intent of the prophets and apostles. My book brings to life the necessity of watching for Jesus’ appearing in the day in which we live.
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Our expectation is not only that of meeting Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17), but also that of a resurrection body; one that will be a huge upgrade from our weak “flesh and blood” bodies. No matter what we experience in our current aging and disease-prone bodies, we know it’s temporary. And nothing, not even death, can change the fact that when Jesus appears, He will give us immortal bodies.
Back in October 1962, I sensed the fear that gripped the U.S. because of the threat posed by the presence of Russian missiles in Cuba. Today, the situation is far more terrifying; because we are significantly closer to a nuclear conflict than in the last century. For most people, however, a dreamlike aura persists despite the imminent perils.
Most people live in a “bubble of normalcy” where they feel secure because of exaggerated and unrealistic hopes of either a return to normalcy or of their current lifestyle continuing indefinitely into the future unhindered by the perils around them. They sleep with no fear that their bubble might burst in the near future.
As we watch the world grow increasingly violent and lawless, how do we know that the Lord will rescue us before the world feels the full weight of God’s wrath? What if we are not walking with the Lord at the time of His appearing? Will we be left behind?
1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 answers these questions for us. For those of us in Christ, it’s a passage that drips with God’s grace toward us as New Testament Saints.
The Bible is quite clear about our joyful hope of receiving immortal bodies at Jesus’ appearing (1 Corinthians 15:48-54, Philippians 3:20-21).
This is not a fringe teaching, not at all, but it comes from several passages where the wording is unmistakable and cannot be misconstrued to mean anything else than our hope of resurrected bodies .
As many of you can attest, those of us in this group have been disenfranchised, ostracized, by churches that claim to believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture.
How did we get to this place? Why are we regarded as outcasts in churches that claim to believe the Bible and in many cases faithfully proclaim the saving message of the cross?
How can you not see the signs of the last days everywhere you look?
For most of you, the question is a confirmation of what you believe rather than one expressing doubt in your convictions. For those that place their hope in the church rather than Jesus’ imminent appearing, I have much for them to consider.
In Philippians 3:20, Paul wrote, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The residents of first century AD Philippi understood the value and meaning of citizenship. As a Roman colony, they enjoyed many of its privileges. The also understood what it meant to be citizens of a faraway city. For us, the words bring needed reassurance of our glorious hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing.
Scripture is remarkably clear about this: the time leading up to the seven-year Tribulation, as well as the period itself, will be marked by overwhelming and widespread deception.
As we look around us, it’s unmistakable that this has reached epidemic levels, which signifies that we live in the shadow of the coming seven-year Tribulation.
Somewhere in the past, a tragic divorce occurred; theologians decided we must separate the return of Jesus for His church from the proclamation of the Gospel. The results of this untimely divorce have led to a dearth of understanding among believers regarding Jesus’ appearing and the joyful anticipation that comes with such awareness.
The consequences of this have been tragic.
Many regard talk of threats to their wellbeing as conspiracy theories, outcomes they see as so far out of the ordinary that they cannot possibly be true. But what if they are more than just annoying musings of doomsday purveyors?
This article asks you to make the call: Are they conspiracy theories or spoiler alerts of what lies ahead in the future?
