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.
Do you know there’s credible evidence regarding the discovery of Noah’s ark? In 1959, a Turkish army captain and pilot, Ihan Durupinar, noticed what appeared to be the outline of a large ship near Mount Ararat on the eastern edge of modern-day Turkey. His pictures of what appeared to be the shape of a large seagoing vessel, encased in mud, attracted worldwide attention, led to the investigation of the site by experts, and attracted thousands of visitors to the site.
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.
Since it’s rebirth as a nation in 1948, Israel has been a key to understanding Bible prophecy. The growing determination of many nations to recognize a Palestinian state along with dividing the land of Israel and Jerusalem via a two-state solution yet again confirms the central role of the Jewish state in what Scripture says about the last days.
The dearth of sound biblical teaching on Bible prophecy has created a void that false teachers have filled with a wide assortment of wayward beliefs regarding the church, Jesus’ appearing, the Second Coming, and Israel. As a result, most believers cannot discern the season in which we live and place their future expectations on temporal outcomes rather than eternal realities.
In Invitation to a Lavish Feast, I seek to provide the saints with a firm foundation for their hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing.
Although we see the manifestation of all these things today, it’s but a foretaste of what lies ahead for the world after the Lord removes His Church from the world and with it, the restraining force of the Holy Spirit. Given what I see today, I shudder to think how exponentially worse life will become.
When I was in college fifty years ago, I believed the Rapture could happen at any moment. Since then, like the cutting away of layers of an onion, we have seen an unfolding of world events that have not only confirmed the nearness of the Tribulation and thus to the Rapture, but have also enabled us to better understand the fulfillment of events during the Tribulation.
Do you realize that as New Testament saints, we will take part in the most astonishing and magnificent event that the world will ever see?
Revelation 19 begins with thunderous praise for our Savior followed by our celebration with Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Then, “arrayed in fine linen, white and pure,” we will follow Jesus back to earth riding on white horses (Revelation 19:11-16) .
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.
As the vast corruption of the previous US President and his administration becomes all the more apparent, we wonder how the nation survived during the past four years. President Donald Trump has brought a much-needed change of direction to our nation.
Trump’s renewed support for Israel, the uncovering of the vast wasteful and criminal spending of the past several years, and his strong appeal for peace might suggest to some that the Rapture might not be as close as they thought.
In Romans 8:23, the apostle identifies a key aspect of Jesus’ appearing, “the redemption of our bodies,” and then in verse 24 he states, “For in this hope we were saved.” Paul regarded the event we call the “Rapture” as a key belief because it signified the “hope” contained in the saving message of the Gospel.
Similar to what Josh McDowell wrote in his book, when I place today’s signs of the last days in the scales, they tip the balance overwhelmingly in favor this being the last moments before we as New Testament saints meet the Lord in the air.
The mountain of evidence allows for no other verdict than the one that says we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing.
