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.
Bible prophecy matters; it’s the key to understanding the day in which we live. We need a true Scripture-based perspective of what lies beyond this life in order to make sense of our journey through it.
Without it, we would struggle to understand how a sound biblical worldview intersects with the tragedies, senseless violence, corruption, and lawlessness that are so rampant in our day.
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.
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.
