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.
The noise was almost deafening. Up to that point, the Iowa crowd had been rather quiet as it looked like the Indiana football team was about to score another touchdown and seal their victory. The mood in the stadium changed suddenly when the Indiana quarterback lost control of the ball and an Iowa player, Tyler Sash, grabbed the ball and ran it eighty-six yards for a touchdown.
By the time he reached the goal line, all seventy-thousand Iowa fans were standing and cheering ecstatically.
Something clicked inside me the other evening as Ruth, my wife, and I read from the book Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge. As we took turns reading from his chapter, “Allowing for Transitions," a thought occurred to me on a completely different wavelength than that of the author.
What if our current COVID-19 experience is itself a time of transition for believers, the United States, and even the world?
Scripture has become my lifeline in these days of such uncertainty. Even so, I often feel heaviness in my soul as I watch the responses to COVID-19 in my state and in my nation. Perhaps the weight I feel comes from sensing that the tribulation is so close I can almost touch it, but in spite of that I remain earthbound eagerly waiting for Jesus’ imminent appearing.
For this article, I want to focus your attention on two particularly encouraging promises from 1 Thessalonians 5;9-10.
Since COVID-19 lock downs began across the United States, I have heard several Bible-based messages intended to comfort the faithful. Many of them, however, failed to offer any real encouragement to me because they ignored or missed the prophetic context of the day in which we live.
Today’s popular messages of comfort ignore what the Bible says is coming and thus leave believers uniformed of what’s at stake for them in the days ahead.
At first it seemed rather odd to me. A Facebook discussion on prophecy ended with a man praising the church. Although I forget most Facebook comments I read, this one has stuck with me for several years.
Why was this person ascribing glory to the church in support of his belief that Jesus had already returned in 70 AD? Though it may not have been his intent, he exalted the body of Christ over its Head.
Our expectation is not the wrath of God that will be poured out during the day of the Lord or the seven year tribulation. Dying side by side with the Christ-rejecting world experiencing God’s horrendous judgments is most assuredly NOT our “blessed hope.” No, no, no! Our imminent expectation consists of seeing Jesus face to face and that moment is rapidly approaching. This is the substance of our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, I have felt a wide range of emotions. At times anger has surged inside me as I have watched news accounts of many elected officials attempting to take advantage of the crisis for personal or political advantage.
The words of Psalm 46:10 have been my frequent place of refuge the many emotions stirring inside me; they have often restored peace and brought greatly needed reassurance to my soul. Like many of you.
Are you crazy!? I realize some of you might think so after reading my title. How can I be so sure of something so hotly debated within the church? Most Christians either say we cannot know anything for sure about the Lord’s return or they dismiss the rapture altogether.
In spite of all the dissension today, I know Jesus is coming for all His saints, for us, before the start of the tribulation.
If you are like me, you are sick of hearing about COVID-19. I think that’s why I have delayed for so long in writing a post about it. I do not have new information to share about what to expect and I hear the same conflicting information as you do.
However, I do have some suggestions on maintaining a calm spirit during this time of chaos in our world.
A comment on my blog referred to our current day as the “shadow of the tribulation;” I think that is quite accurate. The horrible conditions of the tribulation have not yet started, but we see its ever darkening shadow everywhere in the world.
Here are some examples what it means to live in the shadow of the tribulation:
I remember a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation television series where Data is in his room watching water come to a boil in a flask. When someone walks in and asks what he is doing he explains that the old adage, “A watched pot never boils,” is just not true. As proof, he says that he has watched water come to a boil 23 times in a row without fail.
For those of us awaiting the imminent return of Jesus, there are days when we are tempted to wonder if a “watched for” Jesus never appears to take us home.
Is God finished with Israel? Most pastors today would answer yes. They either believe God has replaced Israel with the church or they may tell you that Jesus Himself fulfilled all the promises and covenants regarding Israel.
As a result, they see no prophetic significance in Israel’s miraculous rebirth as a nation. Those in this no more Israel camp make two critical errors.
While I do not claim to have 20/20 vision for what lies ahead in the coming year, I believe it could very well be a tumultuous time that will bring the fulfillment of many biblical prophecies much closer if not to fruition.
I am not making predictions with what follows, but rather pointing to certain 2020 events that I believe will make 2020 highly significant in regard to biblical prophecy.
While Scripture alone must be our sole source for faith and practice, the study of church history does serve a couple useful purposes. First, it helps us understand the historical background for what we believe. And second, it refutes those who use church history against what we believe. This last point is especially true in the realm of future things.
The scoffers of our day love to tell us that no one believed like we do until the late nineteenth century.
