Why Do I Sense Something is Coming Soon?

Matt.24:42-44 - Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

When I was born again in 1975 the Second Coming of Christ was a popular topic. Whether it was the rapture or the Second Coming in power, the topic was written about extensively. But the church has long since backed off of that truth, and instead she is focused on the things of this life. It is as if there is a spiritual deafness that has descended upon the body of Christ. We seem concerned about everything but Jesus and His coming again.

Let us be clear, if Jesus is actually coming again, regardless of when, shouldn’t that be prominent in our sermons, our prayers, and in our lives? Forget about 9/11, or the Iranian nuclear program, or an asteroid calamity. The second Coming of the Creator of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be the single greatest and most terrible event in all of history! Many of us have endured through legions of date setters and numerous suppositions and maps and charts concerning this coming event.

But there is something in the air that is very subtle. The whole world clamors about almost everything, and the church is fractured beyond recognition. Many professing believers are leaving the faith by embracing another Jesus, and Scripture itself has been decimated. Preachers are becoming rich and famous and have accumulated large numbers of personal disciples. Immorality runs rampant among all kinds of believers and preachers as well. Divorce is accepted and goes uncorrected.

The Middle East is now a tinderbox that awaits one more match that can ignite a conflagration that consumes the world. The world’s economy is all but bankrupt, and collapse might be just around the corner. There are wars all over, and millions go hungry and starve. Pestilence is rampant in the poorer nations. And with all this and more, the church remains unconcerned with only an occasional feigned interest. It is this last point that leads me to believe we may be living in the midst of the culmination of God’s eternal plan.

There have been dark times for the church before, however has there ever been a time when the church has been oblivious to such obvious signs all around us? And in the midst of everything we are preoccupied with the things of this world, the works of man, and most assuredly ourselves. And the western church bows down to worship green paper. They may call him “Jesus” but in reality he is Baal.

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.