The Day Approaches

Matt.13:9 - Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Again and again Jesus uses this phrase. And it is also most prominent in the Book of the Revelation. And what do you hear? Are your ears listening to the voice of the Spirit?

Matt.16:1-4 - The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.

The time has overtaken us and yet we slumber. No longer is there any visceral excitement, to say nothing of preparedness, for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we count His words as nothing? Are we so arrogant as to believe that God will not demand an account from His servants? Is the coming of His Majesty nothing more than a doctrinal tenant? We can discern the weather with great skill, and yet we seem willingly ignorant concerning His coming.

And the devil manipulates self righteous men to predict dates so that we will discount the baby with the bath water. Where is the observable manifestations that should accompany a waiting and praying people? And while the world expends much energy in elections and causes not of God’s kingdom, the church happily joins in and seems to rejoice in the temporal and in gospel-less victories.

II Tim.2:3-5 - Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

God’s people have never been called to champion earthly causes. Ours is Christ and His gospel. And His gospel is incompatible with all other causes and messages. Earthly things corrupt the sacred. We must strive lawfully, which in kingdom parlance means we must operate within the teachings of Jesus and not learn the ways of carnal men. We must reject Saul’s armor and embrace the humility and seeming insufficiency of five stones. Our sufficiency is of God.

But so much of the visible church continues its redundant ecclesiastical expressions with so little passion and spiritual intensity that the world mocks us. “Here,” we say, “Read our statement of faith and you will see that we believe that Jesus is coming back”. And yet the way we pray, the way we spend our money, and the way we are energized by temporal issues are completely at odds with someone who truly believes Jesus is coming again. Our statements of faith mock us as well.

But that great day approaches with the surety and integrity of God’s honor. There will be no escape, and while the church looks for more ingenuous ways to fill the pews and to elicit building funds from its people, the coming of Christ draws nigh. Are you looking for signs? They are there.

Lk.21:8-11 - And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

I know that speaking of His return has fallen out of favor in this generation, but those of us who have known Christ for decades remember a day in which at least it was spoken of. There are rumors about eclipses, and asteroids, and alignment with the galactic center, and there are certainly more weather anomalies all over the world. Who's to say which ones are divine signs predicted by Christ, but we as believers should be moved by God’s Word rather than any signs.

Heb.10:25 - Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The day approaches. Very soon that phrase will be in the past tense.