Tag Archives: Second Coming

The Day Will Come

3 Replies

My brother and I would blast out the bedroom door, take a quick left and a right, and then tumble down the stairs, barely touching them.  The long wait was over; Christmas morning had finally come!  How well I can remember the excruciating wait for Christmas.  The days dragged by.  It seemed Christmas would never arrive. And when it did, we couldn’t get out of bed and downstairs fast enough. 

These days I feel a similar sense of anticipation, not for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but to get the party started celebrating His second coming. 
There were 400 years of darkness and confusion for God’s people, leading up to the birth of our Savior.  How they yearned for God to fulfill His promise. 
True, when He came, not everyone could see Jesus for Who He was.  But when they did (and when they still do!) their darkness was overcome by His great light, their despair was swallowed up by deep joy.

As we wait for Jesus’ return, once again there is darkness and confusion running loose on the planet.  I don’t need to list the examples; you watch the news, too.  Once again, we yearn for Christ to come.  It seems as though the day will never arrive.  But God is faithful and that day will surely come. 

For some, His coming will bring complete destruction as He sweeps away the wickedness and darkness. 

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”  (Malachi 4:1-2)

Just like my brother and me on Christmas morning…

God’s Laundry

Leave a reply

Dirty socks may not understand this, as they are sloshing around in the washer, but they have nothing to fear, not even from the repeated rinse and spin cycles.  People who are gathered to God in Jesus have nothing to fear either, from the growing bloodthirstiness of ISIS, the new alliances between the evil dictators of Russia, Syria and Iran, or the hostility toward Israel that simmers in Egypt and Iraq.  God told us to expect all that, all that and more.  There’s no way for us dirty socks to know if this will be the final rinse and spin, but we can take heart in knowing that things turn out well for God’s Laundry:

This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares:   “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.  On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.  On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the LORD. “I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations.   Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.’  –  (Zechariah 12:1-5)

Back to Square One

Leave a reply

Israel is surrounded by hostile nations, several of whom have pledged to wipe her from the face of the earth.  Pray for her.  But don’t be surprised.  God’s plan to rescue the earth from the grip of evil began there and it will end there – at Israel.

When God called Abraham, pledging that all nations would be blessed through him, He relocated Abraham to the land now known as Israel.

” The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

When Abraham’s descendants had later become enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, God sent Moses to take them back to the land, the land of Israel.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’” (Exodus 33:1)

When God sent His Son as the Savior, He was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, began His ministry in Galilee and was crucified and raised in Jerusalem – all located in the land of Israel.

Jesus’ second coming is prophesied to be associated with a gathering of hostile nations, led by evil forces, who will surround His people and attack, at Armageddon, “the mountain of Megiddo,” – in Israel.

“…They [demonic spirits] go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:14-16)

Is the rocket attack by Hamas and the ongoing ground war the beginning of those prophesied hostilities?  I don’t know.  I do know, when it comes, it will happen in Israel.  And I know Jesus warned us to “stay awake,” clothed (with His salvation) and ready.  There have been many times when it seemed as though His coming, and the final battle, would occur soon.  Since 1948, they have been literally centered on Israel.  This was all foretold with astonishing accuracy, beginning roughly 4000 years ago.  God’s plan began and will end in Israel.

Get ready.  If you have not made a decision about Jesus, please do not put it off.  For more information on that, see “Accepting the Gift.”

And please pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth…”

Extreme Makeover

1 Reply

If you knew this family you’d be rooting for them, even though there isn’t much hope for them.  Recently widowed by the war, the single mom struggles to raise her children, one of whom really needs a special wheel chair – the cost of which is beyond thinking about.  She’s just been laid off.  She’s doing her best but the house, damaged badly from a super-storm, is beyond repair… Enter Ty Pennington and the guys from ABC’S “Extreme Makeover, Home Edition.” (This popular show is no longer on the air.)   Within moments of their arrival, the surprised family has been sent off on a posh vacation, bulldozers have been called in, along with ant-like hordes of construction volunteers, to scrape away the house and rebuild it into the home of her dreams.

English: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Feb. 2, 2011) Sa...

English: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Feb. 2, 2011) Sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) help build a home for a mother currently raising six foster children. The project is part of an episode of Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition. Theodore Roosevelt is undergoing a multi-year refueling complex overhaul at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Karen E. Eifert/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s the thing:  While they are gone, It doesn’t take long for hotel living to wear thin, especially with a bunch of kids who have special needs. But they all know that one day they will be back home. They don’t have any idea of what “back home” will be like, simply that it will be unimaginably better. One day soon they will see it. And tour it. And get the keys for it, along with a paid-up mortgage.  Imagine her anticipation.   If you’ve ever watched that show, you know …

Now read this:

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  (1 John 3:2)

John says, “Fellow believers in Jesus, we have been born into the family of God and one day we are going home. We don’t have much of a clue what “home” will be like, but it’s going to be wonderful.”  Maybe that seems like a fantasy to you.  If so, if you think God can’t pull that off, plant some wild flower seeds in dirt – dirt mixed with manure – and wait and watch to see what God does.   Consider whether a caterpillar has any inkling of what the future will be like as a butterfly.

John says we know, that one day we will be like Jesus; that one day we will be able to see Jesus as He really is!   Imagine having eyes that are not startled to see Jesus strolling on a lake or healing the blind. Imagine one day being able to think like Jesus!  We are in for an extreme makeover!

There’s more to this – keep chewing and stay tuned…