Saturday, April 6, 2013

Signs Pt 23- Heaven and earth shall pass away, but NOT Christ's words!


Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Mar 13:28  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:
Mar 13:29  So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
Mar 13:30  Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
Mar 13:31  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Mar 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Luk 21:29  And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Luk 21:30  When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
Luk 21:31  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Luk 21:32  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
Luk 21:33  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

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And the cry goes out that many generations have read these same signs and their generations have passed away, over and over again, two thousand years of generations.  So how do we know? How do we believe this is for OUR generation?

Let me ask this…  how do we NOT believe?

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

In the last days- scoffers!  Are you a scoffer? Do you know a scoffer? They are everywhere denying that Christ is coming, denying in Christ's divinity, denying God, trampling on God.

These scoffers in the last days will be walking after their own lusts.
They will be saying- where is the promise of His coming?
They will be saying - since the fathers have died everything is the same as from the very beginning of creation.

Now let me ask you this… did Jesus come? Do you believe in Jesus? I do.  I believe that Jesus came as the Messiah, as God with us, as our Savior. Yet there are those who do not believe this at all. 

D.L. Moody had this to say-

'The world waited for the first coming of the Lord, waited for 4,000 years, and then He
came. He was here only thirty-three years, and then He went away. But He left us a promise that He would come again; and, as the world watched and waited for His first coming and did not watch in vain, so now, to them who wait for His appearing, shall He appear a second time unto salvation. Now, let the question go round, “Am I ready to meet the Lord if
He comes tonight?”'
--

McCheyne, the Scottish preacher, once said to some friends, “Do you think Christ will come
tonight?”

One after another they said, “I think not.”

When all had given this answer, he solemnly repeated this text: “The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke 12:40

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
D. L. Moody

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The world waited 4000 years for Jesus! How many generations waited for the promised Messiah, a lot. And how many believed Jesus was the Messiah when He did arrive after 4000 years?  Not many, not compared to the multitude. He was rejected, He wasn't their idea of a Messiah, He didn't come as they envisioned, forget Scripture, He just wasn't the type of Messiah they could allow themselves to bow down to.

How many people now, after almost 2000 years are truly waiting for the Messiah to return?

How many Christians live in expectation of the Son of God returning?  Are we supposed to say that our fathers waited and look they're sleeping in the grave now, so what good did it do them to wait, Jesus did not return for them and they were waiting and waiting all their lives. Why should I live in that sort of expectation only to have those around me turn around and say she waited in vain and now she's considered a fool for her waiting, it warranted her nothing.  How many have grandparents, and great grandparents who lived with the expectation of Jesus returning? How many in your own family have a history of waiting only to be left sleeping in the grave?

Truthfully, not a single one of those who go to the grave having spent their entire life waiting for the second coming of the Messiah would say it was waiting in vain. They know that no one knows when He will return but the Father God. They know that living with the hope only deepened their relationship with Christ. And they know that after all, death is only a sleep and the next thing they'll know when they are awakened from that death sleep is their Savior calling them from their graves to meet Him in the air- all because they DID live and DID die with the expectation of His return.

Just as D.L. Moody wrote above- you can go around and ask people right this day if they believe Christ will come that day, and most are going to say no.

You'd be tempted to say no as well more than likely because you might be waiting for specific things to take place first and they haven't happened as you are expecting them. But are we supposed to get caught up in that sort of thinking? Didn't the Jewish hierarchy in Jesus' time on earth have set expectations as to how the Messiah was to appear, and weren't they very, very wrong resulting in their house being left to them desolate?

Prophecy that hasn't happened yet is something we cannot allow ourselves to speculate so much so on that we miss everything else.  We have so many prophecies that have come to pass that there is NO doubt of the Bible's validity. History has proven prophecies true time after time, the rest that we can't comprehend fulfilled just yet will come to pass, we must pray that we comprehend when that happens especially us or those who will live in the times of the end where they HAVE no choice but to live during the fulfillment of the last days.  Is it any wonder that Jesus told us to WATCH and PRAY.

Luk 21:29  And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Luk 21:30  When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
Luk 21:31  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Luk 21:32  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
Luk 21:33  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

Truth.  We all know by various signs in nature that summer is coming and one of those signs is the leaves returning on trees that lost them during the autumn.  Right now outside my living room window there is a Frangipani Tree just getting its first leaves and I know that means that the weather is getting warmer, it's time for the leaves to return and by summer's beginning there should be beautiful yellow flowers all over the tree. I know this because it's factual, it's the course of nature, it's inevitable barring anything unforeseen, like someone chopping the tree down.  It will come to pass, I will see those beautiful flowers soon.

Jesus said when these things come to pass- all the signs He's given- then we will know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.  Jesus will be coming soon.  He didn't say we know that Jesus will be there immediately, but we KNOW that He is coming soon! And the generation that is living when the last of all the prophecies is fulfilled, the last of the signs has been seen, WILL witness the glorious return of our SAVIOR!   So sure is this prophecy that heaven and earth could pass away but NOT this prophecy of Jesus.  You don't get more surety than this, you just don't!

Scoffers.
Those who aren't watching, and THINK NOT that Jesus is coming.

These are characteristic of the last days and just because they may have been characteristic for thousands of years, doesn't make them any less truthful.

We stop looking for our Savior's return at our own peril.
We scoff at our Savior ever returning at our own peril.

We MUST live with GREAT EXPECTATION OF OUR SAVIOR'S RETURN! It must be REAL to us, for it to be anything but real to us will have us sleeping without any oil in our lamps and when He does return we will be among those who will not be ready and we will not be called into the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Rev_19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Please LORD, please don't let us be caught unaware, don't let us become scoffers, don't let us sleep without the extra oil for our lamps, please LORD we need to be ready for You when You return, we LONG to be ready for You, YOUR BRIDE PREPARED!

All by YOUR GRACE and MERCY PRECIOUS LORD!

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