Will Christ Ever Return?

This is one question which, I feel confident, has crossed the minds of all believers at times. We've been waiting for almost two-thousand years but he hasn't wrent the sky to take vengeance on the wicked.

Even in the first century, people wondered when the Lord would return. We get a perfect answer to this question in 2 Peter 3:8 and 9 (BBE). "But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways."

Until the last person preordained to be saved repents, we must wait patiently. As I wrote before, there are those whom God appointed for salvation. Ephesians 1:4 (BBE) tells how Christ chose certain individuals before the world began. "Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:"

We also have God's promise, relayed by angels, that Christ will return. Acts 1:10 and 11 (BBE) tells us, "And while they were looking up to heaven with great attention, two men came to them, in white clothing, And said, 'O men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'"

We also have Paul's encouragement of recompense for the persecution we suffer. We read in 2 Thessalonians 7 and 8 (BBE) that the gospel is a command meant to be obeyed. "And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven with the angels of his power in flames of fire, To give punishment to those who have no knowledge of God, and to those who do not give ear to the good news of our Lord Jesus:"

When Christ does bring in that last sinner into his family, it certainly will be a frightening day for those who persist in rejecting him. Revelation 6:16 (BBE) shows just how traumatic it will be for them. "And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Come down on us, covering us from the face of him who is seated on the high seat, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"

I hope and pray that my writing will be used by the Lord to bring in many lost souls to the kingdom of Christ. To that end, I'm writing a book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? With the Chinese flu keeping folks home, it's the perfect time to buckle down and get it finished.

On Thursday, providing the last sinner is still lost, I hope to post about how to protect oneself from Judgement Day.

What Did God Do To Rescue Us?

As I promised, here is a more detailed explanation of God's plan to save humanity. Even so, I can't include every single point.

Remember what Genesis 3:15 (BBE) said about Satan? "And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded."

Lineage is important to our heavenly Father. That's why he promised to Abram in Genesis 12:3 (BBE), "To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth."

The entire first chapter of Matthew and Luke 3:30-38 shows how Christ descended from Abram whom God named Abraham. Matthew records his lineage through the male side and Luke from the female side.

But God wasn't making things up as he went along. We read in Ephesians 1:4 (BBE)how he chose his saints before they were even born. "Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:"

Neither was Christ's choice of disciples haphazard, as he said in John 6:70 (BBE). "Then Jesus said, 'Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One?'"

Christ's crucifixion was planned from the beginning of time and the rituals Israel observed were a shadow of the real thing. Hebrews 9:11 and 12 (BBE) explains, "But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things of the future, through this greater and better Tent, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this world, And has gone once and for ever into the holy place, having got eternal salvation, not through the blood of goats and young oxen, but through his blood."

I'm glad God knows the beginning from the end. It's one point I want to stress in my next book, You Think You're Going to Heaven? Errant teachers claim he has no idea of what will happen in the future. Are they ever wrong!

On Saturday, provided Christ doesn't return first, I hope to post about the man who sold the world.

Rahab's Faith

How could God save such an immoral woman as Rahab and even have her included in Christ's lineage? We tend to think that only the most saintly people get saved. But studying the Bible shows me that the Lord chose some disreputable folks to serve him.

The Bible tells us how Abraham told a half-truth about his half wife. Genesis 20:1 and 2 (BBE) informs us, "And Abraham went on his way from there to the land of the South, and was living between Kadesh and Shur, in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, 'She is my sister:' and Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah."

Additionally, look at the catastrophe God averted in order to save that cowardly liar. God spoke to Abimelech, warning him of Sarah's real relationship and that he withheld her from him. Genesis 20:9 and 10 (BBE) relates, "Then Abimelech sent for Abraham, and said, 'What have you done to us? what wrong have I done you that you have put on me and on my kingdom so great a sin? You have done to me things which are not to be done.' And Abimelech said to Abraham, 'Why did you do this thing?'"

And in a case of "like father, like son," Isaac pulled the same stunt on Abimelech. Genesis 26:7 (BBE) tells us, "And when he was questioned by the men of the place about his wife, he said, 'She is my sister;' fearing to say, 'She is my wife;' for, he said, 'the men of the place may put me to death on account of Rebecca; because she is very beautiful.'"

The Bible is filled with flawed individuals who God deployed to do his will. Jacob swindled Esaw out of his birthright. Samson hired prostitutes and married pagan wives. Moses murdered an Egyptian. David had sex with a man's wife and arranged to have him killed in battle. Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him but they sold him into slavery. And if I had the space and inclination, I could list many more flawed individuals whom the Lord saved.

God chose who would be saved before the universe was created. As Paul obliquely mentioned in Ephesians 1:4 (BBE), "Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:"

When Christ returns, all those who his father gave him will be gathered to him. As 1 Corinthians 15:24 (BBE) explains in part, "Then comes the end, when he will give up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have put an end to all rule and to all authority and power."

God left nothing to chance. I'll explain that and many other things in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Predestination is a hard doctrine for us to accept but it's scriptural. Therefore, we must believe it.

Saturday's post will be about a Great Lakes shipping disaster that touched Gordon Lightfoot.