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The blog, titled "the word of God explains itself" immediately jump into a commentary on false teachers that are willing to predict a precise timing on Christ's return to the earth. He explained that we are not to listen to people like that, and gave 2 Peter 3:10 as a foundational verse.
2 Peter 3:10 NIV But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
He is not wrong, but I wanted to share some aspects of this with you.
A prominent person that comes to mind was the California Pastor that recently made the news with his predictions of a specific date. We are all still here.
Sadly, my mother held to someone like that while I was in high school.
Struggling with undiagnosed learning disabilities, finding out that the Lord was coming soon, I stop trying in high school. I suspect that this could be the basis for the problem. While we might say we will act nobly if we only had a limited time frame to work in, the truth is, we will sink to our lowest level of training. That means most people, like me at that point, will quit and ride it out.
That just tells me that the majority have no grip on what s coming. As an example, my mother, during a conversation last night, said, the ugly stuff that we see in scripture will not happen until half way through the great tribulation. I had to stop her there, because she is wrong.
Sure, tribulation, on some plane, is happening everywhere, everyday; more so in the middle east and northern African regions. People are being killed in ethnic cleansings, just like Bosnia and Croatia, where Muslims and Christians attempted to kill off each other.
If someone claims to know, with precision, the day and the hour, they should be ignored. Stoning is no longer legal.
I feel sorry for the lost sheep that will not read for themselves, and are so easily swayed by some strong personality like that.
As simplistic as it sounds, if someone shows up in an Iowa cornfield, claiming to be Christ, you will not find me there. Why? Because I know what scripture says, explicitly, about His return, and it is not there.
You added a passage, I responded to my blogger friend: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up (2 peter 3 : 10).
Your previous sentence states: He tells us in his Word that no man knows the hour when He shall return. And you are absolutely correct.
But consider this. Paul writing says something similar but adds:
1 Thessalonians 5:2-9 NIV (2) for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (3) While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (4) But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. (5) You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. (6) So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. (7) For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. (8) But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (9) For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus responding to the disciples question about when the end would come, tells them:
Matthew 24:32-34 NIV Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. (33) Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. (34) Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
Again Jesus adds:
Matthew 24:42-44 NIV Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (43) But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. (44) So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
So, whether we know with precision or not, the instructions would imply that we live in a state of anticipation and expectation . Perhaps this level of readiness is the oil that the five virgins were lacking on that night. (Matthew 25)
The world knows how to be slothful, and they know how to sin, but do they know how to be ready. Sadly, they are painfully aware that they are being that way. How would I know that? Because the fall placed the knowledge of good and evil in everyman. The saga of Noah should demonstrate that man will choose the lowest level of their training.
I believe that it is time to step up the training.
What did Peter preach that changed the world on the day of Pentecost? He preached Christ, the risen one, and the hope of glory. This is the Christ that he walked with, and watched in action.
Why then do we have these words we call a bible? Because good men, that lived with him, listened to him, ate with him, watched him action, and repeatedly relived everyone of those moments on the steps of Solomon s Porch, as they told any that would listen about this life in Christ.
It is time. I can see him on the horizon.
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