Keep Watch! Be Ready! Wake up!

I'm out of my spiritual rut and ready to press on!  Thanks first to those who prayed for me and for those whose comments encouraged me.  God is good.  It's Saturday and I'm not writing "because it's Saturday" but because the Lord has given me a moment of pause to put forth a word that I believe the church needs to hear.  I know that what I'm about to share is controversial but as I have said before, "search the scriptures to see if what I am saying is true."

I don't know about you but I have felt an increasing sense of urgency over the past year or so regarding the proclamation of the Gospel.  I have sensed a very discernible change in global political, social, and religious climates and a sharp decline in moral values. I have seen small groups of Christians from every denomination and corner of the world on fire for the Lord with a strange feeling of anticipation.  I know that every generation since Jesus ascended to the Father's right hand has believed it is the one to see the return of Jesus for his bride (the Church) but I want to point out some biblical facts to make the point that we are to be ready not just in our Christian walk but in our understanding of the prophetic Word.  For the record it is not heresy to look at the prophetic word and do just that.  I will clarify, up front, that anyone who says Jesus will return on December 13th, 2011 at 3:15pm or any other specific date or time is not of the Lord but Jesus spent a good amount of time laying out the signs of his return and to brush them aside is to the detriment of the Church.  The Jews at the time of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection had a Bible that gave them all they needed to predict the return of the Messiah as well as to be able to recognize him but most of them were asleep and so are many of us.

Although this has been on my heart for at least a year, a faithful servant of the Lord hand delivered me a study of the prophetic plan of God in Jesus' coming to make atonement for sin (the first coming and his death and resurrection) and his second coming (the gathering of his Bride and the judgement of the world for sin).  She also confirmed in my heart that I needed to also be bold and not afraid to go down this road.  This particular study reveals the amazing connection between God's prophetic calendar and the seven feasts of Israel put forth in Leviticus 23.

I have heard it said that we need to just continue on as we always have that since we don't know what day Jesus will return, any discussion of it with regard to prophecy or looking at specifics is tantamount to blasphemy but Jesus was very direct in sharing with his disciples the signs of his coming so that they would be prepared.

In Matthew 24 Jesus gave his disciples a number of things to look for as signs of his coming which you can read for yourself.   In regard to this discussion he said these things:

See, I have told you ahead of time.  (Verse 25)


Now learn this from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door." (verses 32-33)


Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Verse 42)


He then gave them an analogy about an owner of a house that was going to be burglarized.  He said, "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 not let his house be broken into."  (Verse 43)

Ok, so what's the big deal?  As long as we are doing God's work and personally ready (regardless of whether we die or Jesus returns for his church) what's the difference?  I have two answers to that:

1)  Because Jesus warned us to be looking for the signs of the season because he knows our nature to be sleepy, worldly, complacent, and lazy.  He doesn't want us sleeping spiritually at his return.

2)  Because if we love our neighbor as ourself we will be urgent about their hearing the Good News.  I don't know about you, but I tend to put off studying for a test until it is right around the corner and then I go all out.  We'll it's right around the corner so we need to go all out.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter five Paul also reiterated the fact that we might not know the day or the hour but we should not be surprised by his return.  "But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. . . So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep. . . "

You probably know by now, if you have been following this blog for any length of time, that I am not satisfied with going through the motions because it does exactly what Satan wants it to do: Put us to spiritual sleep.

One last thing.  When Jesus returns for his Church (which we will look at specifically another time) he will come with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet call of God.  So if you feel a bit sleepy with regard to his return then you might want to listen to this wake-up call.  Enjoy.

The Trumpet Call (The Shofar)

Peace in Christ,

David