second coming

The Face of Jesus

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The three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6–12 are God’s last message of warning of mercy to the world. Then John wrote, “I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle” (verses 13, 14).

What is it going to be to see the face of Jesus? Where there is no other message to be given to this world, the message of God’s last mercy is now being sounded and as a result Jesus is going to come. Every predicted ingredient in prophecy that Jesus was to come, and what would take place just before His coming is now occurring before our eyes. Political corruption, financial disaster, fantastic weapons of destruction, a great ecumenical movement producing a false revival in which men claim to be following God but openly defy Him. They are placing tradition above the law of God. They are proclaiming a revival without any repentance, without any transformation of life, without any obedience. They are claiming that all that is necessary is to believe, that all you must have is a faith, which is a presumption that there is no longer any moral standard. These are the things that God told us would happen.

So, in a day just like our day, the day in which we are alive today, when people are buying and selling and building and getting married, a day of uncontrolled crime when men’s thoughts are continually evil, something is going to happen. Suddenly there is going to be a darkness that is going to come to this world. Perhaps it could be best explained like the darkness of old Egypt where no one has ever seen anything quite like it. And in the darkness of night, as it settles, they will also see something they have never seen before, for you have never seen a rainbow without light. But there in the darkness surrounding this world will be a rainbow – not from hill to hill, from valley to valley, but a rainbow that will span the entire world and on every little hill here and there and in the valley, by the sea and over the dale, wherever there is a group of those who have decided to accept the three angels’ messages, there will be a little round circle of a rainbow over their group.

Then we are going to hear something that we have never heard since the day that Christ was on this world, for God is going to speak. We will all hear and understand when that great voice echoes through the universe, “Look up!” and we shall be able to look into heaven itself, for God will part the darkness where we are and there we will see up into the very city of God and there we will behold a great throne and we will see God sitting upon that throne. We will see Jesus coming in His chariot. Man has no conception of the greatness of that throne, miles in width. As Jesus comes we will watch in anticipation as He stands before God the Father and we will hear a conversation that will go like this: “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am” (John 17:24). When we hear those words the saints are going to give a shout that will encircle the world. It will be a shout the likes of which was heard around the Red Sea when Moses lifted his hand and they saw the armies of Pharaoh destroyed. Then there will be signs and wonders. Suddenly the sun will shine even though it is midnight, for the world has been turned upside down. Every law of nature will seem to be turned out of course – the streams will no longer flow, no water will come cataracting down the mountains, the heavens will be filled with angry clouds, but there will be one clear space of indescribable glory, and it is to this that we will keep our eyes glued. Then we will hear God’s voice the second time in which He will answer the request of Jesus when He says, “It is done.”

There will be a mighty earthquake. Those in California know what earthquakes are, but no one has ever seen anything like this one. There will be voices and thunders and lightning and a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. The mountains we love to go to will shake like leaves in the wind. Great jagged rocks weighing tons will be thrown out into the valleys below. The ocean will boil like a pot. Great tidal waves will engulf the cities that are as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah. Even the mountains will sink beneath the surface of the earth. As great hailstones of ice, 57 pounds in weight, come tumbling out of the sky, buildings will crumble. Nothing will stand. The tempests will roar like a hurricane; prisons will open; the saints who have been incarcerated will be set free.

Amid all this that startles and bewilders and wonders, God has another surprise. There will be the special resurrection. Everyone who has died accepting the three angels’ messages since the year 1844 will be brought up out of the graves to see the face of Jesus. I’m looking forward to that moment.

There will also be those there who condemned Jesus. God will bring them forth – Pilate, Herod, the priests, the soldier who thrust the spear, the ones who nailed Him to the cross – to see the face again of Jesus. There will be those raised up out of their graves who have been the most violent oppressors of God’s truth, like Nero, some of the popes of Rome, all brought forth to see the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as sheets of flame envelope the earth, as the lightning goes from one end of the heaven to the other and amid it all God will speak the third time. This time He will declare the doom of the wicked. It will be so frightening, it will be so tremendous, it will be so terrible that there are no words to describe it. Even the demons will be terrified. That is the time spoken of in Isaiah when it tells us that men will go into the streets. “In that day a man will cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He shall arise to shake terribly the earth” (Isaiah 2:20, 21, literal translation). But God will not forget His people.

As He sent the star of Bethlehem to announce that the great event was about to take place, so He will again send a star to give us courage, a star that will be four times brighter than any light you have ever seen in the heavens. When we see it we will know that it is the hope of our lives, that it is Christ coming, that we shall see His face and we shall sing and we shall rejoice and we shall repeat some of the memory gems like the one found in Psalm 46:1–3: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”

When God hears His people quoting these promises He will command an angel and say, “Open up the gates.” When the gates are thrown open the glory of the celestial throne of God is going to sweep down onto every little group wherever they are around this world and our faces will light up like the face of Moses.

Then we will behold the greatest theatrical feat that man has ever beheld. As the clouds roll back on a canopy of blue, they will see two hands appear in the sky. In these hands two tables of stone slowly open and there every individual in this world still alive will behold the Ten Commandments. With a finger of fire from the hand of God He will trace every one of the Ten Commandments. Can you see it? Can you see that finger? “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Too late for those who have made gods of their business. We’ll understand that God meant exactly what He said. Too late in this world for those who have made gods of sex. We will understand that God is unchanging.

Those that have made money and all the things of this world their god will see that finger trace, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image” (verse 4). Oh I’ve seen them bow down to wood, to stone, to iron, to mud to worship, but they will know that God means exactly what He says. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (verse 7). Too late will the world see that God has meant exactly that we are to give reverence when we breathe the name of God.

Then the world will be startled, for it will read, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God …” (verses 8–10).

Seeing this, the people of this world are going to run to their preachers we are told, and ask, “Why did you tell us that the first day is the sabbath? Look!” And they will be set upon by the members of their church.

“Honour thy father and thy mother” (verse 12). Too late will the youth of this last generation realize that God means exactly what He says, that in the Lord we are to give reverence to our parents. We are to honor them. We are to care for them in their old age. We are to love them.

“Thou shalt not kill” (verse 13). There it is, blazing out in letters of fire. The murderer and the men of evil intention will see. Then there will be a great shocker. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (verse 14). Millions will realize then that the pill does not make it right. Millions will understand then that there is no cause for divorce other than adultery.

They will see, “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” “Thou shalt not covet” (verses 15–17), blazing in the sky for all to behold. Then God will speak for the fourth time and He will declare the day and the hour of the coming of Jesus. Our hearts will fill with hope, with joy. Our faces will shine like the face of Moses when he was on the mount and we’ll be watching in anticipation as the hour comes and, finally, the moment.

Suddenly someone will shout out, “I see it! I see it!” and we’ll all see that tiny cloud about the size of a hand, quickly coming towards us, growing in magnitude. First it is so bright that it looks dark and black, but as our eyes become accustomed we see the glory and the beauty and the wonder of it all. And we will begin to see that it is composed of myriads of angels, all the angels of heaven. And there riding on that cloud is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, with a rainbow above and the music – oh, the glorious music, not the trash we hear today – the music of heaven, not the kind that stomps your feet, but the kind that moves your heart.

As we look, we will see the face of Jesus. As we see how holy He is and we see how pure He is and how kind and how loving, how divine, we will automatically cry out, “Who shall be able to stand before Him?” And then the music will stop. The earth will stop its shaking. It will be so quiet. Every eye of the universe will be riveted on the Lord Jesus Christ as He stands and looks upon those who have stood and made their decision for God, deciding not to accept the mark and He will say, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV).

All the angels will lift a note higher and we will join and we will rejoice and we will sing with them as “the heavens roll together like a scroll, … as the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and say to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us; hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand” (Revelation 6:14–17, literal translation)?

As the wicked are scurrying into their holes, attempting to hide, Jesus is going to speak to the wicked. This will be the sixth time the voice of God is heard. He will say something like this, found in Proverbs 1:24 and 25: “I called, and ye refused; I stretched out My hand, but you would not regard; ye have set at nought all of my counsel, and would have none of My reproof” (literal translation). Can you picture Pilate? Oh, what he wouldn’t give at that moment, if only when he asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), he had waited for Jesus to answer. There will be the haughty Herod. He will remember how he smote the Lord, how he jeered. Oh, what he wouldn’t give in that moment; if only he had done what his heart had told him to do.

There will be the men who placed the robe upon His body; there will be those mocking soldiers, the one who drove the nails, the soldier who pierced His side. Once again they will look into the face of Jesus and the priests, the rulers who cried, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him” (Luke 23:21)! They will all try to run and to hide as they will be consumed by the brightness of His coming until there is none alive except the righteous.

Amid the reeling of the earth, the lightning and the thunder and the sobs of the dying wicked, then Christ will speak for the seventh and last time. His voice will ring out as He looks upon the graves of the sleeping saints throughout the ages and His voice calls, “Awake! Awake! Ye that sleep in the dust of the earth, arise” (Ephesians 5:14, literal translation)! And the whole earth will ring with the tread of an exceeding army from every nation and kindred and tongue and people.

The living righteous will give a mighty shout as they see the saints come forth. And those who are resurrected will give a mighty shout and together we will praise the God of heaven, the God of life. Oh, wonderful redemption, for “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52), we will be given immortal, glorious bodies like unto His, never to have an ache again, never to have a pain, never to know a sorrow. Together those that have just been risen and those of us which are alive will find ourselves leaving this earth. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Don’t you like that? Oh, brother, sister, I long for that. Never to be parted, always to behold His face.

For seven days we are going to take that glorious trip past the moon. Let man have his rockets. Past the stars, past the galaxies by the millions and the billions. We are going to get a preview of what we shall be able to see throughout eternity. Somewhere along the way we are going to keep the Sabbath. That’s going to be the greatest Sabbath. Here we talk about it, but then “we shall know” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Then we shall realize redemption; then we shall feel redemption; then in our immortal bodies we shall know what salvation really is and we will know that the Sabbath is a sign of the power of God that He has recreated us. Oh, what a glorious Sabbath it will be.

Then we will find ourselves moving to that sea of glass outside the city. There, in the company of Jesus Christ, whose countenance is as bright as the noonday sun, with seven crowns upon His head, He is going to call us each by name. He is going to give us each a crown. On that crown is going to be a new name.

Then He will give each of us a harp. And though you may never have sung in this world, perhaps not even able to carry a note or play an instrument, the angel who took the place of Lucifer, will lift his baton and we will all play the harp and sing. We will all praise Him as we behold His face. I think one of the songs we will sing with the celestial music will be –

“Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child and forever I am.”

Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It! Fanny Crosby, 1882.

Glorious redemption! 

Then Jesus is going to say, “Follow Me.” With His own right hand He is going to open up that pearly gate. For the first time we are going to look down the street of gold straight to the center of that great city, and, oh, what a city – three hundred and fifty miles square. Nothing in the world can compare. We are going to look right straight down to that great throne. When we come up there Jesus is going to introduce us to the Father. Oh, what a moment. Perhaps He will look around and choose you and say, “Come with Me,” and you won’t be afraid. Together you will ascend the steps to the throne. Can you see yourself climbing higher and higher, miles into the air? You will finally reach the top and Jesus introduces you to the Father. What a moment!

The plan of redemption is beyond comprehension, that God can take a sinner and someday allow him to sit on the throne. Oh, lift your eyes, my dear beloved, to what is coming. Don’t get discouraged in this world! Keep your eye on the message! Keep your eye on Jesus Christ!

What a throne it is. The Bible says that the river of life flows forth from it. That is no little stream. In Ezekiel the 47th chapter you will find that the prophet began to measure it and as you measure it you will find it is over two miles wide. And then I read of the tree of life which has a trunk on this side and over there over two miles is the other side. That tree must be, for God does everything symmetrical, perhaps seven miles in height? After all, it grows 12 manner of fruits (Revelation 22:2) for the redeemed to have one every month. The redeemed are as the stars of the heavens. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Oh, what a wonderful, thrilling experience. Don’t miss it friend!

Then the greatest of all is going to take place. The two Adams are going to meet. Adam, our first grandfather. Can you see him there? Inspiration tells us he was more than twice as tall as any man alive today – 15, 16 feet in height. I don’t suppose you could put your arms around those biceps. A giant. Then we behold the lovely Jesus head and shoulders above him. As they meet each other, Jesus takes him by the hand and shows him the flowers from the Garden of Eden. Jesus takes him to the tree of life. He plucks it. He gives it to him.

When Adam looks around and sees all of his children, sees heaven, when he comprehends now what fully has come and he looks into the face of Jesus whom he crucified with his sin, he’s going to take that crown off his head, put it down at the feet of Jesus, and fall down and worship His Redeemer. Jesus will reach down and put the crown back on Adam’s head. With His mighty arm, He lifts that mighty giant to his feet, then puts his arms around him and hugs him. That is love.

I want to tell you my friend, I don’t want to miss that for anything in the world. I want to be there. By God’s grace, through His marvelous provision He has made it possible that all may be saved. Take courage friend. Keep your eye focused on that which will happen soon. It is not a long way off. Keep your eye on Jesus Christ. In the book of Jude, we are told in those wonderful verses, 24, 25: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.”

For more than fifty years, Lawrence Nelson served the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a church pastor, evangelist, and then in Conference, Union, and General Conference leadership. When God laid upon him the responsibility to “tell it like it is” to alert the people how the church was leading them into the worldwide ecumenical movement, he was forbidden to preach in any church within the Oregon Conference. Elder Nelson passed to his rest on April 18, 2012.

Current Events – The Lord is Coming Soon

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“Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour’s prophecy of the events to precede His coming.” Maranatha, 68.

“The signs of the times give evidence that the judgments of heaven are being poured out, that the day of the Lord is at hand. The daily papers are full of indications of an intense conflict in the future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed by demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. All these things testify that the Lord’s coming is near.” Ibid., 175.

Seventy-four Chinese fishermen were missing on Monday, September 30, 2013, after a typhoon sunk three fishing boats in the South China Sea as Thailand and Vietnam braced for torrential rain and flooding. www.reuters.com

Seven people were confirmed dead and at least 1,500 homes destroyed in Colorado after a week of rare, torrential rains along the eastern slopes of the Rockies, and helicopter search-and-rescue flights resumed on Monday, September 16, 2013, in flood-stricken areas. www.reuters.com

With its Muslim-style minarets topped by a large black cross, the All Saints Church in Peshawar has for more than a century offered a daring architectural expression of Muslim-Christian harmony and cohabitation. This is how the Taliban destroyed it: two suicide bombers rushed the church doors as worshipers streamed out on Sunday, September 22, 2013. One attacker exploded his vest inside, the other just outside.

The death toll had risen to 85 by Monday evening, when Christians across the country protested the worst atrocity their community has suffered in Pakistan’s history. www.nytimes.com

September 25, 2013, Members of Christian community here burnt Pakistan flag and held a demonstration on the Jalandhar-Delhi national highway to protest the deadly twin suicide bombings on a historic church in Peshawar. Eighty three people were killed in the attack on All Saints Church at Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, which was the deadliest ever on the country’s Christian minority. Bombers had set off their suicide vests as people were emerging from Sunday mass. www.dnaindia.com/india

Gunmen stormed a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday, September 21, 2013, killing at least 39 people including close relatives of Kenya’s president and children, in an attack claimed by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab. www.reuters.com

Inspiration – Oakland Tent Meeting

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We have the deepest interest that this meeting, at this time, shall not be in vain. We want to see the work of God prospering. We know that it is a very important time. It is a solemn time. We feel the importance of our people’s arousing and awaking, that they may understand the time in which we live. The probation of all of us must soon close. And are we ready for the appearing of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven? Have we the wedding garment on? Or shall we be of that number that shall be left outside because unready? How anxious we are that every one of you should have the wedding garment on. Not the garment of your own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ; that you should have this on, and so be prepared, that, when the examination of the guests shall take place, you may not be of those that shall be bound hand and foot, and cast out, because unready. It is readiness that we want. It is fitness that we want. And who is ready? To be unready will be an entire failure. To be unready will be an eternal loss. But if we can, in this day of probation, see that we are unready; if we can here see our wretchedness, and our need, and now humble ourselves before God, He will be found of us, and He will work for us mightily. And now is the time for us to begin to work. You that have not entered, heart and soul and spirit, into this work, now is the time for you to engage in it with all your souls. Christ has said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). Tell me, is any provision made here for a division of your affections? Where is there any chance for your affections to be separated from God, and yet you be acquitted in the day of God? I terribly fear that many that bear the name of Seventh-day Adventists are stumbling-blocks in the way of sinners. They neither enter into the work themselves, and those that would enter in, they hinder by their unconsecrated lives. God forbid that we should go down to death with the blood of souls upon our garments. God forbid that we should stand merely bearing the name of Christians, when we are not sanctified by the truths we profess. God forbid that we at last find that our lives have been an entire failure, an entire mistake, and there appear no soul to whom we can point, as one whom we have been the means of saving, and bringing in through the gates, into the city. Shall it appear finally that we have been wrapped up in our own self-righteousness, all covered up with the spirit and love of the world?

And you that have not sanctified your souls by obeying the truth, do you expect that Christ at his appearing will make you ready? There will then be no atoning blood to wash away the stains of sins. It is while it is called today that you may, if you will, hear his voice, and harden not your heart, as in the day of provocation. It is today that the Spirit of God invites. It is today that the sweet voice of mercy is falling upon your ears. It is today that the heavenly invitation comes to you. It is today that in Heaven everything says, Come. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).

Will you enter into the work right here at the commencement of the meeting? We have not come here for the amusement of any. We have not come here to gratify the curiosity of any. We have come here thinking that perhaps God, in our weakness, would give us strength to speak a word to the people, and invite them to come, for all things are now ready. The heavenly invitation to the supper has gone forth, and we want you to come. We do not want you, backslidden ones, to wait till the meeting is about closing, and then try to put in for a share. You want the blessing at the very commencement.

Do you want to find Jesus? He is at the feast. You may find Him here. He has come up to the feast. There are men and women that have brought Him with them; and now we want you to press through, and touch the hem of His garment, that you may receive of the virtue that is found in Him, and triumph in the God of your salvation.

The waters of the fountain are freely opened for you; and will you drink? Will you come? Will you obey the gracious invitation? Come, for all things are now ready. Whosoever will, let him come and partake of the waters of life freely. It is now that we want childlike simplicity. We want to see everything like pride, and vanity, and folly, put away. We have the Judgment in view. Men and women will want strength that is greater than any human aid to lean upon. They must lean upon the mighty arm of Jehovah. We have in view that day when the works of men are to be tried, and tested; and we want you to get ready. We make appeals to you, in the name of our Master, to get ready. We make appeals to you to rid yourselves of the pride of the world, the pride, and vanity, and folly, of life. Jesus loves you. Jesus pities you. The angelic host He sends to minister unto you. And now, while all Heaven is interested for you, will you be interested for yourselves? Will you begin to seek God earnestly for your own salvation? Will you work it out with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)? Will you be careful how you step before God? Will you have the approbation of Him whose arm moves the universe? Give me the smiles of God, and the approving glance of my Redeemer, and I will give you the whole world besides. Let me have one word of approbation from Jesus, and it is enough. I love Him, for in Him my hopes of everlasting life are centered. I love His word and His requirements. I love to do His will. And only let me know what my duty is, and I am ready to perform. It is my meat and drink.

I look a little ahead, and I see a crown of glory that is laid up for us who wait, and love, and long for, the appearing of the Saviour (I Peter 5:4).

It is the waiting ones who are to be crowned with glory, honor, and immortality. You need not talk to me of the honors of the world, or the praise of its great ones. They are all vanity. Let but the finger of God touch them, and they would soon go back to dust again. I want honor that is lasting, honor that is immortal, honor that will never perish; a crown that is richer than any crown that ever decked the brow of a monarch.

Oh! to have the approbation of high Heaven! This is what we want. Let us gain the spirit of humility. Let in a spirit of confession. Do not be so afraid that if you confess your sins, no one will have confidence in you. The apostle says, Pray one for another, and confess one to another, that ye may be healed. You want to let the spirit of humility right in here. You want to find Jesus. We want to triumph in Him here. We want a shout of the King in the camp. But we must first have Him in our midst.

And you who have been hanging on to the skirts of Zion, we want to hear your songs for rejoicing ere this meeting shall close. We want to see you stand in the congregation of the saints, and say, Hear what the Lord has done for me. We want to hear your voices speaking forth the honors of your Redeemer. We want to hear songs of praise from lips that have not sounded his praise for months. We want to hear shouts of victory from those that have been overcome. We want to have the sweet Spirit of Christ come freely into our midst. We want the waters of salvation to flow here. And we want all to take hold of the work together. Shall we take right hold together, and sweet union and love be here, melting, and cementing, and uniting, our hearts together as one? Oh, that here we might triumph in God! Oh, that all you that are here might go home better men and women, and carry a power with you into your families, a saving power into your neighborhoods, a saving power wherever you go. You who engage in your various employments, you want the power of the truth inwrought in your very souls. Not merely put on; but inwrought in your very being, that you can talk to others as though these things were living realities. Get away from the chilling influence, and spirit of earth. Get a little higher. “Upward to God be the heart’s adoration.” A little nearer to God, to Jesus, and to angels. Get the heavenly unction; and then you can take it home with you.

Remarks By Mrs. E. G. White, at the Tent-Meeting in Oakland, July 2, 1869. The Review and Herald, August 17, 1869.

Ashamed at His Coming

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We often hear today that we are living at the end of time. If there is a church or a group of people that should really understand, it is the Seventh-day Adventist people. We have the Bible and have been blessed with the Spirit of Prophecy. If we heed the instruction as never before and pay attention to the message of truth, we will not be ashamed when Jesus returns.

It would be worthwhile to meditate, not only on the time in which we are living, but also to enquire into the special message that the Lord has for each one of us. The question that each of us should be asking is, Who shall stand and what is required of me? We know that Jesus is at the door and we claim to be the people proclaiming the Advent of Christ to this earth. But, are we ready ourselves for this momentous event? Who can stand while this earth is to experience the greatest catastrophic judgments that prophecy has declared will take place just prior to Jesus’ coming? It will be a time such as never been seen before.

Every day we hear about calamities, earthquakes and chaos around the world. We are told: “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8). The Lord is getting ready to shake up this whole earth. He is sending these warnings now for those who know about this truth and to get busy and warn those who are unaware that the door of opportunity will soon be closed. Time has been extended for a little while for those men and women who have not yet received the truth. Time is short. The Lord is about to do great things and He needs to have a people. He needs to have a church that will be ready to stand up for truth through these trying times.

A very well-known text is Revelation 6:16, 17 which says, “And [they] said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” According to Revelation 6, there will be two groups of people when the Lord comes. The first group, His church, those whom He has purified, will be standing to welcome their Saviour coming in the clouds of heaven. The second group, a great multitude, will be calling on the rocks to fall on them. This second group has not made the necessary preparation of repentance and turning from sin. They cannot bear to be in the presence of a holy Lord.

What a shameful day it is going to be for the majority of the world who have rejected the gospel invitation and for those who have professed belief in God yet failed to obey His teachings. Many who have preached and taught others about this saving truth who do not endure to the end will be included in this second group, the sad great multitude. Make sure that you are found in the group that will receive the Lord in glory when He comes. We are told that the rocks and the mountains that were a refuge for God’s people in the day of trouble will now be those rocks and mountains that are sought as a hiding place for the great multitude that will not be ready for the coming of Christ.

We need to find out how to have the victory. A secret for victory is found in 1 John 2:28, 29: “And now little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at his coming.” John here writes to the Christian people at the end of the first century but his message applies to the end of the Christian era. Here, at the end of time, John reminds us and calls us little children and in very clear language, presents to us that we must abide in Him. The great tragedy of the majority of God’s professed people is that we have not learned the secret of abiding in Christ.

Abiding in Christ is the secret for victory for those who welcome Christ in the clouds of heaven. The lesson must be learned by experience and not merely by intellect. Remember, the majority will be ashamed when Christ comes because throughout their lives they believed they would go with Christ when He comes; but instead, they cry for the rocks and the mountains to hide them. They have neglected to learn what it means to abide in Him, daily consecrating their lives to Him, enquiring of His will, living His life and making Him Lord of their lives.

The rest of the verse says, “Ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone that does righteousness is born of Him.” Righteousness is a word that is often debated, even among Adventists. A righteous person will do the right thing in the eyes of God. He has learned how to do the right thing by abiding in Christ. The word abide is so important in the word of God that it repeats in chapter 15 of the book of John time after time. We must discover the practical meaning of this experience in our lives.

The failure of living in victory can be simply traced to not abiding in Christ, for in Him there is no failure. Jesus is coming for His friends. He is coming for a church, a group of people that have learned to surrender totally to Him, trusting in His promises. He will know them, for they are like Him.

One must ask himself, Do I know Jesus? Am I known by Him, or is the relationship I have with Him restricted to coming to church on the Sabbath? Is Jesus a daily companion? Is He involved in every decision I make? Do I share my heart with Him, my joys as well as my cares? Here lies the secret of abiding. The Bible says, “At that day, he shall know that I am in My Father and ye in Me and I in you.” John 14:20. Jesus offers a relationship between Himself and the Father and the Father and us, and the result will be abiding in His presence.

Often we are very loose with modern-day language and tend to believe that we can abide by just spending some time with someone. You may think you know your family members by abiding with them. But in Biblical language the term means far more. It is to have constant communication with God.

“Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit.” The Desire of Ages, 676. The Biblical dictionary says that the word abide in Greek or Hebrew is a constant communion. It is such a close communion that in our modern day language we would say a 24/7 communion with Jesus.

That will be the experience of the church for which Jesus returns, the church that will not be ashamed when He comes. The people who make up that church will be waiting to see their Lord, the One Who has been their constant companion through all of their stormy trials. As the branches of the vine constantly draw the sap from the living vine, the channel of communication between heaven and earth must be continually open. The One Who created us knows best how to direct our every decision. As we cling to Jesus we receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character, the beauty of His grace.

Jesus becomes our daily friend, One that will never leave us or forsake us. Through His grace we receive forgiveness for our sins and the invitation to have constant communion with Him. Because of His grace we receive the strength and perfection of His own character in our lives.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:4. As a result of abiding in Christ we receive fruit. If we want to bear fruit, abide in Him. The reason the fruits of righteousness are not being seen is because we have not learned or have not discovered the secret of a Christian life, which is to abide in Christ and constantly receive of His Spirit. Jesus says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” Verse 5.

Verse 6 tells us what will happen if we do not abide in Him: “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch” to be burned. It is now that we must learn to walk with Him and constantly receive of Him His Holy Spirit to enable us to bear many fruits.

In addition to the fruit is new power in our prayers. Jesus says, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7. There is a condition to having our prayers heard and answered. Jesus says, “If ye abide in Me.” Abiding in Jesus is the condition to be receiving constantly of His grace in our lives. Maybe this is the reason that often times we feel our prayers go no further than the ceiling and we do not receive answers or experience the beauty of joy and real communion with Him.

Abiding in Christ results in receiving many fruits of righteousness. It will become second nature to do the things that are pleasing to God instead of doing things that please the flesh. We need His Spirit to perfect our characters. Often is heard the cry of many of our own brethren, “No, it is impossible for us to live a perfect life, because, after all, we are human.” When they are told that through the grace of God it is possible to walk in the perfect path to heaven they mock, “O, so you think you’re perfect already!” No, but one thing we can do, because of His grace, is to keep aiming for that goal. Jesus promised that if we continue to abide in Him, “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” John 17:23.

This statement is deeper than we at first might think. Jesus says that He can make us one also with Him and the Father. That is one of the greatest privileges that a human being can receive, but it is only possible as we abide in Him. That is the secret. We must abide in Him constantly, when we go to church and when we sit down in our homes. Remember, the Biblical language means a constant receiving of the grace of God into our heart and into our lives. Only then will we discover the secret of having a life of many fruits, having our prayers answered. Sin will be broken in our lives and have no more power over us and we will be overcomers as many have been in times past.

Paul says to walk in the Spirit. This is possible only by God’s grace and by what Jesus has done for us in shedding His blood at Calvary. If we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we will be dead to the flesh, to our sinful nature, and walk in the Spirit. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1. This means they are walking with Christ, their only hope and salvation. He is the Lord of their lives, to Whom they give their will. They no longer walk after the flesh but after the Spirit.

In Romans 8:10, Paul says, “And if Christ be in you …” This word if is a powerful little two-letter word. Paul said if I want to walk after the Spirit, I am no longer walking in the flesh; Jesus must be in me.

This means that Christ takes control of your heart, your mind and your whole life. The body will be dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. This new heart experience makes a person ready for translation to heaven. With His Spirit in our life we walk as He walked and live His life. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” I John 2:6.

How did Jesus walk? He went around doing good. He did only the will of His Father who sent Him. He taught us how to love each other. Study His life in the gospels, for that is to be our example.

When a person is not abiding in Christ, then you will see the opposite. Without Christ, man is a reprobate. Paul said, “Examine yourselves.” We are not told to examine our pastors, our elders or our husbands or wives. Our first duty or responsibility to the Lord, is to examine ourselves. “Examine yourself whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.” In other words, Paul is saying that you claim to be a Christian and that you are abiding in Christ, so prove it! “Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” II Corinthians 13:5. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

This is a mystery, but that mystery has been revealed. There are many people who have never known what it is to receive the grace of God. Having been raised a Roman Catholic, I attended the Catholic Seminary because that was all my family ever knew. It was only by God’s grace that I was brought into this light. The Bible presents to us the most beautiful news a human being can hear. Not only are we called to be sons and daughters of the kingdom, but we are called to reflect His character in a perfect way, and it is all by His grace.

Two choices—abide in Christ and allow His Spirit to direct, or become a reprobate. “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” John 15:6. Unfortunately, the majority of God’s professed people will be found in that group of people that are represented as the branches that will be cut off. Pray that you will be found among the remnant who will not be ashamed when Jesus comes, but will receive an abundant blessing.

The Seventh-day Adventist movement has been described in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy as a movement because it is describing a group of people that are moving forward, marching forward and upward to heaven.

“Sinners inquired with weeping: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ ” The Great Controversy, 369. At this critical hour of earth’s history this should also be our enquiry.

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” II Peter 1:10, 11. We are not to make somebody else’s calling sure, but our own! Soon Jesus will ask, “What have you done with My grace that is sufficient for you?” What will be your answer?

Jesus said, If you abide in Me you will never fail. What a promise!

Raphael Perez is pastor of the Eternal Gospel Church and editor of The Eternal Gospel Herald. He has been engaged in a campaign for over 20 years promoting the Three Angels’ Messages throughout the United State and abroad through printing, billboards, radio, prison ministry, foreign missions, full-page newspaper advertisements, and television. He may be contacted by email at: eternalgospel@att.net.

Are You Ready?

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Do you believe that we are living in what the Bible describes as the last epochal period of earth’s history, the last days, or do you think time will continue in its present condition?

The Jewish leaders once came to Jesus asking that He show them a sign, something they continually asked for that they might know whether they could believe Him.

“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”; and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.” Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.’ ” Matthew 16:1–3.

Jesus reproved the religious leaders of His day, because they knew a lot about predicting weather for the next day, but they didn’t know how to tell the signs of the times. They missed the signs that told of certain prophecies in the Old Testament that were being fulfilled right before their eyes. There are approximately 60 different prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, His mission, and what He would do when He came. For centuries they had all of that information, but they did not recognize that prophecy was being fulfilled right in front of them.

In the same way now, there are many prophecies in both the Old and the New Testaments concerning the events leading up to the second coming of the Messiah, which have been and are being fulfilled. Yet they go by unnoticed by the majority. Do you believe we are living in the last days? How can we know?

In the books of Daniel and Revelation we are told that after the coming of the Messiah, there was to be a great time of persecution that would last for 1,260 years. At the end of that period of time, the world would enter the last epochal period of earth’s history, called the time of the end or the last days.

We are told in Daniel 7:25: “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.”

A close look at the context of Daniel 11:30–35 clearly reveals that this period occurs after the coming of the Messiah. It says, “He shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame [they shall be burned at the stake], by captivity [put in dungeons] and plundering. Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.”

Notice, this prophecy says, very distinctly, that there would be a long period of persecution against God’s children, and when that time ends, the world would enter “the time of the end.” Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24. And John corroborated it in the book of Revelation when he recorded, “Leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city [God’s church] underfoot for forty-two months.” Revelation 11:2.

God’s true and faithful people were to endure terrible persecution for 42 months, or for 1,260 days, or 3½ years, as we read in Daniel 7:25. Then in Revelation 11:3, it says, “And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

We find the same persecuting period mentioned in Revelation 12:6: “Then the woman [the church] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

And again, in Revelation 13:5–8, talking about the anti-christ persecuting the true church, it says, “He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”

These prophecies have been fulfilled. It has been estimated that during the Dark Ages over 50,000,000 Bible believing Christians were martyred because of their faith in Christ. But Jesus said that toward the close of this period of the tribulation or persecution of Bible Christians that certain signs would appear in the heavens. He said, “In those days [the days of the tribulation or the persecution], after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” Mark 13:24.

In Matthew 24:29, 30 we read another record of the same prediction by Jesus. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Those events have happened. On May 19, 1780, there was an unexplained dark day and in November 1833, the greatest meteor shower that has ever been recorded occurred. These events can be verified by an encyclopedia or Internet search.

When we look at history and follow it right up to the present time, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have been living in that period of earth’s history that the Bible calls “the time of the end” or “the last days” for approximately 200 years. We are living in that period of time during which Daniel predicted the Lord of heaven is going to come back to this world and set up His kingdom. (See Daniel 2 and 7.) There are certain events that are to happen before Christ returns.

Daniel 12:4: “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Two things are going to happen in the time of the end, according to this verse. Many will go to and fro. There will be much traveling in the time of the end. Today, there is more travel than in any previous time in earth’s history. A few hundred years ago, even just 250 years ago, the only people who traveled much were explorers, soldiers, sailors, or people who emigrated to some new part of the world. The average person then lived and died within a few miles of his or her birthplace. But today, at any international airport you will see people from all over the world, coming and going by the thousands. It was not that way even 150 years ago.

In the time of the end, “knowledge would increase.” Today, we live in the time of an information explosion. History reveals that this information explosion in technology and science got started about 200 years ago, in direct fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

Not all the things the Bible predicted for the last days are so wonderful. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:37–39.

Noah preached for 120 years that a flood was coming but the world did not believe it. Jesus said that the same condition that existed prior to the Flood will prevail just before His return, but most will not believe. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14. Most people will not know what is coming. They will not know the signs.

There are millions of people today who boast that they do not believe in the Bible or in Bible prophecy. Nevertheless, Bible prophecy has an infallible way of being fulfilled right to the letter.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. Every thought was evil continually; it was a time of great wickedness. One needs only to pick up a newspaper to see that today we are also living in a time of great wickedness. Jesus said this would be the condition right before He would come again. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Verse 11. Does that sound familiar?

Referring to the same subject in Luke 17:28–30: “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Jesus said it will be just as it was in the days of Lot. They did not know that that was their last night on earth. The end came suddenly. So it will be when the Son of man is revealed. Life will go on day after day after day, and then suddenly, the Lord will return and people will not be ready.

In Ezekiel 16:48, 49 the prophet tells why Sodom was destroyed. “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.’ ”

According to the apostle Paul, there will be great social problems in the world in the last days. He wrote to Timothy, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people, turn away!” II Timothy 3:1–5.

There will be lots of religion in the last days. There will be a form of godliness, but people will deny its power. The power of godliness is the power that is given to the Christian to follow Jesus in obedience, to live a righteous and holy life. “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” Romans 6:17–22.

There will be many professed Christians in the last days with a form of godliness, but denying its power and manifesting all the social problems that the apostle Paul listed.

In the last days, there will be great natural disasters. In Luke 21:11 it says, “There will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines, and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” And in verse 25, Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.”

At the same time in the last days there will be a great international religious peace movement. This is very fascinating to study because there is no record in history of such a thing occurring, unless perhaps it happened in the days of Noah. But the prophets do predict clearly that there will be an international religious peace movement in the last days.

Isaiah tells about it in Isaiah 2:2–4. He says, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” There is a similar prophecy in Micah 4:1–6. For a little over a 100 years, we have said that we are going to outlaw war. We have established an international court to rule on matters so that we will not have war anymore.

The Bible predicts that at the very time that there is this great international religious peace movement, there will be the greatest wars of all time. In Joel 3:9–14 it says just the opposite of what the people say. The Lord says, “Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am strong.” Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. “Let the nations be wakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great.” Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.’ ”

These texts describe exactly the way the world is today. There are multitudes trying to figure out on which side of the great controversy they want to be. They are in the valley of decision, but there is not a lot of time for them to decide because the Day of the Lord is near.

We see in Joel 3 that Bible prophecy has a way of turning out to be accurate every time. In II Peter 3, the apostle predicted that in the last days there would be a time of great unbelief. People would not believe that the world was created by a divine Intelligence. In II Peter 3:3–5 we are told: “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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 creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water.” They willfully forget, not wanting to remember that this world was created by the word of God. That is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

We are living in a time when there is the accumulation of great wealth in the world and at the same time the most abject worldwide poverty. This is also a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. James predicted that there would be oppression of the poor by the rich. He said, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.” James 5:1–6.

When people are not ready and are not looking for it, the end will come. Jesus said, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44. It is going to happen friends. Most of the world won’t be ready, but what about you? Are you ready?

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

We Will See Him

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Everyone who has studied microbiology and hygiene should understand the value of cleanliness to prevent sickness, but physical cleanliness is not the only kind of cleanliness that is necessary. Spiritual cleanliness is even more important, and without it no one can receive the gift of eternal life. But the question is, How can an impure mind become pure?

In Matthew 5:8, Jesus enunciated the sixth step of a spiritual ladder that will lead a person into the kingdom of God. It says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This step establishes citizenship in the kingdom of God. Purity of heart and life is a result of the spiritual experience that is represented by the first five steps in Matthew 5; the person first of all recognizes his spiritual poverty, he mourns over his sinful condition until God makes him humble or meek. He has a thirst for righteousness that he cannot generate and becomes merciful. He is then purified from pride, and malice, and deceit, and other heart-defiling sins. There is no other road to purity of heart than the beatitude road and each step needs to be taken in that order. This next step, like the others, is not the enunciation of something that is new, but actually a restatement of a truth that is as old as the plan of salvation.

Notice what David wrote about salvation in Psalm 15. In verse 1 he asks the question, Who is going to be saved? “Lord, who may abide in Your holy hill? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” He then gives the answer in verse 2: “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” Upright walking, righteous working, and truthful speaking from the heart results in a pure heart.

David, after he had fallen into sin with Bathsheba, recognized that a divine miracle had worked in his life. Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” Then verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” David was afraid on this occasion that because of the grievous sins he had committed against the Holy Spirit, he was lost and he could not be saved. He says in verse 11, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” I want Lord that You recreate my heart. My heart is wicked, lustful, impure, but Lord I want a different heart. The Lord heard His prayer; He created in him a different heart, a different spirit, a new heart, and a new spirit. Receiving a new heart and a new spirit is so important that Jesus said that unless it happens there is no chance for any of us to be saved. Speaking to Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews who had secretly come to Him one night for an audience, Jesus said in John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” A birth represents a new creation, a new being comes into the world when a baby is born. Jesus said, if you haven’t been born again, there is no chance for you to be in the kingdom of God. When Nicodemus heard this he sarcastically replied, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s uterus and be born” (verse 4, literal translation)?

“Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ ” (verse 5). Unless you have been born again, not just of water, but of the Holy Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. We do not naturally have hearts that are pure. Our hearts are impure, and wicked, and unholy. The only way we can have a pure heart is through God’s recreative power making us a new creature. The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

If you and I are ever to have a pure heart, we must be a new creation. The Lord must create within us a clean heart, a new heart, a new spirit. That is what being born again is all about. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that the heart is made pure. Many people are confused today about this work. They think that the work of Holy Spirit is doing some kind of magic or miracles, speaking in tongues, or doing some other thing that is a scientific wonder that unconverted people cannot explain. But the work of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus pointed out to Nicodemus, is to give you a new heart, to cause you to be born again, to give you a new spirit. Unless that happens, Jesus said, there is no chance of inheriting the kingdom of heaven.

Only he who becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus can have a new heart, a new spirit, new thoughts, new feelings, new motives, created by the Holy Spirit in that person’s mind. The wise man said in Proverbs 22:11, literal translation, “He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend.” The heart is the emotional center of a person, the fountain of life. The character and conduct are determined by the condition of a person’s heart, the spiritual condition of our heart.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” As a person thinks in his heart, that is the way he is, that is the kind of a person he is, that is the kind of a character he is. It is for this reason that the wise man counsels us to guard our heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” The heart here is represented as a fortress which must be guarded. One version of the Scriptures translates it this way: “Keep your heart above all that thou guardest.” The heart is a fortress, a citadel that is to be guarded against the attacks of the enemy, because out of it are the issues of life. Out of the fountain of the heart there flows, or issues, the stream of character and conduct. Our words and our actions are simply the result of what is in our heart. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” When you stop to think about it, all evil in our world has its source and fountain in an evil heart. And the human heart is by nature, evil. It is a part of our inheritance from our first parents, Adam and Eve.

Notice what David said about this after he had sinned and he was thinking about his situation and the awful series of things he had done. Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” He understood that from the time he was conceived, he had been born in sin. The Lord recognized the same thing when He spoke to Noah after the flood. Genesis 8:21 says, “And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.’ ” The Lord said the imagination of a man is evil from his youth.

How evil is our imagination? How evil is our heart? In Jeremiah 17:9, literal translation, it says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked.” Or it could be translated, incurably wicked. “Who can know it?” Jesus made it very clear when He was here that the heart is the source of all evil. In Mark 7:21–23 He said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”

That was the secret of the terrible wickedness that came upon the world in Noah’s time, before the flood, and brought the judgment of a world-wide deluge. Genesis 6:5 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (verse 11).

That was the condition of the world before the flood in Noah’s day. Jesus stated very clearly in Matthew 24 that this same condition of wickedness would occur in the world again, before His return to this world. That prophecy explains to a large extent the cause of the present tidal wave of crime and iniquity and lawlessness that is sweeping over all the earth. The source is the corrupt and unregenerate hearts of mankind.

The patriarch Job asked a question in Job 14:4: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!” So who can bring a clean heart out of an unclean heart? Nobody. What are we going to do then? The purpose of the gospel is to enable a person to receive a new heart, a new creation, a new spirit, a brand new one. And there is One power in the universe that can do that for you, friend. No human being is able to cleanse the heart, but there is One Who can. Jesus is the great purifier and cleanser from sin. The genius of the Christian religion lies in the restorative power of the gospel, not in the performance of certain ceremonies or recitation of certain doctrines. The core of the Christian religion is that if you accept Jesus as the Lord of your life and as your Saviour from sin the Holy Spirit will create in you a new heart, a new spirit.

If you acknowledge Him as the Lord of your life, as your Saviour, the Holy Spirit will work a new creation in your heart and in your mind. All forms of false religion, paganism, tend toward corruption. Purity of heart does not find any prominent place in the teachings of Socrates or Aristotle or other heathen philosophers. The wisest and the greatest of them were impure and they knew it. They were corrupt in their teachings and in their practices. The gospel, though, will produce purity and holiness in the heart, not just on the outside, but in the heart. It brings the heart and the life into conformity with the divine law which is the standard of righteousness.

Jesus Christ, when He was here, was the very incarnation of purity. One time He said to the people, “Which of you convicts Me of sin” (John 8:46)? They didn’t have anything to say. The Bible says that if I accept Him, if I hope to meet Him, “every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, as He is pure” (1 John 3:3, literal translation), because it is only the pure in heart that will see God.

This purifying process cleanses our motives. When right principles are enthroned in the heart, then we do right because it is right, not because of policy or expediency. The right doing of the pure in heart occurs not to escape punishment, or for hope of reward; their good conduct occurs because of the motives inside.

A question that many Christians could ask themselves is, Is my obedience for the purpose of avoiding punishment or because of an inborn love of what is good and what is right? Many people would be shocked if they stopped to think about their honest answer. Why do I obey God by observing His law? This beatitude says that the pure in heart will see God. If my heart is full of sin, then my vision is beclouded. I cannot see or understand God. The disease of sin produces spiritual blindness. The Bible talks about this in many places. Peter talks about it in 2 Peter 1:9. Jesus talks about it in the message He gave to John the Revelator in Revelation 3:17, referring to people who thought that they had need of nothing, and yet Jesus says, you are blind, you are miserable, wretched, poor, blind, and naked. You do not even know your spiritual condition.

That was the reason the majority of people in Jesus’ day failed to see God. To them Jesus was only a root out of the dry ground, as stated in Isaiah 53:2. They saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. This is also true with the mass of mankind even today. It explains the reason why there are so many modern thinkers or philosophers who see Jesus only as a man. O, they say, He was a good man, even a superman perhaps, but only a man. To them, the beauty of His matchless character is no evidence that He is the Son of God. To them Jesus is altogether such a one as themselves. Sin dims our vision about God. But when we get a vision of God, then sin is revealed and holiness is produced. We see in Hebrews 12:14 that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. It is a vision of God that gives a person a vision of themselves and their true condition.

When Job saw the Lord he wrote about it in Job 42, verse 5 and 6. Verse 6 says, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” A vision of the Lord’s glory had the very same effect upon other Bible writers, for example, Isaiah. When you read Isaiah 6 you will see that he had the same experience. Daniel had the very same experience recorded in Daniel 10. Peter had the very same experience as recorded in Luke 6. Paul had the very same experience as recorded in Acts 26. And the apostle John had the very same experience as recorded in Revelation 1.

We can never know the blackness of our sin until we see the purity of the character of Christ. And once a person really sees that, the contrast brings us to a state of shock and awakens us to realize that we need a complete change in character and the person says, “Lord, I’m all undone” (Isaiah 6.5 literal translation), as Isaiah said. The Lord said, I’m going to purge your iniquity (verse 7). In other words, you’re going to get a new heart, a new mind. Jacob was a crooked dealer, a cunning trickster, a person that you would not want to do any kind of business with. His very name meant a deceiver or a supplanter (Genesis 27:36), and he lived up to his name.

But his character was completely changed one night when he had a wrestling match with the Lord Himself. It’s recorded in Genesis 32. For a man that had been spiritually bankrupt, he was changed into a prince of God. What was the secret of the wonderful transformation that he experienced? In Genesis 32:30, he said, “I have seen God face to face …”

The apostle Paul had that experience. It was the vision of the crucified One on the road to Damascus that transformed him into a different person and changed the whole current of his life. From then on, his goal was to behold and see that person. He said, by beholding we will become changed (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Have you beheld the purity of Christ? The spiritual vision of God must eventually involve seeing Him face to face. We must see Him now by the eye of faith and then we will see Him in the kingdom of glory, because He has promised His people that they are going to see the king in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17).

The only people that will see Him in His beauty, then, are the people who have seen the beauty of His character in the present life. Everybody else, when they see Him, will be calling for the rocks and mountains to fall on them as stated in Revelation 6:16. They are destroyed by the brightness and glory of his person. The only people that will see God face to face and be preserved are those who are pure in heart. They have seen God by the eye of faith in this life and they will be blessed with a vision of His immaculate loveliness when He returns. Because they have lived as in the visible presence of God in this life, they will have fellowship with Him in the future immortal life.

Friend, are you reading your Bible and studying to understand, not just the words, but to see the character of Jesus Christ, what kind of a person He is? You must become like Him if you are going to be with Him. For those who become like Him, the apostle Paul says, the time is coming when, even though now we only know in part, we are going to know as we are known. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then, we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Who will do that? It is those who are pure in heart. How can that happen? It can only happen if the Holy Spirit creates in you and in me a new heart, a new spirit, when we yield to the working of the divine agencies.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Bible Study Guides – The Second Coming of Christ

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November 27, 2016 – December 3, 2016

Key Text

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3).

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 640–646.

Introduction

“The truth that Christ is coming should be kept before every mind.” Evangelism, 220.

Sunday

1 “I WILL COME AGAIN”

  • What was Jesus’ promise, before His death? John 14:1–3. In what manner did He ascend, and how will this be matched in His return? Acts 1:9–11.

Note: “The promise of Christ’s second coming was ever to be kept fresh in the minds of His disciples. The same Jesus Whom they had seen ascending into heaven, would come again, to take to Himself those who here below give themselves to His service. The same voice that had said to them, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end’ (Matthew 28:20), would bid them welcome to His presence in the heavenly kingdom.” The Acts of the Apostles, 33.

  • Although the world is full of scoffers, what is the hope of the Christian? 2 Peter 3:3, 4; Titus 2:13.

Note: “Peter was inspired to outline conditions that would exist in the world just prior to the second coming of Christ. … As the end of all things earthly should approach, there would be faithful ones able to discern the signs of the times. While a large number of professing believers would deny their faith by their works, there would be a remnant who would endure to the end.” The Acts of the Apostles, 535, 536.

Monday

2 SHAKING THE HEAVENS

  • Describe the manner of Jesus’ coming. Revelation 1:7; Luke 21:26.

Note: “Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man’s hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour, and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. … With anthems of celestial melody the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way. The firmament seems filled with radiant forms—‘ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands’ (Revelation 5:11). No human pen can portray the scene; no mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. … As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun.” The Great Controversy, 640, 641.

“The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, ‘with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood’ (Isaiah 9:5), is stilled. Nought now is heard but the voice of prayer and the sound of weeping and lamentation. The cry bursts forth from lips so lately scoffing: ‘The great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ (Revelation 6:17). The wicked pray to be buried beneath the rocks of the mountains rather than meet the face of Him Whom they have despised and rejected.” Ibid., 642.

  • How does the vision of John in Revelation 6:12–17 confirm other Old Testament prophecies? Isaiah 2:10, 11, 19; 34:4, 8; Joel 3:14–16.

Note: “Satan is not permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ’s advent. The Saviour has warned His people against deception upon this point, and has clearly foretold the manner of His second coming. … This coming there is no possibility of counterfeiting. It will be universally known—witnessed by the whole world.” The Great Controversy, 625.

Tuesday

3 THE FIRST RESURRECTION

  • Amidst the shaking of heaven and earth, what will Jesus do? I Thessalonians 4:16, 17; John 5:25; I Corinthians 15:51–53.

Note: “Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the righteous, then, raising His hands to heaven, He cries: ‘Awake, awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise!’ Throughout the length and breadth of the earth, the dead shall hear that voice; and they that hear shall live. And the whole earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. From the prison-house of death they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying: ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory’ (1 Corinthians 15:55)? And the living righteous and the risen saints unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory.” The Great Controversy, 644.

  • What will happen to those who have died in faithful expectation of Christ’s coming? John 11:25, 26; I Thessalonians 4:13, 14.

Note: “All come forth from their graves the same in stature as when they entered the tomb. … All arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. In the beginning, man was created in the likeness of God, not only in character, but in form and feature. Sin defaced and almost obliterated the divine image; but Christ came to restore that which had been lost. He will change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. All blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. Restored to the tree of life in the long-lost Eden, the redeemed will ‘grow up’ (Malachi 4:2) to the full stature of the race in its primeval glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be removed, and Christ’s faithful ones will appear in ‘the beauty of the Lord our God’ (Psalm 90:17), in mind and soul and body reflecting the perfect image of their Lord. …

“Angels ‘gather together the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other’ (Matthew 24:31). Little children are borne by holy angels to their mothers’ arms. Friends long separated by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the city of God.” The Great Controversy, 644, 645.

Wednesday

4 TAKEN OR LEFT?

  • To what times in Biblical history does Jesus compare His second coming? Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:28.

Note: “Men have taken upon themselves the responsibility of erecting a standard in harmony with their own ideas, and the law of Jehovah has been dishonored. This is why there is so great and wide-spread iniquity. This is why our days are becoming like the days of Noah and Lot.” The Review and Herald, May 2, 1893.

  • What was the result of God’s judgments on both of these occasions? Genesis 7:21–23; 19:24, 25.
  • In the same way, what will happen at Christ’s coming? Luke 17:34–37.

Note: “When the reasoning of philosophy has banished the fear of God’s judgments; when religious teachers are pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity, and the world are absorbed in their rounds of business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merrymaking, rejecting God’s warnings and mocking His messengers—then it is that sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 104.

  • Explain who are those that will be “taken” at the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24:40–42; Malachi 3:17.

Note: “The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares. Those who have been members of the same family are separated. A mark is placed upon the righteous. … Those who have been obedient to God’s commandments will unite with the company of the saints in light; they shall enter in through the gates into the city and have right to the tree of life. The one shall be taken. His name shall stand in the book of life, while those with whom he associated shall have the mark of eternal separation from God.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 234, 235.

Thursday

5 ARE YOU READY?

  • What happens to the wicked who are alive when Christ comes? 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9; 2:8; Psalm 97:3.
  • What will the wicked become for the “eagles” mentioned by Jesus in Luke 17:37? Revelation 19:17, 18; Ezekiel 39:17–20.
  • Knowing what is ahead, what should our focus be? 2 Peter 3:11; Psalm 24:3, 4; Jude 23, 24.

Note: “Jesus is coming, but not as at His first advent, a babe in Bethlehem; not as He rode into Jerusalem, when the disciples praised God with a loud voice and cried, ‘Hosanna’; but in the glory of the Father and with all the retinue of holy angels to escort Him on His way to earth. All heaven will be emptied of the angels, while the waiting saints will be looking for Him and gazing into heaven, as were the men of Galilee when He ascended from the Mount of Olivet. Then only those who are holy, those who have followed fully the meek Pattern, will with rapturous joy exclaim as they behold Him, ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us’ (Isaiah 25:9).” Early Writings, 110.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What assurance did Jesus give of His return?

2 How will you discern the false claims regarding the nature of Christ’s second coming from the truth which He taught?

3 Describe the order of events from the time Jesus appears in the clouds to the time when the saints join Him in His return to heaven.

4 Do you want to be “taken” or “left behind” when Jesus returns?

5 How can you be sure to be one of Christ’s waiting ones?

Copyright © 2015 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

 

Lesson 10 – Jesus Returns to Earth

cloudsIntroduction: The second coming of Jesus was the great theme of the apostles. It is estimated that one in every 25 verses of the New Testament speaks of this event. But Satan has sought to confuse people so that they will not be ready to meet Him. Before Jesus’ first coming in Bethlehem, Satan was successful in confusing the Jewish people by causing them to misapply the prophecies of His second coming to His first coming. As a result, few were ready to receive Him. Now He is applying the prophecies of Jesus’ first coming-such as the 70th week in Daniel 9-to His second coming. And again it is working effectively to deceive! Let us see what the Bible says about Jesus’ second coming.

1. Before Jesus returned to heaven, what did He promise? John 14:13 [Note: Jesus promised that He would receive us to Himself WHEN He came again-NOT BEFORE, in some secret rapture, as some people are teaching today. The Further-study verses are Rev. 22:12-14; Heb. 9:28; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Peter 1:13; 5:4; 1 John 2:28; Ps. 50:3]

2. How will Jesus come? Acts 1:9-11 [Matt. 26:64; Mark 13:26; 14:62; Isa. 66:15; Ps. 104:3, 4]

3. Will there be counterfeits of Jesus’ second coming? Matt. 24:23-27 [ 2 Thess. 2:9, 10]

4. How can we know when the real Christ has come? Matt. 24:30, 31 [Ans: Everyone will see Him. There are many other identifying characteristics of Jesus’ second coming described in the questions and verses below. See if you can list them all. Rev. 1:7]

5. What work of judgment will Jesus do at His coming? Matt. 25:31-34, 41, 46 [Ans: He will separate the righteous from the wicked and execute judgment upon the inhabitants of the earth. (The chronology of these events will be further detailed in Lesson 20.) Matt. 16:27; Ps. 50:3, 4; Isa. 66:15-17]

6. What historical event did Jesus use to illustrate this separation? Matt. 24:36-41 [Note: In this separation, those who were taken were taken away in death by the flood (verse 39), and the others were left alive in the ark. So will it be at Jesus’ second coming. While people are doing common things, Jesus will come suddenly in judgment upon all. 2 Peter 3:3-7]

7. While we cannot know the hour, can we know when Jesus’ coming is near? 1 Thess. 5:1-6 [ Matt. 24:32, 33]

8. Will Christ’s coming be secret and silent, as a thief in the night? 2 Peter 3:10-12 [Ans. No, it will be a surprise as when a thief breaks in, but it will not be secret or silent-it will terrify the wicked as when a thief wreaks sudden carnage with great noise upon the household. Ps. 50:3; Isa. 66:15, 16]

9. See if you can answer these questions from the following passage: (1) At Jesus’ second coming, what will happen to the righteous who have previously died? (2) What will happen to the righteous who are still living? (3) Will His coming be silent? 1 Thess. 4:15-18 [ John 5:28, 29; 1 Cor. 15:51-55]

10. What will happen to the kingdoms of the world when Jesus comes? Dan. 2:44 [ Rev. 6:14-17; 16:19-21]

11. What will happen to the wicked at Jesus’ second coming? 2 Thess. 1:7-9 [ 2 Thess. 2:8; 2 Peter 2:9]

12. Will everyone who claims to be saved, be taken to heaven when Jesus comes? Matt. 7:21-23 [ 2 Thess. 2:11, 12]

13. What should we do to be ready for that day? Titus 2:11-14 [ Luke 21:34-36]

Commitment: Jesus’ second coming will be a sudden, all-encompassing surprise to the world, at which time all will be eternally separated-some for everlasting destruction and some for eternal life. Is the glorious appearing of Jesus your blessed hope? Do you want Jesus to redeem you from every lawless deed, and to write His law of love and righteousness in your heart, so that you will rejoice to see His face?

STEP 1 (Lessons 1-10): Believing in Christ, Our Savior and Coming King

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