Theme: Christ who comes to deliver us from fear
Text: Jer. 33:14-16; 1 Thess. 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
God never hides from His people what He is about to do on earth. Instead He always sends some signals or signs that are designed to warn us and get us prepared for what He is about to do. Before the flood God warned the world about what He was about to do using the preaching of Noah and the building of the ark as a sign of the destruction that was about to take place. Before the Lord delivered the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, He sent Moses to Pharaoh and brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians as a sign of what was about to happen. Before He sent His Son to be born of a virgin, He put a star in the heavens as one of the signs to let the people know of His birth. Just as the first coming of Jesus was preceded with signs, so also will His Second Coming be preceded with signs? There will be signs in the world that will correspond with the signs in the Word of God. When these signs appear the result will be fear and panic. It is the way the world reacts to what is unusual and fear and panic are themselves signs. They are signs of unbelief and Jesus said, “When these signs begin to develop, look up for your redemption draws near.” Whenever God appears to humans, the message is always, “Fear not” and when the signs of His return are evident to the believer it is Christ who is coming to deliver us from fear.
The signs of the end times according to our Lord would include outward signs that will cause a lot of distress but offer no way of escape as then it would be too late. We can avoid this intense suffering that cannot be overcome by accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Not only does Christ offer solutions to our problems and difficulties at this time but also offer us His provision at the end of time when everyone else is faced with fear. This fear is the inward sign that would characterise the end of time. Man would be filled with such great fear and then finally understand the hopelessness of his or her situation. He would then realise the many opportunities that had been offered for him or her to deal with sin and its consequences.
All over the world we are experiencing distressing conditions. The daily bombings and loss of innocent lives, famine and the depletion of water bodies, the ozone layer problem and the green house effect, the serious economic and sociological problems such as unemployment, crime, robbery, and violence. When we remember that God destroyed the world in the days of Noah because of man’s evil thought patterns, we can understand that the end of the age is near. What are the outward things today that tells us about what man thinks or believes? Archaeologists today can figure out what people thought and believed by studying their value systems. Today we can study our value systems by studying what men read and watch today for entertainment. It tells us a lot about our morality, our thinking and our beliefs. Today’s entertainment consists mainly of things that have to do with sex and the occult. Films are mainly filled with sexual scenes and bestseller books are those dealing with the occult. The most important sign however is the sign of Israel and Israel plays an important part in the time plan of Christ’s return. When Jesus reminds us to keep our eyes on the fig tree He was referring to the nation of Israel. When it begins to blossom we should know that the end is near. The nation of Israel is a miracle. It can be said that it is the historical miracle in world civilization. This is because Israel ceased to exist as a nation in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, killed many of the Jews and forced the remnant out of their own country. But she was born again in one day, as Isaiah predicted would happen. On May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation again with the Hebrew language, a language that had not been spoken for many centuries, as its medium of expression - the fig tree has truly budded. Jesus said when the fig tree buds the kingdom is at hand. He said, “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Indeed God’s Word is true. Israel, the Hebrew race would not pass away until all is fulfilled. There would be calamity, chaos, war, woe, bloodshed and battles, but this race will not pass away until all is fulfilled. Even though there are wars and rumours of war in the Middle East, Israel and the Hebrew race are here to stay as a sign of the times before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The signs are evident and we should not allow the attractions of a sinful world to dull our senses. Let us not listen to the many voices trying to deceive us that we still have a lot of time left. Let us not compromise our position by seeking the things the world offers us believing that we would still have enough time to turn from them. The time to receive Christ is now.
The first step in preparing for the end times is to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. This is the only way to receive salvation and God’s blessings and be prepared for His return. His return will affect all of us whether we believe in Him or not. But since no one knows the time, the only really sensible thing to do is to be prepared at all times. Since time exists within eternity, we should be focused on eternity if we are to be ready for the end of time. To be focused on eternity is to be focused on God’s presence and the way to do this is to spend time in prayer and in the Word of God. Prayer not only leads us to God’s presence but also establishes contact and fellowship with Him. For the faithful believer the end of time will be a meeting with a friend they had fellowshipped with. For the unbelievers and the unfaithful it would be a meeting with a stranger.
Time will not only end at the end of time it will also end at the end of life so we are to live in a state of preparedness. All of us must realize that our personal death is, in fact, soon and unpredictable and this should give meaning and purpose to every moment. Waiting is not sitting down and doing nothing. It is preparing for the inevitable. It is acting in such a way that we are prepared for Christ’s return. Living life in the face of and without the fear of death makes life precious, fun, full of expectation, liveable and lovable. In the interval, we are not to be anxious about anything but about serving Christ, who likes to tell us in advance what we can expect. He has warned us to expect sufferings, failures, set backs, tragedies, and persecutions. But He has also promised us His presence so that we can deal with them. We spend so much time preparing for life in time and so little time preparing for life in eternity. It is estimated that the average person spends 15-20 years preparing for a working life that will last 20-40 years and hardly any time preparing for eternity. This is because to the average person life in time is more important than life in eternity but in reality the opposite is true. Committing our life to Christ is the best thing that can happen to us because it concerns our eternal destiny. We are not only saved in this world but also at the end of time. We become God’s children and have access to His presence and His promises and blessings. When we meet Him at the end of time we will be meeting a friend and not a stranger who will judge us.
Accepting Christ as Saviour and Lord is to obey His commandments and in the Words of Christ “we are to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbour as ourselves.” Our salvation does not only mean having a relationship with Christ but also demonstrating that relationship by our actions. If we really had a relationship with Christ we would also demonstrate the love of Christ in our lives, a love that is directed towards God and also directed towards man. We cannot say we love God who we do not see and not love our neighbour who we can see. When we have a relationship with Christ we should be able to see others as Christ sees them and respond to them in the way that Christ would. We are to become His hands and His feet. We are to go to them and meet their needs.
There are facts and there are the interpretations of those facts. The facts of a believer’s love are evident in the signs of his or her life. These signs refer to the interpretations of the facts of this truth in our lives and the world we live in. It is very important to discern the truth and not mistake it for what we would like it or hope it to be. Facts in themselves are meaningless until they are seen in their context and this enables us to relate one fact to another or others and thus derive their meaning for our lives. One of the major teachings of Jesus is that if we interpret the facts of our lives in the context of this world only or in the context of our personal selves only, we will get their meaning wrong. If, on the other hand, we interpret them in the broadest possible context, we will see them for what they really are. We need a special light, the light of eternity, to look into physical things, events, phenomena and even people. We will then be able to see everything that happens to us as opportunities for redemption and God’s blessings. If we don’t have that light or use that light we will get the meaning wrong. If we use only the light of this world we might not be able to see past the surface. The eternal light lets us get to the real meaning. God loved as so much that Christ paid the penalty for our sin with His own life. The least we can do is to return that love and there are many people who need love in our world today. Why not share that love today?
During this time of Advent, we are preparing both for the first coming of Jesus at Christmas, and for his second coming. If our hearts are hardened we will not be able to recognize Christ when he comes into our midst. It would be a tragedy if we turned him away because we did not recognize him. A sensitive heart will be ready to receive Christ when he comes. Prior to His coming, Jesus said there would be certain signs that would foretell the times and seasons of His return. We are living in the times before our Lord’s return. If you know Jesus as Saviour, you can take hope and rejoice. If you are not yet a believer, listen to the Holy Spirit as He convicts you of your sins. The only response to this conviction is to put your faith and trust in Jesus as you repent and ask Him to be your Saviour and Lord before it is eternally too late. Amen!
