Prophetic Pulpit: People Of Hope

                                       Exciting Times! 

Luke 21:26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth

Hi everyone. 

When preaching and teaching on end time bible prophecy, many eschatologists paint a picture of very frightening, dangerous times. And rightfully so. 

In describing the last days, Jesus said in Matthew 24, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. And these are the beginning of sorrows. 

In describing the last days, Paul said in 2 Timothy 3: But know this, that in the last days dangerous times will come. For men will be lovers of selves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, head strong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. 

In describing the last days, Peter said in 2 Peter 3, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 

Wow! Pretty scary stuff.

So it is understandable when last day bible prophecy is being taught, it is a frightening picture. 

We have to understand we are living in the final days, and it is going to be a very ugly and dangerous world. As one eschatologist put it, "What did you think the last days was going to look like?" 

However, like all eschatologists truly called by the Lord to minister on last day bible prophecy, I believe living in fear and dread is for those lost without Christ, but for Christians living under the banner of grace, it is very exciting times. We should not be living in fear, but in expectation of the great things God is going to do while He still has His church in the earth. 

The one verse that strongly comes to mind is Romans 5:20: Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. It doesn't matter how dark and depraved our world becomes. It doesn't matter how strong Satan and sin may appear. It seems like in every generation sin is more rampant and stronger than the previous generation. But it doesn't matter how strong and destructive Satan's power seems, God's grace will always be stronger. When someone truly calls upon the Lord, there is no yoke of sin that grace cannot destroy and there is no life that God cannot wonderfully change. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are living in exciting times! The darker the night, the brighter the light. The darkness only causes God's glory and grace to shine brighter. As we carry the gospel message to our world steeped in depravity, we should be expecting to see God move more powerfully than any generation before us. We should be expecting to see the greatest miracles in the history of the church. As we boldly declare the gospel in a Christ-hostile world, we should be expecting to see the chief of sinners falling in broken repentance and rising up in newness of life. 

So with very little time left, let's take Jesus' words to heart: John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work.