It is the Season

This will be the first part of what I anticipate to be a four-part blog concerning the return of Christ. Many of you know me, you know that I am not a doom and gloom kind of guy, I don’t walk around with a picket sign that says the end is near. Although, one of my favorite tee-shirts I saw in New Orleans, years ago, it said Jesus is Coming Back Soon and He is going to be Pissed. Irreverent for sure but true.

He returns in Judgement for some, a happy gathering for others. Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 do a good job of sorting out the process and draw the lines so people will have no cause for argument as to which side of the line they fall on.

I would encourage you to read the two chapters referenced above and even print them off so you have a quick reference as these blogs proceed.

In verse 36 of Chapter 24 it says clearly that no man can know the day or the hour of Christ’s return. But return he will, it is the hope of the Christian and one of the lynchpins of the faith. If you remove the return of Christ from the tenants of the faith everything falls apart.

Intimated in these verses though is that we can know the season. And Chapter 24 is about recognizing the season so we will not be caught unaware. What this does is put us into a mindset of living our lives as if Christ could return today, but strengthen us to live prepared if he delay’s his coming. Why would he delay? For the sake of mercy, it says that he desires to lose no one and will not return until he gets the nod from the Father that it is time.

I believe two things about these days. The first is that we are for sure in the season and as we go though the verses in Chapter 24 you will be able to see it clearly. Not from any isolated verses, it is very dangerous to do that, but from the total reading of the verses in the chapter. I also believe that we are living in what I call ‘the highways and byways’ days, when we need to compel them to come in.

I worked in West Africa in the rubber plantations owned by Firestone, in Liberia. Trees have about a thirty-year production life. The first twenty-five years the trees are tapped in a normal manner. Then in the last five years they are slashed tapped, cuts are made all over the upper branches of the trees and cups attached to collect the latex.

In the same way God is asking us to step out of the norm and go to those places and people who for the most part have been untouched by the Gospel. Those who have been abused and forsaken by many in the church as being unfit for the love of God, indeed the last shall be first.

So spend some time this week and read Matthew 24 and 25 and I will post Part 2 next week.