Preparing For Rapture, Part 14, Understanding The Time; The End-Time
Text: Luke 21:25-36
Luke
21:25-36
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the
sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then
shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for
your redemption draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a
parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
30 When they
now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at
hand.
31 So
likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of
God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I
say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
33 Heaven
and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
34 And take
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that
day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a
snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Introduction
God is the eternal Being. He lives
outside of time. Nevertheless, God operates by time and with time when He has a
purpose to perform among men on earth. In actual fact, there is no purpose God
carries out on earth without first fixing time to carry it out. If He wants to
bless a man, He fixes a time to do it. If He wants to bless or judge a nation,
He fixes a time to do it, and so on. Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 clearly asserts this.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3
1 To every thing
there is a season, and a
time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time
to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that
which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time
to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
In the above scripture we can see that the
way God describes time is according to the purpose He wants to perform under
heaven, the earth.
Let us consider a few biblical
examples of God’s relating to time according to His purpose.
Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning
(time) God created (purpose) the heaven and the earth.
From Genesis
1:1 above, it can be pointed out that the word ‘beginning’ represents time and to
‘create the heaven and the earth’ was God’s purpose.
Jonah
3:4
4 And Jonah began to
enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days
(time), and Nineveh shall be overthrown (purpose).
Again, from Jonah 3:4 above, we see another case of God’s time
and purpose; ‘forty days’ – time, and ‘to overthrow Nineveh’ God’s purpose.
In addition to fixing times to His planned
agendas on earth, God causes both His time and purpose concerning man and earth
to be written in His Word, the Bible by revealing them to His Servants, the
prophets.
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets.
God has written down all
His landmark times and agendas concerning human being and the earth in the
Bible and He
expects all His children to read His Word, the Bible, to know and understand when
His time has come to execute any of a purpose on earth so that His children can
align themselves with His time and agenda and not be caught unawares.
However, it seems most
believers do not understand time of God because their behaviours do not
correlate with the purpose God wants to carry out. And being ignorant of God’s
divine time and purpose on earth could bring very devastating consequences.
Supremacy of
God’s Time and Agenda
I remember when Nigeria was to
hold her presidential election in the year 2019. It took a little while before
the electoral body announced the date for the election. By the time the date
for the election was announced, it coincided with the dates many Nigerians had
earlier fixed to hold one occasion or the other, especially wedding ceremony.
Though, many of these
Nigerians had sent out invitations for their events, which date the announced
presidential election was coinciding with, they had to quickly cancel their
proposed events to allow the presidential election to hold. That was an
unfortunate coincidence, you may say.
Some of the people quickly
used Radio, Newspaper adverts, social media and SMS to announce a shift of
their weddings to a week after the presidential election. However, on the eve
of the election, the electoral body of Nigeria postponed the election by a week
giving logistics reasons. This new postponement, again, resulted in a clash of
dates for the second time. And again, many had to shift their wedding dates
again. What a terrible second disappointment that was!
These people’s plights could
have been eliminated if the Nigerian electoral body had made its calendar known
to the public long enough such that anyone that wants to hold any important
ceremony could have planned their events accordingly. By this, they will be
keying themselves into Nigeria’s election timetable.
In a similar way, individuals,
families, churches, and nations of the earth are to make conscious efforts to
understand God’s times and programmes as documented in the Bible and align
themselves accordingly. Anyone that decides to work in contrary to God’s time
and plan will have his plan crushed and have himself blamed.
How to
Understand Times and Seasons
The ONLY way to understand the time of God is to
read what God has written in His diary, the bible, about the time. Let see two
examples from the bible.
-1. Daniel in Babylon
Jeremiah 25:11-13
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will
punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their
iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual
desolations.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have
pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath
prophesied against all the nations.
However,
at the time when the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, Prophet Daniel, being a
youth at the time was among those carried away into slavery. But close to their
seventy years in Babylon, Jereiah realized by reading the prophecies of
Jeremiah that it was seventy years they would spend at Babylon.
He then
began to repent for the sins of their fathers that led them to Babylon in the
first place. If Prophet Daniel had not read what God about the time their
freedom from slavery, He might not have repented for the sins of their fathers
and their slavery might have been prolonged.
Daniel 9:- 2- downwards
2 In the first year of his reign I
Daniel understood by books the number of the years,
whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would
accomplish seventy years in the desolations
of Jerusalem.
3 And I
set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I
prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the
great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him,
and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We
have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have
rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6
Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
land.
-2. Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians
1
Thessalonians 4
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as
others which have no hope.
14 For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him.
15 For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 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.
18 Wherefore
comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
From the scripture
above, Apostle Paul had written to the Thessalonians by the word of the Lord
that they would see their dead relatives again and as such should comfort
themselves with the assurance. However, the Thessalonians seemed not to
understand the time that this seeing of their dead relatives would take place and
perhaps were disturbing Apostle Paul again to write them another epistle
concerning such.
However, Apostle
Paul told them he did not have to write them again. Paul directed them to go
and read what was already written by the word of the Lord and they would not be
ignorant about the time.
Understanding the Time We
Are Living In– The Time of Rapture
It has been
established above that the only way to understand the time God plans to execute
a purpose on earth is to read what God has written about the time in the Bible.
This time, we are living in, is one of such times that God plans to carry out a
purpose on earth. It is called the end-time or the time of rapture. However,
many nations, churches, families, and individuals are totally ignorant of this
time, the end-time.
-1. A time of distress of nations
Luke 21:25
25 And there shall
be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
All the nations of the world are
going through distress and perplexities. Let me mentions few out of numerous
countries facing distress.
-a. Nigeria
Nigeria is
going through Boko-Haram terrorism, economic recession, insecurity and more.
That is distress!
-b. Australia
Wild fire has
been burning in Australia for many weeks. It is possible that many wild animals
could have invaded the cities from the burning forest. Many people have to be
relocated. That is distress!
-c. Iran
Top Iranian
military general was killed by United States and the people of Iran held a
rally in protest. In the protest about fifty Iranians were killed in stampede.
Iran shot down a plane in retaliation, believing that it was an American plane.
187 people, majority Iranians, died in the plane and then Iranians started
protest calling their leaders to resign for such a costly mistake. That is a
distress!
-d. China
A deadly
Corona virus recently broke out in China. Many people have died from it. A Chinese
city of about eleven million people is placed on total locked down. Some other
countries are evacuating their citizens from China. That is a distress!
Other countries like United States, South
Africa, Sudan, Syria and many more are also going through distress of various degrees.
-2. A time of distress of the church
This is the time the church
will witness distress of two types listed below.
-a. distress of persecution of the church
Mathew
24:9 9 Then shall they deliver
you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my name’s sake.
There is an
on-going persecution of the church. Many Christians are being beheaded by
religious terrorists. Many churches are being bombed. Persecutions are also
targeted against the church through so many evil laws that are anti-Christian
in nature.
-b. time of distress of false prophets
The church is
going through distress as a result of the activities of the false prophets. It
is now more difficult to evangelize now. People don’t want to listen to the
gospel nor go to church again because many false prophets/pastors have brought
negative images to the church.
-3. A time of distress for Individuals
Many people around the world
are going through various degrees of distress. Many people are losing their
jobs because of economic recession. Many people are going through emotional
trauma. Many young ladies are finding it difficult to get husband. Many females
are being raped and many more.
Luke 21:26 26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear
-4. A time of redemption for God’s people (time of
Rapture)
Luke
21:28
28 And when these
things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your
redemption draweth nigh.
Although, there is an ongoing distress of
nations, church and individuals, still, it is the time of redemption for God’s
people. It is the time we are to look up for our redemption – the time for the
appearance of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to rapture the saints.
Consequences of not Understanding
this Time
-1.
Lack of direction and
confusion
1 Chronicle
12:32
32 And of the children of
Issachar, which were men that
had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the
heads of them were two
hundred; and all their brethren were at
their commandment.
The scripture above says the
children of Issachar understood the times, and because of that they knew what
to do. They were not confused and without direction.
Contrarily, anyone that fails
to understand the time we are living in will not know what to do. In Nigeria, many
people have committed suicide in recent time, because they do not know how to
handle the distress they are facing. Some committed suicide. Some jumped into
the lagoon. Some drank dangerous chemicals and died. They were confused and
lacked direction about the time we are living in and were ignorant about how to
handle the distress of this time.
-2. Grievous Divine Consequences
Luke
19:43-44
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine
enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and
keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall
lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not
leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of
thy visitation.
God’s Demand for
Believers Concerning This Time, the End-time
-1. Read about this time, the end-time, in the bible
Revelation
1:3
3 Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
From the above, we
can see that God associates your knowing that time is at hand to your reading
about the end-time from the bible. There is blessing in reading it.
-2. Hear messages about end-time
Revelation
1:3
3 Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for
the time is at hand.
If you are not
educated and cannot read, cultivate the habit of listening to messages on
end-time. God associates your knowing that time is at hand to your hearing
about end-time messages from end-time preachers. Pastor should focus more on
preaching messages about Christ’s return. However, contrary to God’s
expectation, this is the time many pastors have turned to prosperity,
new-world, and itching-ear messages.
3. Pray always to escape
Luke
21:36 36
Watch
ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the
Son of man.
This is the time
God expects us to change our prayer points from prosperity prayers to those that
will help us in preparing for Christ’s return.
Sometimes ago, after
listening to the message I preached inside a bus, somebody wrote me for
counseling about a 40-day white fasting He wanted to embark on because of a
contract/project. I counseled the man not to dissipate such enormous spiritual
energy on ordinary contract/project.
I told him to
channel the fasting on preparing for Christ’s return but to enter into covenant
with the Lord, Jesus Christ, before he started. I told him to enter into a covenant
with the Lord that he was swapping his proposed fasting for project/contract for
fasting for Christ’s return and that the Lord should help him cater for his
project/contract instead. I also offered him that I would intercede for him
concerning his project/contract if he agreed to swap the purpose of his
fasting. I guessed he was not pleased with my counsel because he did not reply
me.
-4. Watch for His coming
Luke
21:36 36
Watch
ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the
Son of man.
-5. Preach and tell others about end-time
-6. Keep all the biblical instructions about the coming of
Jesus
Revelation
1:3
3 Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are
written therein: for the time is at hand.
Summary
God’s times are linked to purposes He wants
to perform on earth among men. And He documents them as His Word in the Bible.
If you must know what to do when God’s time to execute an agenda on earth has
come, you must understand His time. If you must understand God’s time, you must
read what He has written about His time.
One of such time that God has a purpose to do on
earth is this time we are living in, the end-time. Read the Bible to know what
to do and not be confused.
Conclusion
It has become apparent that most of pastors and believers don’t meet up
with God’s expectation of them to understand His times and especially this time
– the end-time, we are living in. This
conclusion is arrived at because of the so much confusion going on in different
church denominations and among believers. Many pastors concentrate on building
cathedrals at the expense of preparing congregations for rapture. Many
believers are doing as if they have all the time; but in actual sense, both God
and the devil know that time is short.
Unless a deliberate effort is
made by the church to read and hear and keep what God has written in His Word,
the Bible, about this time, the church might just miss her time of divine
visitation like Israel, ‘the senior sister’ of the church.
Actions
Are
you an elect of Christ? Are you truly saved? Are you on the narrow road? Do you
want to make the rapture/heaven? If your answers are yes, then,
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
•
Be watchful. Pay attention to what is happening around the World and see
whether they match what the scriptures say.
•
Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be in the Spirit all the time.
•
Fast, consecrate yourself, run away from sin and worldliness.
If your answers are NO, then you can repent
today. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Kindly sincerely and
faithfully pray the prayer of repentance below and make a determination never
to commit sin again.
Prayer Of Repentance
Lord, Jesus Christ, I am sorry
for all my sins. I confess them with my mouth and I ask for mercy. Please
forgive me and wash me in your blood. I accept you as my personal Lord and
Saviour. Write my name in the book of life. Give me power over sins and fill me
with your Spirit and Joy of Salvation. When rapture trumpet sounds, let me make
it. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, I pray.
Begin to read bible. Begin with the book of
John. Pray always. Fast regularly (you can begin with once in a week). Look for
a bible believing church where they teach repentance, holiness, salvation and
fellowship with them. Pray before you go. Always run away from SINS.
Need More Information?
For more information, question or
contribution, please send email to us at raptureglorious@gmail.com or jesuscoming@yahoo.com or visit us at www.jesuscoming1.blogspot.com and please tell others to join us. We teach
people deep word of God about holiness, righteousness and how to prepare for
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Please, Share This Message And Also Drop A
Comment.
We will like to get as many people as
possible ready for rapture. We wish nobody misses the rapture. What are
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Also, you can drop a comment. Thank you. God bless you.
Shalom.
To Make Rapture:
Confess your sins to JESUS CHRIST and ask Him
to save you.
Repent of your sins constantly on daily basis
and run away from sins.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Cut off all worldliness.
Forgive all people.
Pray and fast.
Consecrate and study the bible.
Watch.
JESUScoming
