By Barrett VanLandingham
April 16, 2008 05:25 pm
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Hopefully, you made the April 15 deadline to file your taxes. If not, maybe you can file an extension.
Unfortunately, that's not the way it works spiritually. There are no extensions. But, there are a few things in which we should all be happy to pay a high rate of interest. The writer of Hebrews 9:27-28 has this to say about the end times:
“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus will appear one more time to bring his faithful home and give them a crown of life (Revelation 2:10). The first time he appeared was when he lived on earth, was crucified, and was resurrected. The second time will be judgment day.
Some people point to Matthew 24:4-8 as proof that the end is near. However, a close look at those passages show that the wars, rumors of war, earthquakes are only the beginning of “birth pains,” and that the “end is still to come.” Matt. 24:36 says, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Jesus goes on to say in the rest of the chapter that the final day will be like the story of Noah when the righteous were saved while the wicked were not.
1 Thessalonians speaks a lot about the end times. Paul says in 5:2 “… the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” That means there will be no warning, even from the “prediction experts.”
In 1 Thess. 4:16-17 we are told that those who are “… dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
However it happens, I do know for sure that I have a responsibility to be ready when the Lord comes to take us home. It would make absolutely no sense at all to have 27 books of the New Testament that teach us the story of Jesus and how to live our lives, and then for Jesus to give us a second chance after he returns to take his faithful home.
Seems to me that would kind of defeat the purpose of being prepared for the judgment. That is to say, if he's going to bring one boatload of the faithful home to heaven and then give the unsaved a second chance that might be good for them, but that would destroy the entire premise of the New Testament to live holy lives.
I don't know about you, but whether I'm alive or dead when Christ returns, my soul plans on being in the first and only boatload home to paradise.
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