THE END IS NEAR
By Pastor Jim May
I want to speak to you this morning concerning a message that God has given in His Word for all who are called by His name. God has a Word for you and I and it’s a word of encouragement and strength for those who will hear what He has to say. God wants you to know that you have nothing to fear.
I feel that God wants to tell you, first that He loves you so much, and secondly that He longs to have all of us with Him in Heaven. Then, I feel that God wants me to let you know that the end is drawing ever nearer with each passing day, and it won’t be long now until Jesus comes and calls his people to come home for a great family reunion.
For some, this isn’t always an encouraging word. It’s not that we don’t want to make Heaven our home, or that we don’t love the Lord – it’s just that we also love some things in this present world and we don’t want to leave them too quickly.
There are many things about this life that are wonderful.
To look into the eyes of that special someone, whom you love so dearly; to feel their touch and to experience true love; is a truly wonderful thing that none of us wants to give up easily. We don’t really know what it’s going to be like over on the other side. The Bible says that those who live for eternity in Heaven will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
Now for some people that may be a blessing because their marriage isn’t exactly perfect anyway for whatever reason. How many times have I heard the marriage relationship referred to as a “ball and chain”? How often to hear husbands refer to their wives as “my old lady” or wives refer to their husbands as “my old man”. I suppose for these folks, the end of the marriage relationship, as they know it now will be a welcomed thing.
But for those of us who truly love our spouse, we don’t want to give that up so easily. The kind of true love that we find in a happy marriage is hard to find and we want to hold on to that as long as we can.
To experience the birth of a new baby into the family is a wonderful thing. To gaze upon that precious little gift from God that He has given to you for you to love and care for; to suddenly realize that your life is forever changed and that now you can know the joys of parenthood. This is another wonderful experience that we don’t want to give up easily.
Yet for some, even this experience doesn’t mean anything to them. How many people kill their children before they are even born through abortion, and how many throw their children aside as though they are nothing but useless garbage! How someone could cast away a new life that God brings into this world is beyond my comprehension, and yet I know that it is nothing more than a sign of the times and that the time of Jesus return is ever drawing nearer.
Many of us like to travel to see the beautiful vistas of mountain ranges, or the clear skies and beautiful sunsets over the deserts, or the ocean waves on the beaches of the world, and even to see the wonders and beauty of some of man’s power to create. We don’t want to leave the true beauty of God’s creation behind so easily because we really don’t understand or know what is on the other side of the veil of death.
Yes we hear of the beauty of Heaven. We hear of its mansions built along golden avenues, of the great wedding feast, of walking along the River of Life and so many other things, and it all sounds so wonderful. We believe it’s there, we hope its there, we pray that its there, and we try to live in such a way that we can go there, but which us of has actually seen it, touched it or experienced it and came back to tell about it?
There’s an old saying that goes like this, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” In other words, we sometimes consider the joys of this life and want to hang onto them with all that is within us, simply because we really don’t know what’s on the other side, “in the bush”.
I have often prayed, as I am sure that many of you have, “God, give me a glimpse into the glories of Heaven, and give me a glimpse into the pits of hell, so that I will never falter or fail in my journey of life.” I’ve never had God to answer that prayer in the way that I wanted Him to and the reason is that God requires us to “walk by faith and not by sight”! It wouldn’t require walking by faith anymore, if I already knew and experienced Heaven. It wouldn’t require trusting the Word of God, or continuing to believe God, if I really knew what the flames felt like, or the hopelessness of separation from God.
I have heard of a few people who had very short experiences of what hell was like, or perhaps had a glimpse of Heaven but none of them stayed long enough for either place to make a lifelong impression. They still have to walk by faith and not by sight and all too often they soon forget the experience they had as the devil begins to tell them that it was all just a dream.
When we talk about the near coming of the Lord, my mind always goes back to that scruffy looking character walking down the sidewalk of a busy city either carrying a huge sign that says, “Repent, the end is near”, or another one who walks among the crowd with a “sandwich board” that says the same thing. Most of the time we just walk past them and consider them to be a “few French fries short of a Happy Meal”.
It seems that God’s message of his soon coming has become little more than a nuisance as we try to enjoy the best that this life has to offer. We just don’t like to think of the complete destruction of the whole world by fire. It all sometimes seems like just a scare tactic to get us to go to church and serve a God that we revere and respect but really don’t know like we should.
I wish I could say that I am always thinking about the second coming of Christ, but that’s just not the way it is. If you are like me you do think of it quite often but not all the time. The cares and duties of this life often force us to give them all of our attention while the eternal things of God are placed on the back burner for a while.
Even so, God’s message isn’t changed this morning. His message is, “Prepare yourself, make yourself ready, keep yourself ready, and don’t allow the things of this life to lull you to sleep.” There is no more important message than I can give to you today than to let you know that the end of all things as we know them, is truly closer than we think.
I can’t put a day, or a time, or even a year for that great event to happen, but I am convinced by the Word of God and by the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Bible that we see every day, that it won’t be long.
In light of that fact now, I have another message for you so turn with me if you will to Isaiah chapter 51.
Isaiah 51:1, "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged."
As I look around the church this morning, there is no doubt that all of us believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are trusting in Him as our Savior. But God is reminding us to be vigilant in keeping our relationship with Jesus strong. We are to remember that Jesus is the foundation for our life. He is the Rock of my salvation. His death upon the cross on that rock called “Golgotha’s Hill”, and his resurrection from that grave that was carved out of a rock and sealed by a stone, made the way for my sins to be washed away and for this sinful heart to be made righteous. It’s only by His precious blood, through God’s grace and mercy that I can make Heaven my home.
As Christians, even though we want to serve the Lord, and our greatest desire is to spend eternity in Heaven, it’s so easy to get lax in our service to Him. It’s so easy to just drift away and become entangled with the pleasures, the joys and the cares of this life. None of us will leave Jesus by deciding to forget God and do our thing, but we often do just that by slowly becoming more and more involved with everything else but the things of God. The devil knows our weaknesses and he knows how to entice us. All he has to do is put something before us that we truly love and he knows that we will chase after it.
Have you ever seen someone hang a carrot on a stick in front of a mule to make him move? I’ve seen it in pictures and movies several times. The mule doesn’t know where he is going; he’s just chasing the carrot. I know a lot of people whom the devil is leading around with a carrot of fun, of pleasure, of the good life or some other pleasure or dream that we have for our lives. Is there a carrot in your life right now that has your attention? Are you being led away from serving God by something that seems so right? Is there anything in your life that keeps you from the House of God or from reading His Word, or that has power over you to keep you from serving the Lord? That carrot may be something very worthwhile and wonderful to have, but is it really worth missing Heaven? Be careful of what you are chasing because the end really is near and Jesus is coming soon.
He’s going to come when you least expect him. He’s going to come like a thief in the night. And He’s going to come quickly, in the twinkling of eye. We have to be ready all the time, for there will be no time to get ready then.
1 Corinthians 15:52 says the second coming will happen, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Let’s look back at Isaiah for a moment. There’s a little more of this message that God wants you to hear.
Isaiah 51:6, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished."
This is God’s way of letting us know that we can see the time drawing ever nearer just by watching what’s going on around us. Don’t let the devil blind you to what’s happening behind the scene.
In recent years there has been an ever-growing interest in extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Whether you believe in them or not, mankind seems pre-occupied with watching for UFO’s, comets, asteroids and “little green men” so to speak. We have put tremendous amounts of time and money into research and development for learning more about what Star Trek fans call, “The Final Frontier” and going “where no man has gone before.”
There is also a lot of emphasis being placed on this in the films that are coming out of Hollywood. Perhaps you have seen some of them such as “Deep Impact”, “Armageddon”, and others.
All of mankind is keeping their “eyes to the heavens”. We, as Christians, should be looking to the heavens also, but we shouldn’t be looking for UFO’s, or extra-terrestrials, or comets and asteroids – we should be looking for the coming of the Lord to gather his people home.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, "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: 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."
The next part of Isaiah 51:6 says to, “look upon the earth beneath”. What can we see there? What is in the earth that we should be watching?
Can we not see that nations are rising against nations; kingdoms of one religion are rising against other religions, once race of men rising against another race in wars of extermination? All of these are signs that the end is near! You can’t pick up a newspaper without being reminded of the soon coming of Christ if you are looking for it and have the right mindset. The problem is that Satan has most of the world blinded to what’s going on and many people are even convinced that it’s going to get better.
As much as I would like to see this world get better, the Word of God says just the opposite. It’s going to get worse, much worse, until this world and all that is in finally faces the fires of God’s judgment. God has given us a space of time to make ourselves ready so let’s not waste it and be caught unawares.
The next phrase of Isaiah 51:6 says, "...for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: "
Just this week I was reading an article that talked about the peak in cheap oil production around the world. It was said that by 2036 our oil supplies would begin to decline and that the price of oil was only going to increase rapidly from that point on. Our only chance is to develop new sources of energy.
You can probably read similar articles on just about any commodity and resource that we use including wheat, water and even clean air. The point is that Isaiah is right. The earth is getting old and wearing out. It’s getting threadbare. As resources grow smaller, so does supply of all that we need, then the prices grows ever larger until we see the fulfillment of Revelation 6:6, "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny…”
A penny was a day’s wage in John’s day when this verse was inspired. Before it’s over, it will take a whole day’s wages just for a little bit of bread. But, if you have enough money, you can have what you want while the rest of the world dies of hunger.
People are growing old and showing signs of stress as never before. There is no real time to relax and enjoy life because you have to work too hard just to make ends meet. We are making more money than ever before and having less time to enjoy the fruits of our labor than ever before and it only grows worse from here.
That brings me down to the final part of Isaiah 51:6,"...but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished."
Aren’t you glad that there is something that will last forever! With all the changes in this world, and all of the instability in the world and in our lives, it’s good to know that there is something that never changes. God’s Word never changes. God never changes. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The plan of salvation through the Blood of Jesus never changes. The righteousness that Jesus gives to us when we accept him as our Lord and Savior never changes. Nothing that God has promised to those who love him and live for him will ever change. God’s promises are true and finished and nothing can change that!
In closing let us read Isaiah 51:11 as we all stand together.
Isaiah 51:11, "Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."
Because Jesus lives – Because He has washed our sin away – Because he has clothed us in his righteousness through his own blood – Because He is coming to take his bride, the church, those who are watching and waiting for his coming – those who are redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, we will go to Heaven singing with joy, shouting the victory, and there we will have joy forever and gladness will ever reign in our hearts. Sorrow, sickness, death and mourning will be no more and we will be with Jesus forever!
The final part of God’s message to you this morning is simply this – Are you washed in the Blood of Jesus this morning? Has there been a time in your life when you confessed your need of a Savior from sin? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and then surrendered your life to him? Are you watching and waiting for his soon return?
The end is near and I don’t want you to be left behind to suffer God’s judgment as it falls on this earth. I don’t want any of us to end up in the flames because Satan has kept us blinded to what’s really happening around us. I want us all to be in Heaven with Jesus.
There’s only one way to escape God’s judgment – That way is to accept Jesus as your Savior and surrender your life to Him! Will you do that with me this morning as we close this service?
