Continuing The Signs of The Times

It has been a long, long time since Peter penned the words in his second epistle to an infant church about the return of the Jesus Christ. Christians, even back then, lived and died with an expectancy and hope that the Lord would come back in their lifetime. But He did not. This has not only been difficult for Christians down through the centuries, but has added fuel to the fire of unbelieving skeptics as the apostle spoke of and warned about in 2 Peter 3-4.

“Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

Many things have been listed out and foretold in Scripture pointing to the return of Christ. Some refer to the dramatic rise in stressful events like those spoken of in Luke 21:10-11. "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” But probably no single sign is a significant as Israel being re-gathered and becoming a nation again in 1948.

The days just before Christ’s return were also to be characterized by ‘perilous times’ morally speaking. These days would be literally ‘outrageous’ even by nearly any decent standard of conduct and ethics. Timothy stated, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come…” (2 Timothy 3:1) He then went on to describe a world that closely parallels today’s overall and current god-less attitudes and actions around the globe. One small example of moral decline is the current legislation and controversy surrounding U.S. passports. The traditional words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology of "parent number one" and "parent two". The new politically correct law obviously will please the gay community, but is a keen reminder of the irreverent conditions spoken of in Romans 1:24-28 and in other similar scriptural passages.

Then too writer and prophecy expert Joel Rosenberg has pointed out the disturbing increase in brutal attacks in recent months against Christians world-wide. This has been especially true in the Middle-east by religious and political extremists where violence against the church of Christ has been stepped up significantly and is far more bloody than before. 2 Timothy 3:11-15 made it clear that any who live faithfully and outwardly for Jesus Christ would suffer some form of persecution. But today seems to be a snapshot of Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 16:1-4 where He declared, "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” Tragically, those involved in this recent outbreak are anything but in God’s sacred service, rather they have been fully duped into working for His arch enemy!

Jesus also spoke of and described the moral and spiritual climate that would exist just before His own return in Matthew chapter twenty-four. Verse 36 begins, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” These are simply more words to describe the perilous times that would become obvious just prior to Christ’s coming back to remove His precious spiritual prize – the true universal church.

Although, not connected in any prophetic way, it is rather ironic and interesting considering Jesus words describing the end-time include Noah-like conditions, that there is today a life-sized replica of the Ark being constructed in a Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. The spectacular model is scheduled to open in the spring of 2014 and will be seen by millions – providing the Lord does not return before then. If He does, the symbolic safety and salvation provided by the first ark will become even more striking and precious to those who escape destruction and wrath when they instantly are safely ushered into heaven, led by their Savior at the helm.

So in many convincing ways, it would appear that Christ’s return for His church is near – perhaps very near! And those believers who care about the biblical signs, the world’s current prophetic climate, and their relationship with their Lord should have at least two basic questions.

First, why has He not come yet if all the global signs and conditions have been fulfilled along with the obvious increase of suffering and outward explosion if sin? And secondly, what are those who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to be doing in what may be the little precious time left before His return for them?

It is no accident that the answer to both of those crucial questions are covered in that same passage where the doubters and detractors of Christ’s life, ministry, and return are seen. First, verse 9 reveals something often and easily overlooked. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Christ has postponed His return so that more will “not perish” eternally but be given the opportunity to be saved through faith. That aspect is fairly obvious even by a casual reading of the passage. But a more careful scrutiny of the text reveals exactly who His patience is directed to. His ‘longsuffering’ is geared toward His church! He is being patient ‘toward us’ as much or more so than those who are spiritually lost. It is aimed at those of us who already know Him. His delay is, in part if not fully, so all that have experienced salvation through faith can in turn reach out to all who have not. And if the time is short, so should be our urgency to share God’s redemptive plan to any who will listen.

Then secondly, Peter covers the other aspect of the believer’s life while they await their Lord’s glorious return for them in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) He begins in question form and then provides the answer in verses 11-12. “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”

Basically, in these last days before the coming of their Savior, God’s people have but two primary tasks. While looking for His return, they are to live Christ-like lives while actively proclaiming His mighty good news and grace to a lost and dying race. In the light of the times, all else in life should be placed on the back burners, if even on the stove at all!

God’s timing is flawless and it certainly appears that the time of His return for His church is imminent. Christians, who may wonder how they should conduct their affairs until He does, need to read, meditate on, and apply the words authored by Peter in this profound and enlightening passage centered on the end times!

Bill Breckenridge