Category: Return of Christ

Prophecy of Anti-Semitism

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Peruse these haunting current headlines:

British Jews are “full of fear, like I’ve never seen before” ; 

Antisemitic graffiti in Paris worries French leaders; and

Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war.

Anti-Semitism (hostility toward Jews) is on the rise in a way not seen since the Holocaust. War has been the impetus, but the undercurrent of such hatred has been with us throughout history, and it swelled in the early twentieth century. As far as I can see on the timeline of biblical prophecy, the final crescendo of Anti-Semitism will happen under the rule of the Antichrist.

We must not forget what the Bible predicts of the future event of the “Great Tribulation” – that “the man of lawlessness”, the Antichrist, will seek to devour the entire people group of Israel (called such because they have descended from the patriarch, Jacob, whose name was changed by God to “Israel.” In fact, the Great Tribulation is referred to in Jeremiah 30:7 as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”

The prophet Daniel follows a description of this time of end-time warfare on God’s chosen people in chapter 11, verses 40-45, with an apt reminder, “At that time [of the Great Tribulation] Michael, the great prince [archangel of Israel] who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people [the Jews] who are found written in the book will escape.” (Daniel 12:1, HCB) Jesus Himself refers to the prophecy of Daniel during His famous Olivet Discourse, as He warns that the Jews during the time of the Great Tribulation will need to “flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16).

Many of God’s chosen people will return to the Messiah during the time of tribulation. This will be God’s selected era to bring the Jews back to Himself. During this current age of grace, the Lord is drawing Gentiles into the kingdom of God, but He has not given up on Israel, and He will work during the end times to save them, too. (Romans 11:25-27) The world shall witness of revival of God’s chosen people, through whom God gave us His Son (Jewish, by earthly heritage) and the holy Scriptures.

The trendline we see of growing anti-Semitism is concurrent with the swelling antichrist spirit in the world. Jesus is for the Jews and the Gentiles. Jesus died for the world. He came to break down the barrier between the Jews and non-Jews (Ephesians 1:11-18). God has a special place in His heart for those He chose through whom to bless all the nations (Genesis 12:3). As the world more and more rejects the plainness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the narrative of God’s Word concerning His overarching plan for both Jews and Gentiles, we will see a move toward anti-Semitism, which will ultimately culminate with the evil, one-world ruler to come.

God brings all evil to a head, so that He may eliminate all evil and set up His righteous kingdom. Sure enough, during antichrist’s delusional reign of wickedness, God will “gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle” (Zechariah 14:2). Then, at Armageddon, the Lord Jesus Christ will win the final victory against all the earthly evil Hell could bring together in the flesh of humankind. (Revelation 19:11-21; Revelation 20:1-15)

All of the clearly outlined prophecy in the Word of God allows us to properly “discern the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32) in which we live. We must evaluate news in light of the Bible. Holding God’s Word at the helm of our heart and life, we live with confidence, knowing where current events and all of history is headed. As devastating as the newsfeed is recently, we know that the Lord is coming soon to eliminate sin. He will defeat the “man of sin,” under whom the world will soon be held in wicked lunacy.

This is no time to hang your head. This is precisely the time to live the truth and tell the truth so that people may be convicted to put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. To tell and live the truth, you must know the truth. Pray, and then open your Bible. Read. The time is drawing near.

– Shelli Prindle

Prophecy Pieces

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There is much going on in the continents of Europe and Asia. The nations of NATO continue to grapple with Russia’s horrendous war on Ukraine. Turkey has experienced devastating earthquakes. Unrest continues ad infinitum with Israel and surrounding countries. China and America are at odds over spy balloons.

Please think about something. The world began in the Middle East. Over there between the Tigris and Euphrates River is where the Garden of Eden was likely located and where the Tower of Babel incident occurred. Where God started the world, is where it will end.

Russia and Turkey are part of the nations of Gog and Magog, a league of powers that will come against Israel in the end-times but will be utterly destroyed by a miraculous intervention of the Lord. (Ezekiel 38-39)

Turkey boasts the home of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed. Also, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are sourced in this country.

Ukraine is on the border of Russia and European nations. Russia will stand against the antichrist, who himself will be aligned with a western confederacy of leaders based in the area of Europe. Antichrist will temporarily protect Israel and promote the reinstatement of temple sacrifices in Jerusalem. Once Russia and other nations are defeated by the Lord, even as they come against Israel and antichrist, the door will be opened for antichrist to become a world leader during the second half of the tribulation, known as “The Great Tribulation.” (Revelation 13, Matthew 24:21)

China will no doubt be a part of “the kings of the east” who march over the newly dried Euphrates River for the Battle of Armageddon in Israel. (Revelation 16:12-16) Of course, King Jesus will utterly destroy all the powers that unite against Him in the end-time war. Then, comes the Millennial Reign of Christ!

It is incredible to realize how the Bible has prophesied events that are yet to happen, but as good as done. We see every piece sliding into place.

Read the news through the lens of the unchanging and eternal Word of God!

– Shelli Prindle

Shelli Prindle on YouTube (Revelation Playlist)

Why Did Jesus Not Know the Time of His Return – January 25, 2023

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Why Did Jesus Not Know the Time of His Return

There is a Scripture that, at first glance, seems confusing. Matthew 24:36 declares about the day of the Lord’s return, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

We ask the question, “How could it be that Jesus Christ would not know the day or hour of His own return?” We must begin by remembering a few things. Jesus is and was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent human. In His first coming, Jesus came precisely to pay for our sins and provide salvation. In doing so, He limited Himself in many ways.

First of all, Jesus is God, so He is omnipresent. That means that He is all places at all times, and yet, Christ limited Himself to one body, to walk on this earth one place at a time. Jesus is omnipotent; He has all power. Yet, He did not use the power available to Him many times, as when He was nailed to the cross. He could have stopped all that, and He could have used His power in many ways, but He willingly chose not to, in order to provide our full salvation.

It is the same with the omniscience of Jesus. He knows everything, but He chose not to operate by that omniscience in every situation. The instance of Matthew 24:36 happens to be one of those situations. When He came the first time, He descended and lived here in order to make a way for us to be right with God. Jesus knew, that for Him to tell us the day and hour of His return, would be to stop us from being always prepared.

As a matter of fact, just a few verses after this, Jesus shares a parable to speak of the fact that somebody who thinks that Jesus will be delayed – that the Master is not returning soon – is somebody that is actually a hypocrite, who is not truly living for the Lord. (Matthew 24:48-51) We are to always be waiting for Jesus. We are not to know when the rapture of the church is going to take place, so that we are perpetually ready. That is called the imminent return of Christ.

Does Jesus know the point of His return, now that He has been restored to the glory of the Father in Heaven (John 17:5)? I believe that, yes, He does. However, on earth, He withheld that information from even Himself, so that He could instruct us in the way to live and be right with God.

– Shelli Prindle

Make Haste – December 16, 2022

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Make Haste

The shepherds heard from the Lord through angels, and then they desired to see the fulfillment of prophecy with their own eyes, so the Bible tells us that they “went with haste” to find Jesus. These words strike me for a couple of reasons.

First, the Lord told the shepherds that the Savior had been born and that the sign of His coming was “you will wind a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11) What? God is coming to earth and He will be wrapped up in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding trough for animals? That seems rather odd. The sign is not to look for a palace and a king in a beautiful robe? The sign of the redeeming work of the all-powerful God through His Son is a tiny baby in a stable?

Second, after receiving this supernatural word from angelic sources, the shepherds head off to find a baby in a feeding trough in the City of David with haste! The sign is nothing glorious or earth-shaking. The sign is disguised in humble circumstances. The sign is not something most of the world would value and go after. Nonetheless, the shepherds felt compelled to move with unction to find what God had promised, even if it did not seem outwardly glorious. The shepherds knew this plan and this sign were from God, and so they sought the Savior with an earnestness. No dilly-dallying or half-hearted seeking.

My friend, we, too, have received supernatural communication from God. The Bible. The Lord implores us to look for Jesus in the ordinary stuff of this broken world. It may not seem glamorous, and we may often think, “Is He really HERE?” Can I find and have the Savior of the world? Yes. Yes, you surely can. Jesus is still working – by His Holy Spirit – in this world, so broken and mundane as it can be.

Hasten to find Him. Look in His Word. Pray in His name. Seek His face through time with Him.

And not only that. Let the shepherds be an example for us in the era in which we live. The Lord has told each one of His followers that we ought to be “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,” because “according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:12, 13)

I know it does not appear that Jesus is going to break through the sky at any time and make the world new. But He is! He is working in the dailiness of living. He is working toward this end, as we seek Him and proclaim His Gospel to the world. Through our passion for Him and yielding to Him in the work of the Gospel, we are hastening the day of His return!

Let the shepherds be for us an example of how a heart for the Lord really looks and acts. Receive the truth of Jesus, and then earnestly run toward Him and His grand plan for the universe!

– Shelli Prindle

“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:15-16)

Why Did Jesus Say He’s Coming Back Soon, When It’s Been So Long?

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The last book of the Bible begins with the curious and inspiring sentence, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1, ESV, emphasis mine). The third sentence includes “for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3). Just as amazing are the last recorded words of Jesus at the end of the book, in Rev. 22:20 (ESV), “Surely I am coming soon.” Jesus instructed all of His followers to be perpetually ready for His return, as in Matt. 24:42 (ESV), “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” God clearly presents the Lord’s return as imminent.

Why then, has He not returned after more than 2,000 years since His visible departure from the Mount of Olives? Jesus said He was coming soon, so what does “soon” mean? (It certainly cannot now mean a total period of time less than two millennia!) I would like to outline two reasons that I believe Jesus told us His reappearance to earth would happen quickly. This, then, is not an exhaustive discussion, but one to help us with our biblical confidence.

The first reason you may find to be less riveting than the second, but it needs to be pointed out. God is timeless. He exists completely independent of time, because He is the Creator of time. To God, as the Bible says, “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8, ESV). Mathematics enters into the picture. We need to grasp that infinity is not a number, but rather the concept that there is no last number. We can count and count and count, but there is always the possibility to add another number. Maybe we don’t have a name for the number because it is so distant, but the number still exists. This concept of infinity – or boundlessness – helps us understand God. Whether we look backward in time or forward in time, He exists. There is never a point that He didn’t exist, even before creation. Ps. 90:2 (ESV) declares, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

If you tried to tell the number three to imagine what it feels like to be as far away on the number line as five million, “he” could hardly conceive of it. But try asking three to keep traveling forever until he reaches infinity, and he can’t. He will never reach infinity. And neither can we grasp timelessness – the infinite nature of God. For God to tell us that His return is soon may not mean what we take for granted on our timescale. Perhaps that’s exactly why the Bible proclaims, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 Pet. 3:9, ESV). We tend to perceive His timing from our limited perspective, but God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9, ESV). God has a divine and timeless perspective, with a heart toward salvation.

Nonetheless, Jesus did tell us finite humans that He is coming soon. With the backdrop of His timelessness, we still seek to understand His reason for using the term, knowing our limited nature. Let’s, then, discuss the second, fascinating reason God may have expressed Himself this way. If an exasperated mom wants her child to get out the door to an appointment for which they are already late because the child has been dilly-dallying for twenty minutes, the mom may exclaim, “Get over here; we must leave soon!” In this case, when the mother says “soon,” she means “right now.”

If a dad wants his teen to get serious about studying for his permit for a driver’s license, the father might firmly remind his son two months before his eligibility date, “You better be preparing for your permit test; you’ll be taking it very soon.” In this case, when the dad says “soon,” he means “in a couple of months.”

If a mother is trying to foster preparedness in her daughter, she might say to her while the teen is still a high school freshman – “Take your classes seriously, because you’ll be going to college soon.” In this case, when the mom says “soon,” she means “in four years.”

“Soon” must be applied in context. In the first scenario with the distracted child, it is interpreted as “in that very minute,” whereas in the second case it implies a more distant time down the road. However, the third college situation is the one in which the most planning is needed. Many years of serious study and responsibility are necessary to reach the goal. In the last case, “soon” calls us to recognize that much preparation must be made, because the coming event is elaborate and weighty.

Jesus tells us that He is coming quickly because His coming is the most important thing in the universe – the one event for which each Christian is aiming. Everything we do and say and are is invested in the eternal future to which He will usher us when He returns. The one event we cannot miss and must not be ill-prepared for is the coming of Jesus Christ to earth again to remake this broken, sinful world into His perfect kingdom.

His reappearance could be immediate – this very minute. It could happen this year. It could also happen in hundreds or thousands of years. In any case, our knowing that it is soon is utterly appropriate, because this is the event to end all events. This is the hope of every believer. This is the one thing for which you want to say, “I am ready!”

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ… (Titus 2:11-13)

Divine Restraint

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After Jesus had been performing miracles and feeding thousands of hungry people, a crowd was about to push an issue in the wrong way, for the wrong reasons, and at the wrong time. “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (John 6:15, ESV).

The restraint displayed here by Jesus amazes me, because at that moment, HE KNOWS HE IS KING! He had every right to come the first time to earth and take over the universe He had created and set up His perfect kingdom. But He didn’t. He waited. He restrained His glory and His rights. He chose a crown of thorns rather than a crown of jewels. He determined to be mocked rather than to take over. Why?

Jesus chose the road of suffering back then for YOU. If He had come the first time to set up His righteous kingdom, we could have never been a part of it. But since He came the first time to suffer for sin in our place, we can join Him when He comes to reign and be truly known as the King of the universe.

Have you trusted in His suffering for your sin? Have you reacted to the love He displayed for you in His divine self-denial? Have you believed in the King who wore a crown of thorns so that you could one day be beside Him when “on His head are many diadems”? (Revelation 19:12, ESV)

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15, ESV)

Who Said Israel Should Be Wiped Off the Earth?

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missile“Israel should be wiped off the Earth.” These were the stark words etched on two ballistic missiles launched by the country of Iran on March 9, 2016. In fact, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, declared, “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.” (1)

The hatred of Israel by many people and nations is evident. And though it is distressing to Christians, the very existence of such extreme animosity only serves to lend credence to the truth of God’s Word. In fact, when I read the headlines marked so boldly with this anti-Semitic message, my heart leaps to think of how the enemies behind this provocation are only proving the Bible’s veracity. Let me explain.

God gave the land of Israel (which is bigger than its current political borders) to His chosen people, the Israelites. The promise began with Abraham (then “Abram”), the father of our faith. Genesis 12:7 (ESV) declares, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.'” God reiterated this promise over and over. We find it emphasized again when the Israelites were in the worst of circumstances – as slaves to the Egyptians. In the midst of seeming hopelessness, God firmly reminded them, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD” (Exodus 6:7-8, ESV).

God’s chosen people have struggled throughout history with the promise of their inheritance. They battled with the Canaanites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Romans during Bible times. They have been assaulted throughout modern history in obvious ways, including that of the Nazis. The hellish attacks notwithstanding, God’s promise remains. The fiendish attacks serve only to demonstrate that there exists something most peculiar and supernatural about this people and this land. Such pointed hatred can only come from an established reality, for no such loathing is the result of fairy tales or light-hearted belief. Our archenemy, Satan, stands behind every plot to abolish God’s people and God’s Promised Land.

The Scripture that jumped out to me when I first heard of the missiles marked with the threat, “Israel should be wiped off the Earth,” is Zechariah 14:2-3 (ESV): “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.” Unbelievably, the Lord predicted 2,500 years ago that “all the nations” will eventually go to war against Jerusalem. The attack will culminate just before the visible second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will return to the very same mountain from which He left (as recorded in Acts 1:9-12), the Mount of Olives. His toes will hit the mountain, and the mountain will split, and the Lord will conquer His enemies! Hear Zechariah 14:4-5b (ESV): “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that on half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward … Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”

The culmination of Christ’s victory over the enemies of Israel is explained in Zechariah 14:11b (ESV), “Jerusalem shall dwell in security.” No more will she be subject to war and degradation. Apparently, Amir Ali Hajizadeh is right in predicting a violent war with Israel, but he is certainly wrong about the ultimate result! God wins, and God keeps His vows.

After all end times events have taken place and the devil and all His worshippers have been deposited in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-15), we hear the amazing words of the Apostle John in Revelation 21:1-2a (ESV), “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, …” Not only a portion of land in the Middle East, but all lands and all the universe will be inhabited by God and His people, with the New Jerusalem as our capital. Amen!

As we are barraged with world news, we are encouraged to see than in trying to destroy God’s plan, His enemies are actually proving the Bible. Iran’s declaration to attempt to wipe Israel off the Earth only demonstrates that everything God has said is unequivocally accurate. Is not God incredible, that He uses even His adversaries to fulfill His plan and show His Word to be firm and timeless?

It reminds me of wicked King Herod the Great of the first century. In order to try to destroy Jesus, He used the words of the Old Testament prophet Micah to determine the location of Jesus’ birth (see Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:1-6). Herod must have actually believed that the Old Testament prophecy had something to it. And when He killed all the male children in the Bethlehem region who were two years old and younger, He fulfilled yet another prophecy of God! (See Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:18)

Even unbelievers and enemies bring glory to God’s Word by demonstrating in real time and space its accuracy. So, go ahead leaders of Iran. Go ahead all enemies of God. You seek to annihilate His sovereignty, but only end up proving it!

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2, ESV)

(1) Gambrell, Jon. Iran Fires Two Missiles Marked with “Israel Must Be Wiped Out.” abcnews.go.com. 9 March 2016.

– Shelli S. Prindle

Your Christmas Is Too Small

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Your Christmas is too small. And by that, I do not mean your tree is too short, you don’t have enough lights outside, or your gifts are not expensive. Your Christmas is too small if it leaves Jesus in the manger, or on the Cross, – or even rising from the tomb and ascending to Heaven.

If your “Silent Night” does not give way to “Resounding Day,” then your Christmas is too small. No amount of presents, perfectly placed wreaths, wonderfully decorated cookies, delightful parties, or time-tested traditions can erase the ultimate letdown you will feel when your Christmas is too small and your “Silent Night” does not point you to the greater “Resounding Day.”

See Christmas through to its infinitely, far-reaching end. Let the star of Bethlehem over the tiny manger remind you of how stars, moon, and sun will be eclipsed one day by the light of Christ’s all-consuming glory. He who lay under a star in the prickly hay of a feeding trough will soon outshine every heavenly body He has made! (Revelation 21:23)

Let the fact that He could find no place in the inn at birth (Luke 2:7), and that He had no place to lay his head in life (Luke 9:38), remind you that He is returning to this universe to take over all places. . . . And prepare them perfectly for you! (Romans 8:21, Revelation 21:1-4, John 14:2-3)

Precisely because Jesus walked this broken earth, we can walk the restored earth soon. He came to the real world in order to bring real hope for a new, real world. Though the best of Christmas seasons come and go in this life, we will enter an eternal season of unending joy and activity – never to be bothered again by the stinging pain of sin as it currently invades every facet of living.

Your Christmas is too small unless you connect the message of the angel Gabriel two millennia ago to the future message of the nameless, seventh angel and many loud voices:

    FIRST CHRISTMAS: “And [Gabriel] said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus'” (Luke 1:30-31, ESV).
    FINAL, ETERNAL ADVENT: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'” (Revelation 11:15, ESV).

When Christmas seems too small, remember a line from the third stanza of “Silent Night”: “Radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace . . .” Christmas is only the beginning – the dawn of the new Day.

Silent night of long ago will give way to the resounding day of yet-to-come when the humble Jesus of the manger re-enters the world as the mighty Christ of the universe. The story goes from obscure birth without fanfare to angelic trumpets and loud voices proclaiming the inversion of a godless world into the glorious kingdom of God. He who served us with His birth and death will finally rule us with His life!

Don’t Shrink Back

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“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” – Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV, 1984)

“Do not throw away your confidence,” “You have need of endurance,” and “We are not of those who shrink back.” These three phrases packed into a small passage of five verses remind us of a need to persevere. God here brings to our immediate attention the fact that utter discouragement is a very real possibility. Our defense against this weariness is to look forward to the coming future that is completely ensured by our God. Rather than a magical formula or a work of sheer human effort, God’s Word provides the Truth on which to stand. Though currently unknown and presently not experienced by us, we will receive the ultimate promise if we hold on.

“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay.” Though we wait for the Lord’s return and the justice He will bring, He is actually coming without delay. His timing is impeccable, and He does all things right. Though it feels long to us humans, the time until His return is short – just a little while. With that in mind, be warned by the next phrase of God’s Word.

“But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Shrinking back is an action of fear. I shrink back from big spiders and powerful thunderstorms and scary noises in the night when my husband is travelling. However, shrinking back from my faith in Jesus Christ is unacceptable. He is one hundred percent reliable. Furthermore, my shrinking back from faith in Jesus causes God Almighty to have no pleasure in me. Now, none of us likes for any particular person to avoid us because he or she finds no joy in relating to us. But multiply that feeling by infinity to apprehend what it would be like to know that God finds no pleasure in you. The one Person I want to rejoice in my existence is my Maker, Provider, and King. If He does not rejoice over me, I am doomed.

This is precisely why the distinct and direct connection is made between shrinking back and being destroyed. “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.” If I walk away from my confidence in Jesus, I walk directly to my doom. True faith is equated with my preservation. Therefore, despite hardship, I will endure. Come what may, I desire to do God’s will now in order to receive what He has promised. In just a short while, I will see Him . . . If I don’t shrink back.

How to Have the Best Thanksgiving Ever!

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I recently read a story concerning a thief who operated in movie theaters. With a female accomplice, he would visit movie theaters when “girl movies” were showing. Sitting in the back of theater, the burglar would scope out places where women with purses were sitting. As soon as the lights went down, this robber would slither on the theater floor in order to reach under the seats of unsuspecting victims and take their purses. While on the floor, he extracted wallets and took out credit cards from them. The thief would then replace the wallet in the handbag and leave the purse in its original spot. Surely, many victims did not even realize that they had been stolen from until hours or possibly days later.

Similarly, the enemy of our souls is stealing meaning from our lives. Culturally speaking, the lights have been dimmed, and we barely realize the danger. Our grave situation is made clearer at the holidays. As the deeper meaning of the holidays decreases, our level of anxiety increases. So it is with life in general. This inverse relationship – the rise of anxiety with the decline of true meaningfulness – is plaguing us. Let us, therefore, use the microcosm of the Thanksgiving holiday as an example of how to view the vital nature of life as it should be according to God’s perspective. Perhaps we will recover meaning and eliminate much of our growing anxiousness. No one knows the needs of the human heart better than the Designer and Builder of the heart. God understands what the greatest focus of thankfulness should be. He realizes why we are so often left empty and fretting after a season that should produce joy. He recognizes our shortsightedness. Our God wants us to press past the shallow waters and swim into the sea of meaning that sustains the soul.

When it comes to Thanksgiving, for what are you thankful? Let’s discuss a couple typical, good answers:

1) Food. Many of us are thankful for turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. In fact, we are rightfully grateful for God’s provision of food each day. This status of heart is biblical and good. However, we must be thankful for something deeper. While perusing the sad memoir of avowed atheist, Christopher Hitchens, as he outlined his thoughts during his final months of earthly life; I was reminded of the frailty of the human body and how easily our appetite can be crushed by sickness. There will come a day for everyone when we will take our last bite of earthly food. No wonder we read the amazing words of Jesus to a seeking crowd in John chapter six. After Jesus fed a group of 5000 people, some from the crowd took efforts to follow Christ to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They had obviously been impressed by His ability to fill their stomachs, and they crossed a sea to get back to Him. As the crowd approached, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:26-27, ESV). Jesus is not here the seeker-friendly Savior some might expect Him to be. Rather, he chastises people who are looking for Him because of a temporary, physical blessing. He targets the core of their desires by declaring they should have interpreted the miracle of the multiplied bread and fish as a “sign.” A sign points to something else; it is not the destination. The physical bread for bodily hunger was meant to show people their need to be filled spiritually with the gift of eternal life in exchange for an insatiable spiritual hunger that – when left untreated – results in spiritual death. Jesus clearly demonstrates that our hope lies in a God who is bigger than the food He provides. This is a God who can take care of the body even when it is no longer physically able to consume food – even when it dies! This God will resurrect the physical body of those who have eternal life. We will eat again in Heaven, because we have “eaten” of Jesus, the Bread of Life! (John 6:48).

If literal food is all for which we are thankful, our hope is negated and our life is dismal; for eating in this body will come to an end. If we are grateful for literal bread because it points to the Bread of Life, then life is rich beyond description! We eat now and are reminded of the blessings of living in the new heavens and the new earth; as Jesus proclaimed, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51, ESV).

2) Home and country. We are thankful for our homes and our country, as we should be. Many do not have this blessing. However, we must remember to recognize and believe all of God’s truth found in His Word. One of Jesus’ closest friends, Peter, said by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit in II Peter chapter three that this world and every place therein will one day be dissolved. As great as is the United States of America and as precious as is your warm and inviting home and its accompanying yard, these will not survive the intentional and glorious destruction and re-making of the world! As people must be remade in order to fit the holy plan of God (II Corinthians 5:17), so, too, must the universe. God’s mysterious working will take place with fire. As gold is refined and perfected in fire, so the cosmos will be perfected – set free from the misery it endures under the curse of sin (Romans 8:22). We cannot rely on this current world; we must count on the God who is the only continuum between this world and the next. Hear God’s Word: “By the same word [of God] the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men . . . The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare . . . Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (II Peter 3:7,10-13, NIV, 1984).

While we are grateful for our shelter and our place of existence in this universe, we are most thankful for a God who is greater than the sum total of all the cosmos. Not only so, but we rejoice in the fact that God has chosen to deposit in our very being a spiritual kingdom that cannot be shaken or dissolved! Listen carefully to the promise of Hebrews 12:26-28 (NASB), “But now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude . . .” Wow! we are thankful because we have inside of us the kingdom of God. Jesus has made the way for you and me to survive the shaking, undoing, and re-making of all His creation. Never will we disappear or be hopelessly destroyed. Though food and places may perish, we remain to enjoy the new place and the new food Jesus is preparing.

Please allow Thanksgiving this year to point to a greater truth – a deeper meaning than the temporal blessings humans enjoy to greatly varying degrees depending on their socioeconomic status and geographical location on this earth. Let this season be one that lifts your soul to an amazing God full of grace to give us such promise. He alone is unshakeable; but – amazingly – He deposits that hope in us. If today you took your last bite or enjoyed your last day in your home your God is still holding you. He is still holding the world. And while He is re-making both, He will let go of neither. Tenaciously, faithfully, and triumphantly; the plan of God goes on. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to enjoy the “Bread of Life” and the “Home of Righteousness.”

Happy Thanksgiving, unshakeable kingdom recipients!

Anticipation!

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“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.” – Colossians 3:4, NIV (1984)

Anticipation. Waiting. Excitement for something that cannot be adequately described. This is the stuff of the biblical Christian faith. We live between the tension points of what is and what will be. And what will be so grandly eclipses what is now that our God prescribed our hope as a hope that is alive (I Peter 1:3) and unsearchable (Ephesians 3:8).

Here it is in the simplest of terms, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4, NIV, 1984). Clearly, there is a sense in which Jesus Christ has not yet “appeared.” This should be obvious to us. In the world today, people exist who curse Christ, malign Christ, and try to ignore Christ. Jesus has been labeled by many a liar, or merely a prophet, or just a moral teacher. Some despise Him with a deep hatred. Some spend years of life not recognizing Him for Who He is. Surely, the full identity of Jesus in all His glory has not yet been revealed. Hence, the apostle Paul talks about the time “when Christ appears.”

For now, the true identity of Christ remains somewhat hidden. If He were honored for Who He truly is, the world would be right. Even we who have repented of sins and asked Him to be our Savior do not completely see and act on the reality of Who Christ is. Our minds know He is the Lord, but we often live with other idols. Our minds know He is King of Kings, but we often live in fear. Our minds know He is the judge, but we often make decisions based on our own desires.

No, certainly not the world – and not even we Christians – see Jesus for Who He is in the final sense of the word. This is one reason Paul declared, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (I Corinthians 13:12, ESV). Everything is somewhat fuzzy now, just a bit unclear. Isaiah said a similar thing 2,700 years ago when He prophesied about the second coming of Jesus, “And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces . . .” (Isaiah 25:7-8a, NASB). Did you catch that first part? The covering – the veil – will be taken away so things become crystal clear. The day that happens will also be the moment death is vanquished and every source of sadness is eradicated. What a day that is going to be!

So we wait. We long for Christ to ultimately appear. When He does, the totality of His being will come to light; and none will be able to refuse it. Whether willingly or by compulsion at the sight of His unhindered glory, “Every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, . . .” (Philippians 2:10-11a, NASB). Can you imagine? Finally! All people will honor Him! His glory will shine so brightly that all will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that He reigns victorious! No more can evil prevail, no more can sin destroy, no more can sadness come, no more can death exist; for, Christ will be conclusively revealed! John expressed it in the book of Revelation, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him . . .” (Revelation 1:7, ESV).

Let us go back now to Colossians 3:4 (NIV, 1984), “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.” Amazingly, when Jesus is consummately revealed, then every true Christian will also utterly be recognized for who he or she is. No longer will we be frustrated by our battle of the flesh against sin. No longer will people look at us and wonder how we could possibly be “children of the King.” We will, after all, be seen as truly beautiful – inside and out. How does this happen? Because, as Paul says in Colossians 3:4, “Christ is our life.” Yes, only commensurate with how truly I can declare Him to be my life now can I hope to be revealed in glory with Him someday in the future. Paul proclaimed, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3, NIV, 1984). Paul was not speaking of physical death, but death to self as the ruler of my life – death to sin. I am dead to myself and alive to Christ. I am “hidden in Him.” He is the definition of my life. Were Christ not my covering, I would stand hopeless before a holy God. Since Christ is my covering, when He appears for Who He truly is; I will too! The unblemished beauty of my life in Jesus will come to the forefront, all the sin and struggle having fallen away by His unbelievable grace. Oh, Lord, I can hardly wait for that day! We will worship you without hindrance and see the end result of what you purchased with Your blood when humans who trust You are then made completely right!

Our colossal concern between the tension points of now and then is this: Is Christ my life? Am I hidden in Him? Is He so much my obsession that He truly defines me? Am I pursuing Him like no thing and no one else? Remember this sentence from God’s Word, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.”