How close are we? Part II

As promised, this is Part II of my series on the End Days. This time we will take a look at an event that is promised to be the most earthshaking, wonderful, spectacular event ever witnessed by mankind. Since there have been several spectacular, earthshaking and wonderful events already you can imagine (or maybe you can't) what one would need to be to be called the greatest in all of history! To be sure it will be BIG, REALLY BIG!! Let's take a closer look at what The Bible says.

The Second Coming has long been a promised intervention, by Jesus Christ, in this world's history that Christians, and to some extent non-Christians, have found to be somewhat mysterious. I guess we should look at WHY this is going to happen first.

While Jesus walked the Earth He made a promise to all that followed Him then and those that would in the future that even though He had to leave, He would one day return. The reason for His return? To claim His rightful place as the Ruler of the World. You see, Christians believe, because The Bible tells us so, that because of what Jesus did (Death on The Cross), He would be rewarded for His obedience. God commanded that ALL things would then be under the power, rule and control of Jesus Christ. And when God says ALL things He means ALL things. It is at the time of His coming that Jesus will establish His kingdom upon the Earth and ALL nations will be ruled by Him. This will be the "restoration" of all things. Just as The Fall (think Adam and Eve here) set in motion the Death of all of Creation so the return of Jesus will set in motion the restoration of all Creation. You see God planned a much different world than the one we live in today. If you go back and read Genesis you will see how great things were before The Fall. God said several times during Creation that "it was good". But what does that mean? It means that the following DID NOT exist in the world God created: sin, evil, hate, anger, disease, natural disasters, death, envy, greed and the list goes on and on. The world that God created was perfect in every way, as were we (mankind), until we rebelled against Him. Once Adam and Eve rebelled against God the world started to die, as did we, and it has continued to do so to this very day. That is why Jesus must come again to restore all things. When He comes again he will destroy all of the above mentioned evils and vices and the world will be perfect again. His return will usher in the Thousand Year Reign of Peace.

What should we expect when Jesus comes again? A good place to look is in The Book of Matthew the 24th Chapter, of The New Testament. Here the Disciples come to Him and ask what will be happening when He returns and what they should expect? The following will be present:

False Messiahs (they will actually refer to themselves as "the Christ" Matthew 24:5

Wars and rumors of wars 24:6

Famines, diseases and earthquakes 24:7

Murder, persecution and hatred of Christians 24:9, 10

False "holy leaders" or prophets that will cause many to be deceived 24:11

Lawlessness and lack of love in the world 24:12

Christian Gospel preached everywhere in the world 24:14

So as you can see it's not going to look like the Land of Oz!! (We are definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto!)The interesting thing about this passage is that if you take a closer look at the present state of the world today it looks eerily similar doesn't it? Perhaps now we should look at WHEN this will take place.

Although Jesus goes into great detail to tell us what the world will be like when He comes again He never says when. In fact he states in scripture that even He does not know when but only God Himself. So unfortunately that is a question that we cannot answer. We can only hope and wait for that day to come.

Even though we do not know when, we do get an idea of WHAT will happen when Jesus returns. The Bible tells us that this will be THE MOST incredible, amazing, fantastic, sorrowful (for some) day in history! The Bible says that Jesus will come riding a heavenly white horse and an Army will be following Him. the Army of The Lord (Talk about a Breaking News Alert!!) Jesus, along with His army, will meet the armies of the world at the Valley of Meggido or Armageddon and He will destroy the "beast" or the Antichrist (One World Leader) and the armies of the world arrayed against Israel. In one fell swoop the power and might of Jesus Christ will be shown to all. The first time He came He allowed Himself to be beaten and killed. This time around He returns as Judge and ALL will bow before Him. From this point onward He will set up His kingdom on Earth and will rule with an iron hand. Basically, what He says goes....period. This will be a wonderful time of great peace and tranquility like the Earth has never seen since the days of Creation. Once and for all there will be no questions as to who He is because He will live amongst us.

Now some of you are thinking: "This is the craziest thing I have ever heard and this idiot actually believes this"! YES, I do. However, it does not surprise me that there are those who do not. In fact, The Bible itself predicts that there will be people who scoff at the idea of the Second Coming : 2 Peter 3:3-4 says:

First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at the truth and do every evil thing they desire.

This will be their argument: "Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created." (New Living Translation)

As you can see The Bible, once again, accurately predicted the future. You must understand that my belief begins and ends with scripture. In other words; without The Bible there IS no Christianity. That is why so many have tried over the centuries to either destroy it, ban it or discredit it. Take away The Bible and Christianity dies. and so many have tried and continue to try even today to do away with this holy book. The Bible continues to prove that it is God's Word with each passing day and year. Predictions made thousands of years ago continue to come true. History, as The Bible explains it, continues to be proven true with each archaeological find. So you must ask yourself this question: If The Bible predicts that all of this will happen and it has never been proven to be inaccurate then shouldn't I read it and learn to understand it's message?

I think the one thing that people need to understand is that God has not hidden this from us in any way. He TELLS us what will happen in The Bible. His hope is that you will see what is coming and turn your life around before it's too late. He wants you to be saved from what is coming but you must choose to do so. Coming soon: Part III The Rapture.