Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. Micah 1:2, 3.
It is in a crisis that character is revealed. . . . The great final test comes at the close of human probation, when it will be too late for the soul’s need to be supplied.
God keeps a reckoning with the nations. Through every century of this world’s history evil workers have been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath; and when the time fully comes that iniquity shall have reached the stated boundary of God’s mercy, His forbearance will cease. When the accumulated figures in heaven’s record books shall mark the sum of transgression complete, wrath will come, unmixed with mercy, and then it will be seen what a tremendous thing it is to have worn out the divine patience. This crisis will be reached when the nations shall unite in making void God’s law.
The days will come when the righteous will be stirred to zeal for God because of the abounding iniquity. None but divine power can stay the arrogance of Satan united with evil men; but in the hour of the church’s greatest danger most fervent prayer will be offered in her behalf by the faithful remnant, and God will hear and answer at the very time when the guilt of the transgressor has reached its height. He will “avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them.
The substitution of the false for the true is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself. When the laws of men are exalted above the laws of God, when the powers of this earth try to force men to keep the first day of the week, know that the time has come for God to work. He will arise in His majesty, and will shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity. The earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Maranatha p.262
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Prayer Requests
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Dear Friends,
When my mother was in her teens, she was made to attend church with her parents. Even when she was sick, she was told, “As long as you put your feet under our table, you go to church.” A little rebellion grew within her heart that has lasted all of her life. She did, however, listen to many sermons over the years. She did learn what the Bible says concerning the signs of the last days. As she looked around at her world, all seemed safe and secure. She did not believe that these signs could possibly be fulfilled.
Now we are seeing those signs which she learned so long ago fulfilling right before our eyes.
‘Tis almost time for the Lord to come, I hear the people say;
The stars of heaven are growing dim, It must be the breaking of the day.
The signs fortold in the sun and moon, in earth and sea and sky,
aloud proclaim to all mankind, the coming of the Master draweth nigh.
It must be time for the waiting church to cast her pride away,
With girded loins and burning lamps, to look for the breaking of the day.
Go quickly out in the streets and lanes and in the broad highway,
And call the maimed, the halt, and blind, to be ready for the breaking of the day. *
Our dear Saviour says, “When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?” “The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, [to excess] they married wives, they were given in marriage, [a plurality of wives] until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. . . . And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. . . . And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Luke 12:54-56; 21:8-31; 17:22-30
The signs also in the books of Daniel and Revelation are rapidly fulfilling all around us and should be studied diligently. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we [first] believed.” Rom 13:11 May we, now while there is still time to do so, “give diligence to make [our] calling and election sure.” 2 Peter 1:10 May we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling, [knowing that] it is God which worketh in [us] both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil 2:12,13 May we bring the message of a soon-coming Saviour to those around us is my prayer.
Rose
*”Tis Almost Time for the Lord to Come.” by G. W. Sederquist.