The Way Ahead (Part 2)

The Way Ahead (Part 2)
By Tommy Franks

The Church is described as the body of Christ and a living organism. Some say that the Church is a religious organization. I think it is far more than a mere organization. As Christians, we need each other and depend on one another as interdependent individuals. Each of us reports directly to the Head. We do not have to go through a secretary or some hierarchical leadership. We go straight to the Top. This is good news!

"But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the Head (Christ), from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and edifies itself in love" (Eph.4).

We have received the forgiveness of God and the grace of God. This frees us up to be at one with each other (koinonia). This is the most precious thing in the world!

So here we are as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ at the close of the age. What can we do? What should we do? Pray? Study the Word? Repent? Intercede? Humble ourselves? Be prepared? Love one another? Continue to look for the coming of the Lord? All of the above!

Books have been written concerning the end times. Many are in reference to the Second Coming of Christ and His new established Kingdom on earth. What about the condition of the Church? According to Scripture, there will be a growing apostasy or departure from the Lord as the Church comes to the end of the age.

The modern liberalist teaches that Jesus Christ was NOT born of a virgin, but actually was the natural child of Joseph and Mary. Most admit that He was an unusual person even if He was only an ordinary man. Liberals explain that Jesus was an unusual teacher. He had an unusual consciousness of God. He had unusual gifts. He had an unusual devotion to God. They explain that this was so noticeable in His character that people began to identify Him with God and called Him the Son of God. They do in fact, point to Christ as the great example. They also say that people identified Christ as the Son of God because Christ yielded to the will of God…by thinking God thoughts, by worshiping God, and by doing God things. Well, yeah! Yet, they do not accept Him as God.

The damnable and dastardly heresy is this: They claim that Christ was an ordinary man who became divine in His experience but not in His person. It denies Christ's substitutionary atonement and redemption for man and man’s need for supernatural grace. They do not believe that Christ existed from all eternity past as the Second Person.

In reference to The Second Coming of Christ, Peter writes, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation" (2 Peter 3:3,4). Many will not accept the Word of God concerning the coming of the Lord. However, in due time, the Day of the Lord will come. Peter says, "In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10).

Question? What is the purpose of Christ’s return? God's ultimate purpose is more than Christ simply coming back to earth. It is the fulfillment of God's plan to bring into being the eternal state where righteousness and true justice will prevail and reign…where the saints will enjoy the blessings of the grace of God throughout all eternity.

Let those who scoff continue to scoff if they want. This will not change God’s plan nor diminish Scripture which refers to “the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men”
(2 Pet. 3:7).

Many pulpits today do not proclaim a bodily Second Coming of Christ to the earth. In the minds of some professing Christians today, the truths concerning the Second Coming of Christ are considered outside the main characteristics of faith and Christendom. Countless thousands of professing Christians are totally ignorant concerning the Scriptures which describe the 2nd Coming of Christ. The prediction that there will be scoffing concerning the 2nd Coming of Christ is sadly being fulfilled in the 21st century.

For some who do not have a solid Biblical foundation, the teaching of the 2nd Coming causes confusion, perplexity, misunderstanding, and bewilderment. This is all the more reason to teach this subject. Never before in the history of the Church has the truth of the 2nd Coming of Christ been so vaguely and unclearly held by the Church at large. Some even deny the very idea of the prophetic. Others declare that it is impossible for anyone to predict the future whether it be the 2nd Coming or any other event in prophecy. Thus, unbelief and lack of faith are alive and well in the Church.

In the church at Thessalonica, apparently a misunderstanding concerning prophecy was corrected (2 Thes. 2). It seems that they had been led to believe that the Day of the Lord had already come and they were now in the predicted time of trouble from which they had been assured they would be delivered (1 Thes. 5). The Apostle Paul went on to say, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first.”

The conclusion which may be reached upon careful study of Biblical prophecies concerning the end of the Church Age is: The Return of the Lord for His Church is the next step in the fulfillment of prophecy relating to His Church. When He returns for His Church, every Christian will be caught up to be with Him. Those who are unbelievers will be left behind.

In the Middle Ages, ignorance and unbelief of the masses ran wildly. Their blindness could be traced back to a lack of dissemination of ideas. However, today we are inexcusable. Information is plentiful and everywhere. Communications have reached an all time high…millions of books and other publications…radio, television, satellites…You name it. There is no excuse today for unbelief. With such modern conveniences and opportunity, how could anyone have unbelief in his heart? As a whole, the world today is responsible not because the truth is inaccessible, but because they have turned away from the truth deliberately. The only recourse in such a calamitous situation is Divine judgment.

The avalanche of unbelief and ridicule surrounding God’s Word is rampant. The stage is now set for a demonstration of the power of God. His judgment for the sinner will come, but for the Church, it means that our days of pilgrimage are coming to a close. Furthermore, the hope of His soon return constitutes both a comfort and a challenge to all Believers.

The Way Ahead: The Bottom Line is simple. We all want to know what the future holds for us, do we not? Many are trying to know the future by illicit means, but the only book that tells the future 100% with a batting average of 1.000 is the Bible. That's why it is so fascinating. It is always up-to-date and filled with the most applicable and exciting information. In fact, most of the time, it is ahead of our time.

In A.D. 32, Jesus shared some significance events with us concerning the revelation of the ultimate fate of earth. In Matthew 24, he looks ahead to foretell the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the disturbances connected with that event. He looks across the centuries and outlines the perils that lie between His first and second coming, thus describing the very age in which we live. He looks past the present day to that time which he calls "the end of the age" and relates these events to us in blazing and vivid details…culminating in his own return to earth and the ushering in of a new day.

"As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age'" (Mt.24.3). Christ then talked about wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

Wars: The Norwegian Academy of Sciences has determined that since 3600 B.C. there have been 14,531 wars and only 292 years of peace.

Earthquakes: Some people say that earthquakes are on the increase. Although it may appear that we are having more earthquakes, quakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant throughout the last 100 years; however, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes that we have been able to locate each year.
This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations around the globe. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world. Today we have more than 4,000 stations. The current data comes in rapidly from these stations by telex, computer and satellite. Approximately 12,000 to 14,000 earthquakes are located each year (35 per day). According to long-term records since about 1900, we expect about 18 major earthquakes (7.0-7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year.

Famines: We currently have 6.5 billion people on Planet Earth. At the current rate, there will be 100 million more hungry people by 2015. Ten pre-school children die every minute from malnutrition and this number has not changed since the early 1980s despite global improvements. What causes famines? Historically, wars and drought have produced great famines across the globe.
Enough for now…Stay tuned. This is Tommy Franks and I approve of this message.