The Scourge Of Racism
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As the Lord led me to write about in the previous week’s post, we in these times are not only living in the last days of this present world and age, but the latter part of them.1 God has openly foretold many things about these latter days in the Bible, His Word, including personages, nations, places and events that unfold in His prophetic timeline bound up in the plan He prepared before there was ever a creation.2 The specificity of detail in the millennia old prophecies about these latter days and even the very last day that ends this present world and age is staggering! This reality is an important proof of God’s superiority over idols or any other so-called gods (Isaiah 41:21-24, 44:6-8)!
The last day of this present world and age all by itself is a perfect example of the many moving parts and specific details God in His prophetic Word presents to readers. For on that single day a number of significant events take place. Sinners violently angry over what they have suffered to the moment and deluded by demons will actually assemble in Israel to war “against the LORD and against His Anointed,” the Lord Jesus (Psalm 2:1-3; Joel 3:9-14; Revelation 16:10-16, NKJV). He will suddenly make His glorious return on this day as well (Joel 2:31, 3:15-16a; Matthew 24:29-30; Revelation 1:7, 6:12-17). The Father also pours out His long held wrath on the day (Isaiah 42:14-15)!
Backing up to the interval when the Gentile nations assemble in Israel to war against God and Christ, during it, the Lord issues a warning alert to be watching for His sudden appearing not to the elect Jewish remnant or those unsaved from among the Jews and Gentile nations, but to Christians because only we wear the “garments of salvation” and “robe of righteousness” by grace “through faith” in Him during this mortal age (Isaiah 61:10; Philippians 3:8-9; Revelation 16:15, NKJV).3 This warning is consistent with those He gave any would be follower in the Gospels and now, commends a blessing upon the faithful (Matthew 10:16-39, 24:36-44, 25:1-13; Mark 8:34-38, 13:32-37).4
The Lord’s warning is absolutely timely at that moment for persecution and world disaster weary saints waiting for Him especially since I have heard professed Christians in these days express faithless exasperation with evil’s apparent triumphs and asserting God is losing. Such faithless talk is for example, behind the uptick in those falling away from Christ in the aftermath of the global Coronavirus pestilence with others like it still to come plainly foretold by Him (Luke 21:11).5 The blessing persevering saints receive on that last day of God’s planned end to this present mortal world and age is beyond awesome for it is nothing less than seeing the Lord’s Second Coming!
Seeing the moment the brilliant glory of the Lord Jesus Christ bursts into the completely darkened sky is just the beginning of the blessing. On this day He Himself declared as “the last day,” the initial act of the Lord will be to gather His elect by first raising those who have died believing on Him from the dead (Matthew 24:31; John 6:39-40, 44, 52-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16, NKJV)! His teaching about raising those from the dead who had believed on Him for salvation affirmed the belief of Old Testament saints about this as an event of the end (Job 19:23-27; Psalm 17:15; Isaiah 26:19; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Daniel 12:1-3) and His hearers in John 6, its last day in particular (John 11:21-24).
Thus, it is on the last day that the Lord first resurrects those who have died waiting for His one and only Second coming. Beloved, there can be no resurrection of the saints in a prior presupposed secret, invisible coming of Christ if He explicitly and solely states this occurs “at the last day!”6 Then, with the still living remnant He translates, He gathers all to Himself in the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18). This in gathering event is the end of the mortal Church age and the beginning of “her” glorious immortal eternity and reign with Christ as “His wife” by all “the saints” who make “her” up (John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57; Revelation 19:7-8, NKJV). Gathered to Him above the earth, we wait briefly for the next last day event: God’s judgment in wrath (John 12:42-50; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)!
With the elect of Israel protected (Joel 3:16b), God from His throne in Heaven cries out, ‘“It is done!’” Following that, as He had repeatedly foretold through Israel’s prophets, God sends His mortal enemies scurrying as He shakes the entire universe and earth in the full outpour of His righteous wrath upon sinners (Isaiah 13:9-13; Haggai 2:6; Hebrews 12:25-29; Revelation 16:17-21, NKJV)! After this, Christ with the saints will descend to assert God’s Kingdom rule; the Lord taking on and destroying the assembled Gentile armies led by the Antichrist and false prophet and bringing an end to the kingdoms of men. Then, He will end Satan’s rule over the world and vanquish him temporarily to prison under the earth (Daniel 2:44, 7:13-14; Zechariah 14:1-9; Revelation 11:15-18, 19:11-20:3).7
1 Read the July 30, 2023 post, There Is An End!, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
2 See the January 30, 2022 post, The Right Side Of History, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Biblical Worldview.
3 Only after receiving Him at the visible return of Christ will Isaiah 61:10 apply to the Jewish mortal remnant for which in context, they were intended in the first instance!
4 Being overly devoted to life in this wicked world and age or backslidden in sin are two key ways not to be ready for the Lord’s return. He bids all such professed Christians to turn back to Him in this Ministry’s thirty minute Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, now, available to view on our dedicated YouTube Channel.
5 Here is what is fully behind the issue of strength the Lord leads me to write about in portraying the aspiring strong Man of God in His image in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. Solomon makes it clear, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your (spiritual) strength is small,” (Proverbs 24:10, NKJV). To endure to God’s end will require His strength! Purchase a personal copy of my book in the Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Editions; pastors get the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study to equip the men you serve in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
6 Read the two-part June 26, 2022 post, Made To Order End?, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
7 See the two-part February 13, 2022 post, War Of The Ages End, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
There is an end God has had planned before there was ever a beginning and shepherds bringing to fulfillment. That I should be alive to be as close as we are now, in the world to the day of the Lord and end of this present age abundantly foretold in Bible prophecy is exceedingly awe inspiring to me! Any of us who are faithful Christians have only one legitimate cause for sorrow about this and that is the reality not everyone we love or know will come to God’s end saved in spite of our best efforts (Jude 20-23). Truly, God’s holy wrath approaches as the destructive dawn of His eternal day and punishment of all unsaved sinners for their wicked deeds (Zephaniah 1:1-3, 14-18)!
From creation God in sovereignty has been shepherding events toward His predetermined end bound up in His Kingdom and Son, Jesus Christ, as noted in last week’s post and proclaimed by His apostles after His first century appearance (Daniel 2:44; Acts 2:22-36, 3:17-26; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Ephesians 1:3-23; 1 Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 1:1-8).1 As in every generation following those days described as “the last,” ours are still an outworking of God’s plan toward His end in Christ (Acts 2:1-21; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 John 2:18, NKJV).2 These are the last days for a number of reasons one of which is God has allocated none after to offer His gracious salvation to mankind (Titus 2:11-15).3
Bible prophecy speaks of the “latter days” or “times” which as the phrase conveys are the last part of the last days when God begins to fulfill the most severe foretold events in His prophetic plan especially His warning judgments before bringing His wrath and end to this present mortal age as we have known it (Jeremiah 30:23-24; Daniel 10:14; 1 Timothy 4:1, NKJV). Now, many professed Christians that love this present age do not want for their selfish motives to see it end. But end it must since all that has taken place after Adam’s fall during it is a wicked deviation from God’s perfect will for His creatures to be eternally together with Him as Creator (Genesis 1:26-31, 2:7-3:11, 22-24).
Foreknowing man’s fall into sin and His just consequence of separation by death from Him, love moved God to make a way before our creation to save the willing. That foretold way was the incarnation of the Word and His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die in our place to make atonement for our sins so God would be righteously free to forgive them and enable us to be reconciled to Him (Isaiah 53; John 1:1-18, 3:16-21, 36; Romans 5:6-11). The completely unselfish death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ heralded in the Gospel restored God’s original plan of eternal life and immortality for all mankind that would believe (1 Corinthians 15:45-57; 2 Timothy 1:8-12).4
The Lord Jesus waits for the end and awesome day of the Lord in Heaven with all of the saints departed to Him as we do here on earth. Among the many moving parts of His predetermined end only the Almighty God could perfectly weave together and bring about, are the foretold specific plans for His chosen Man and nation, Israel. The formal reappearance of the nation on the world stage in 1948 after nearly 1,900 years of dispersion throughout the world was the clear launch of God’s latter days since Israel is the central reason prophesied events of the end unfold as they do (Isaiah 49:1-3, 66:5-13; Zechariah 1:12-2:13; Romans 11:25-29)! To know where we are in God’s plan watch Israel!
Indeed, not only are we to watch Israel prophetically for what God is doing now and up until the very time of the end, but what He has done with them in the past “as examples” for us Christians the apostle Paul warns “upon whom the ends of the ages have come,” (1 Corinthians 10:1-11, NKJV). Thus, besides not sinning against God to avoid punishment, we are not “to put far off the day of doom” as part of God’s predetermined end pretending it may yet be thousands of years into the future as many of them did (Ezekiel 12:21-28; Amos 6:3-7, NKJV).5 Too, unlike them who did not believe their prophets we are to believe the prophecies God has given in His whole Word about these latter days we now, live through and the end (Jeremiah 19:14-20:6, 40:2-3; Luke 21:5-24, 24:13-27, 44)!6
Regarding the end, it comes with the outpouring of God’s promised wrath upon sinners who right up until that very moment refuse to accept His offer of forgiveness through repentance and faith in the Gospel. All of the plagues of climate change controlled by God including scorching heat come upon them (Revelation 14:6-7, 16:1-11). After this they even conspire to impossibly war against Him (Psalm 2:1-3; Joel 3:1-14; Revelation 16:12-16)! Having given His fallen creatures every chance to repent to no avail, God pours out His full wrath upon them and the earth (Psalm 2:4-12; Isaiah 13:6-13, 24:1-13, 17-23; Joel 3:15-17; Revelation 6:12-17, 16:17-21, 19:11-16). Only a mortal remnant from among the Jews and Gentile nations survive the end (Isaiah 10:20-23, 24:14-16; Ezekiel 7).
1 Read the July 23, 2023 post, The Nations Do Not Impress God, under the category, Call To Repent, and see the eighth footnote.
2 If Christ’s coming as the Judge was “at the door” in the first century, when do you really think it is now, nearly two thousand years removed (James 5:7-9, NKJV)?
3 Read the February 6, 2022 post, The Divine Delay, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
4 Through Christ, resurrection from the dead to immorality will also become the experience of all the wicked when He does this as a prelude to their final judgment and “condemnation” to Hell (John 5:24-30; Revelation 20:4-6, 11-15, NKJV)! But as the apostle Paul makes clear, God has established an “order” of the resurrections (1 Corinthians 15:20-23, NKJV).
5 Many professed Christians today, not only nonchalantly kick the day of doom can down the far off in the future road, they do not want to hear about it; some even being “scoffers” with unbelievers so anchored are they into this present world and age (2 Peter 3:1-9, NKJV)! This is a grave error especially in light of the Lord’s specific command to His followers to “watch,” (Matthew 24:36-44, NKJV). All such professed Christians should watch the Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube Channel to hear His appeal.
6 The world has its definition of “woke,” but aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Christ are joyfully “awake” to the nearness of “our salvation” because of believing and doing God’s Word (Romans 13:8-14, NKJV)! To learn more, get my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics in the Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Editions along with the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
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