With all the distrust, malice, murder and hatred in our culture today, it seems as though the End-Times are near. This maybe true, but begs the question as to what does “near” mean for you and I today. I’m not going to get into deep eschatology today, but I do want to note that the Tribulation/End Times may or may not be at hand. It may just be further away than we think it is. There have been other times in history that nations have grown cold and spiritually dead. Part of our issue as Christians are our priorities, focus and what we find most important. We ought to be focussed on God as first; family second, and the per-ordained mission God called you and I too from eternity third. Having said that, I think the issue of sadness in culture in general is the loss of friendliness, love, hospitality and simple in-person relationships with one another.
Perhaps the saddest loss for me and many of us is the loss of unity, respect, and love for one another through Jesus Christ which bound the United States of America and other nations for hundreds of years. I want to note that as America is proclaimed a “multi-cultural nation”, that the settlers of America were united by their common European, biblical worldview. All nations have a religious worldview that undergirds their cultural worldview. A multi-religious worldview system will never be fully united as was the case in the past in the United States. The biblical worldview is what knit America together. The Holy Scriptures of the Bible and biblical Spirit of the Trinity as described in the Bible unites believers of all stripes as opposed to divides. The Bible does call Christians to love and accept others as fellow human beings, but not inter-marry into other religious worldview families, and not to adapt the values of other religious worldviews into it’s governmental system. Islam is a theocracy, not democracy. Hinduism is based on “relativism”, steeped in a religious worldview that believers in more than 330,000,000 gods-allowing more to be added daily. It’s not that we can’t live at peace with one another, but like the U.S. dollar as the world currency, there is one land only one true God, and that dictates the political order of any nation. We can have multiple religious beliefs, but our political and justice system must be based on and run on one and only one religious worldview. Each system defines justice and righteousness differently. In the United States the biblical blueprint for truth, mercy, justice and righteousness are clear-and clearly seen in the U.S. Constitution, State and local laws throughout the land. When we stray from God’s defined governmental system, we begin to forfeit the authentic Agape/Love of God.
That being said, today I want to look a bit more deeply as to what’s behind the fact that “LOVE NEEDS THE SOIL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN ORDER TO FLOURISH”. Diversity is wonderful and I love the different nations and people groups that make up the United States and other nations around the world, but I don’t like the fight for atheism in the form of socialism, Islamic law or Hindu law all vying to redefine the law of the land-at starting with their small part of the country. Once we have different laws for different people groups (as we have already), we begin to come unraveled and un-united. As a result, we find the suppression of religious people by the government-proclaiming to represent one group or another. Is this a sign of the End Times? Let’s take a look.
Matthew speaks to one of the signs of the “End Times”, being lawlessness, in Matthew 24:12. Lawlessness in and of itself doesn’t mean that we are currently in or what we would consider close to the biblical “End Time”. But, “lawlessness is a sign described in how the Bible describes the “End Times”. I don’t know where we or the world at large are at in terms of God’s time-line for End Times.
What all of use are rogue-lawless DA’s in major cities around the country who have been put into positions of power throughout the United States. Furthermore, we see the result of their lawlessness on innocent, law-abiding people. In the end, one things is most apparent: We are in a spiritual battle. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Do not be mistaken and think for one moment that’s it an issue anchored or derived from the flesh-that not true. It’s evil from the enemy played out through the field of a non-believing world-population and luke warm Christians. I believe that one of the biggest tragedies in all of this is the lost of friendliness, cultural kindness and love in the world.
Jesus says this in Matthew 24:12 “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Or “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
Here is the point of todays devotion I want you to mediate on:
1) “LOVE NEEDS THE SOIL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN ORDER TO FLOURISH.”
2) Lawlessness and love do not mix.
3) Lawlessness stifles love.
4) Jesus IS Love. Therefore, the lawless we see on the news through the internet is just that: Lawlessness which is evil is void of the Love of God and not to be embraced or accommodated in mind, heart, or action by authentic followers of Jesus Christ.
We have no personal control over God’s plan for End-Times, but we do have control over our discipline to pray to God for our needs and how we respond to the world regarding our faith in Jesus Christ. Supporting verse 12 are verses 9-11 which make the point that the hatred of servants of Christ will be by ALL NATIONS, or at least most of them, starting with the “man of sin” who will rule the world. He will oppose any who do not worship him (Rev. 13:7, 8; 17). If we do our job in living our our faith, taking the time to actually “raise” our children, which takes our TIME of all things, we are on the right track. But we are called as believers to go a step further in that we are called to share our faith in a multi-cultural, multi-worldview, pluralistic world. If you want to learn how to do so more effectively got to www.EquippedAcademy.Com and sign up for the book and online course called “EQUIPPED-Basic Training In Apologetics For Evangelism”. Christians have always been called to live today as if we are going to be called up into the air in the “Rapture” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Matthew 24:30, 2 Thessalonians 1;7; 1 Peter 1:13; Revelation 1:7). God makes clear here that God will be victorious over His enemies and will reign on the earth for 1,000 years (the millennium) with His saints, the church. After 1,000 years, living unbelievers and the wicked dead now raised to live will be judged at the great white throne judgment. The will then be case into the lake of fire, while the save will live forever with Christ in a new heaven and earth (Revelation, chapters 19-22). Getting back to the END TIMES.
EVIDENCE OF THE END TIMES is found in verse 14 is the UNIVERSAL PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL. The antecedent of “this” must be v.13. The “gospel” (literally “good news”) is that the final holocaust of the Great Tribulation known as Armageddon will not result in genocide and the destruction of all people, for the Lord Jesus Christ will intervene, bringing an end to the destruction and preserve a people for His kingdom on earth. It seems this will be accomplished by the 144,000 from Israel who are sealed and are described in Rev. 7:4-8. The innumerable polyglot multitude referred to in Rev. 7:9, 10 seems to be the result of the ministry of the 144,000. This in no way contradicts Paul’s statement about “another gospel”, for these he discusses no other means of redemption (Gal. 1:6-10)
Let’s not mix up End Times with “the beginnings of birth pangs” (v.8) which are cited in support of the view that this part of the discourse is about the trials of the Church Age, or events culminating in A.D. 70, and not the “Parousia” or “Second Coming” of Jesus Christ. All Christians do not agree on every detail of what will occur in the final events of this world’s history. Some of these events and their order of occurrence have not been been totally clarified in the Bible for good reason according to God’s will.
What is important is that all Christian’s the common understanding and belief that Christ will return bodily, visibly, and gloriously to reign and rule with His resurrected and transformed saints forever and ever. The bottom line is that the details of this great event will be made known in God’s own time.
For us to day, the key point is that we must live through a world filled with “lawlessness” with the understanding that “LOVE NEEDS THE SOIL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN ORDER TO FLOURISH” and that “The one who endures…will be saved” (v.13). In other words, we must endure in and through this world with JOY (not necessarily happiness) for the sake of our faith, and that of our children. God assigned you and me to live at this exact point in time and history for a reason, so let’s not shrug that off and turn away to some daydream about living another, more peaceful point in time.
Let’s seek joy in our purpose in life, which included executing the mission God has assigned you and I to in our brief time on earth; even when suffering. In time, this suffering will subside as 1 Peter 5:10 makes clear, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast”.
Doing so is like working out at the gym. We cannot expect to grow spiritually or physically stronger without exercising our body, mind and spirit. My prayer is that you will accept the times, seek others who are in the body of Christ who love God and others before themselves with an understanding that “LOVE NEEDS THE SOIL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN ORDER TO FLOURISH”.
By doing so we will gain a better understanding as to WHY the lawless world is presently the way it is. As a result we will be able to more effectively move forward, stop cowering in the corner, and stand strong in Christ. Let’s embrace the biblical Scriptures and seek the power of the Holy Spirit who will give you and I more of God’s LOVE and power in Jesus Christ. As a result, the Love of Christ will burst forward through us to a lost and hurting world.
In conclusion: If God is not quite ready to usher in the END TIMES, at the very least, you and I can get better EQUIPPED to put down a new soil that is more conducive for growing the Love of Jesus Christ in our culture; acting as a foundation for righteousness whereby a new sense of Love from the Lord can re-established. As a result, we can help create a more God-centered culture, country, and world, steeped in the love of God. If we do this, we won’t have to fight lawlessness, but overwhelm it with God’s Love and unity with the the body of Christ. All created things mandate a beginning and an end. God is uncreated and He IS LOVE. And this is how we combat lawlessness and all the distrust, malice, murder and hatred in our culture today, it seems as though the End-Times are near, so lets live today as if Jesus is returning tomorrow. And that starts with God’s love. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
