Rumble
How Much Longer?
7/31/24 – By Tim Buck
FOTET.ORG
How Much Longer?
This question has come to mind by many Christ loving saints who watched the Olympics opening ceremonies in Paris this past weekend.
Provocations?
What the world witnessed in Paris tells us that Satan no longer lurks in the shadows, but is comfortable now operating in the open for all to see. What seems to be a clear attempt to provoke the Lord, a scene from the Olympic opening ceremonies pictured drag queens seated around a table in the same way that Leonardo da Vinci painted Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper.
Social media then showed what intended to represent two of the horses of the apocalypse. In one of them was a veiled rider on a white horse riding through the streets of Paris with the Olympic flag behind him. The correlation between this and Antichrist riding throughout the world in Revelation 6:1-2 was clearly evident.
Such over-the-top mocking of Jesus and His Word went beyond anything we could’ve imagined. Was not Satan seeking to provoke the Lord with such blasphemous images? Was he using the world stage to incite the beginning of the judgments that will take place after the Rapture?
Why would Satan seek to incite the Lord in such a way? Does he not realize that the book of Revelation spells his eternal doom?
Jesus Is Coming Back
All these things speak to us of Jesus’ imminent appearing. Yes, many of us have been saying this for a great many years. However, the skies are darker than ever before. And Satan is working overtime to prepare the world for when Antichrist appears riding on a white horse. This time, it will be for real.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, the Apostle Paul tells us that the restraining force of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers is now preventing the appearance of Antichrist who the Apostle Paul describes as the “man of lawlessness.” It’s the Holy Spirit’s working through us and in us, the Church, that’s now preventing the arrival of earth’s final tyrant onto the world stage.
We also know that the devil is not able to goad the Lord into intervening in the world until the perfect time set in His sovereign plan for the ages. The Rapture can only come when the “times of the Gentiles” is complete [Romans 11:25].
We know Jesus’ appearing is imminent, but we don’t presume to know when the Rapture will happen. On the other hand, given the explosion of sins all around us, and the explosion of SIGNS today, we don’t make the equally imprudent mistake of assuming it can’t happen today, this week, next month, or later this year or next.
The Best News Imaginable
How did Paul preface his comforting words regarding the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-5:11? He began by writing, “For this we declare to you by the word from the Lord.”
Of course, we acknowledge his epistles as inspired Scripture, but here the apostle saw fit to emphasize that his words came directly from the Savior. Verses 16 and 17 from chapter 4 summarize our great expectation:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
This is the best news imaginable!
There’s coming a time when the dead in Christ will rise and we who remain alive will join them in meeting Jesus in the air.
It cannot get any better than that!
What a great blessing we have to live at a time when we see so many precursors to the events depicted in the book of Revelation. It’s more than just a possibility that many of us will still be alive when Jesus appears, raises the dead, and gives those of us that remain immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:47-55).
It’s not that we don’t make plans, set goals, or enjoy the things of this life with which the Lord has blessed us. We do. However, if I had the choice between winning five hundred million dollars in the lottery versus the Rapture happening today, I would choose the latter every time. There’s simply no earthly luxury that can even remotely compare to the glory that awaits us at Jesus’ appearing.
The mocking of our faith that took place last Friday in Paris beckons us to look up knowing that our day of redemption draws close. And it will be so much better than we can even imagine.
Even so come Lord Jesus!
