Greetings in the worthy name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I trust that amid the present uncertainties in the world our hearts echo with the Psalmist: In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God –Psalm 62:7. And, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble –Psalm 46:1.
We are facing unprecedented and challenging times. More so than many of us can remember in our lifetime. I’m sure that each generation has faced challenges unique to their time in history. The same is true of us. But what is our ‘time’ in history? Most god-fearing individuals believe we are on the threshold of what the Scriptures refer to as “the time of the end”. (See Daniel 8:17; 11:35; 11:40; 12:4; & 12:9)
Maybe it is just me, or perhaps it has a lot to do with how fast news is broadcast around the world now a days. But it sure seems like there is a lot more chaos and violent acts of nature than there was five or ten years ago. Hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, drought, flooding, political unrest, wars, and rumors of war. Did I miss anything? Oh yes, there’s the ever-present issue of a worldwide pestilence—Covid-19.
Much of the world today seems to have a sense that “something is up”, or that “something is about to happen”. We should not be surprised by this, Jesus foretold it. We should not be overcome and distracted by fear, Jesus has told us what to do. In the following Scripture I have underlined three things that I see Jesus wants us to be active in doing as long as time continues.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come –Matthew 24:4-14.
Take heed that no man deceive you
I find it interesting that Jesus mentions this before telling us what He wants us to do. Someone has said that spiritual blindness is different than physical blindness in that when someone is physically blind, they know it, but when someone is spiritually blind, they don’t know it. In fact, that is the foundation of being spiritually blind—to no longer be aware of one’s own spiritual condition.
What all can we be deceived by? Who all might try to deceive us? Let’s always remember that Satan wants to use whoever he can, however he can, to deceive as many as he can. Job’s friends turned against him and even his own wife offered Satan’s own words as a way out (See Job 1;11; 2:5; and 2:9). We should not be surprised if we find ourselves in similar situations; Christ predicted that this would happen (See Matthew 10:35-36; and Luke 12:53).
Let’s never forget that God has given some clear solutions that we can follow to prevent ourselves from becoming deceived. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation –Hebrews 3:12-15.
Endure unto the end
This is one of the more interesting Scriptures that I think of whenever there is a heated discussion about whether or not someone who is once saved is then always saved and therefore never able to become unsaved. Doesn’t Scripture assure us …that ye may know that ye have eternal life… –1 John 5:13. However, Peter tells us to …beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness –2 Peter 3:17.
So how do we bring this together so that Scripture harmonizes? First, we need to be saved initially so we can have eternal life which provides us with the power to walk in obedience to God’s Word. Secondly, we stay saved as long as we continue walking in obedience to the Scriptures. Then lastly, we are finally saved forever, IF we endure through life faithfully until the end (the end of our life here on earth).
Preach the Gospel in all the world
Preach the Gospel? Yes. Maybe we can’t all personally do the preaching, but we can all do our part to help the church fulfil this mandate. Some folks God has ordained to spend hours in their prayer closet in earnest intercessory prayer. Some have been called to give of their finances to support others who have been chosen to be on the front lines preaching the Gospel. This is a group effort. It is the church as a whole working together with each local church doing their part and everyone doing their individual part.
Let’s not allow the chaos and confusion around us to cause us to become distracted and disoriented. Let’s pull together as brothers and sisters with a common goal—not being deceived, enduring unto the end, and preaching the Gospel in all the world.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. –Jude 1:24-25.
