I had a chance to pick up this book yesterday and I'm very impressed based on only skimming it so far. The thrust of the book is that, related to a previous post made here, God the Holy Spirit lives inside of us as believers. As such, we can pray to the Holy Spirit who is a person. It's a simple yet profound concept, especially for me as I'm used to praying 'up there' or 'out there' to the Father.
Of course, we can pray to the Father and Son and expect an answer. The Bible says that God's ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Where I've been tripping up lately is praying to a conception of who I think God is, which has actually turned out to be an idol. For example, I have this image of God as the nit-picker who has all this power to engineer circumstances and change things, yet he doesn't do it because he wants to see me fail. This is a terrible image and is a flat out lie, yet is has been ingrained since childhood and it takes time to overcome this false image of who God is when I pray.
I find it refreshing to pray to the Holy Spirit because of the assurance from the Bible that this is how God lives inside of us. With time and the work of the Spirit, he can help overcome these lies of who I think the Father and Son are, because of the promise from the Bible that the role of the Holy Spirit is to give glory to Jesus, who in turn loves and obeys the Father.
David Jeremiah is one of my favorite authors because he writes about so many different Christian topics, not just exclusively about the 'end times'. Actually, this is a similar direction this blog is going. At first I wanted to write just about 'end time' things, but that may not happen for awhile yet. Everything inter-relates together in the Christian walk, for whichever particular topic we happen to be discussing is connected with another one.
It is very timely to learn the principles of 'God in You' from Jeremiah's new book because I recently went through a rather nasty setback. It may seem small, but I experienced some unfairness and injustice. You can read about it on my parallel blog.
http://www.based-in-shanghai.blogspot.com
Thankfully, it is pushing me to draw closer to God in prayer, yet the way I pray reveals the false images of God I have. This is not the first time either, and it is a pattern than has emerged from previous setbacks and the immediate knee-jerk reaction that God somehow enjoys watching me suffer. Obviously, this is a lie, but it will take some time to overcome this.
Thursday 21 July 2011
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Psalm 3:3 and Confidence in God
Psalm 3:3 reads, "But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high."
This was written by King David during a time of intense trouble when being pursued by his son Absalom in a complex set of circumstances. The overall context of this Psalm is that David has a lot of enemies, they are chasing him, and they want him dead. The normal human reaction here would be to be scared silly. The Bible gives no indication here that David is not afraid, in fact he most likely is very much scared! However, we see his first response is to cry out to the Lord and confess to the Lord a realistic scenario of his reality. In this case, he is not denying the reality.
Next, David essentially says that his confidence comes from the Lord, in verse 3 above. This is in direct contrast to the modern pop-psychology and self-help movement which says that you have to hold your own head high. Essentially, the self-help philosophy is that you help yourself, and develop your own resources to get confidence, or something else, in a situation where you lack it.
Relying on self for self-confidence doesn't sound like what David is doing here, in that David is acting on faith that God will intervene in the circumstances and will be his help. We see how he puts this faith in action by his response in verse 5:
"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me."
So in other words he goes to sleep and enjoys a time of rest when he is surrounded by enemies who want to kill him. Besides the fact that David is showing trust in God in difficult times, this verse also shows how God has ordained sleep and rest.
I wish I had a dollar for every person I knew who basically cut back on sleep at some point in order to accomplish more. This happens all the time where I work, in that the students will say they only slept for 3 hours in order to cram for a test at the last minute, or to do their university applications, and so forth.
In these days, we are so damn busy, and there is never enough time to do all we've set out to. And so we rush more, and sleep is the first thing to be sacrificed. This fits into the context of self-reliance and doing life by ourselves, and also in a world that runs 24/7.
If only we could be like David, trust in God, and get a full sleep.
This was written by King David during a time of intense trouble when being pursued by his son Absalom in a complex set of circumstances. The overall context of this Psalm is that David has a lot of enemies, they are chasing him, and they want him dead. The normal human reaction here would be to be scared silly. The Bible gives no indication here that David is not afraid, in fact he most likely is very much scared! However, we see his first response is to cry out to the Lord and confess to the Lord a realistic scenario of his reality. In this case, he is not denying the reality.
Next, David essentially says that his confidence comes from the Lord, in verse 3 above. This is in direct contrast to the modern pop-psychology and self-help movement which says that you have to hold your own head high. Essentially, the self-help philosophy is that you help yourself, and develop your own resources to get confidence, or something else, in a situation where you lack it.
Relying on self for self-confidence doesn't sound like what David is doing here, in that David is acting on faith that God will intervene in the circumstances and will be his help. We see how he puts this faith in action by his response in verse 5:
"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me."
So in other words he goes to sleep and enjoys a time of rest when he is surrounded by enemies who want to kill him. Besides the fact that David is showing trust in God in difficult times, this verse also shows how God has ordained sleep and rest.
I wish I had a dollar for every person I knew who basically cut back on sleep at some point in order to accomplish more. This happens all the time where I work, in that the students will say they only slept for 3 hours in order to cram for a test at the last minute, or to do their university applications, and so forth.
In these days, we are so damn busy, and there is never enough time to do all we've set out to. And so we rush more, and sleep is the first thing to be sacrificed. This fits into the context of self-reliance and doing life by ourselves, and also in a world that runs 24/7.
If only we could be like David, trust in God, and get a full sleep.
Monday 18 July 2011
Relating to a Personal God
At first glance, such a topic wouldn’t seem to fit in a blog about the last days and living for Christ. I figure is no rule that says every entry must be about the “end times” or talking about events in the book of Revelation.
While understanding end-time events is important to living our lives today as Christians, we should also be getting back to the basics to understand more deeply what the Bible says about those core doctrines of the Christian faith.
This all hit me last weekend, when I realized how unfamiliar I was with those basics. And with that, I felt compelled to go back and revisit those basics. Having sat in several interesting theological lectures and discussions over a weekend retreat, the topics quickly became hyper-intellectual and I was lost trying to make sense of it all. Having left the retreat with more questions about God than when I came in with, that didn’t sit very well.
In one particular lecture, the presenter spent 3 hours talking about how different cultures put a face on Jesus. His conclusion was correct, in the sense that Jesus cannot hold the cultural baskets that we try to place him in. While I appreciated the lecture and the conclusion, I also wondered why he put so much emphasis on the visual aspect of the face of Jesus and how it relates to cultures. One person challenged him on precisely this point, asking if this exercise is even relevant. The presenter replied to this challenge, but he soon got sidetracked and never really answered the question. He admitted this himself.
Later on, I left the retreat and attended a church downtown on Sunday morning where the sermon was very timely. I learned more in 30 minutes during that sermon about who God he is than what was spent at the entire retreat attending lectures, discussions, and poring over books in the library. The sermon really got down to the basics. I am grateful to God that he was able to bring me there (both to the retreat and the church service) and show this revelation about himself as 3 persons with one essence, that is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a good example of one that has been muddled up , and as a result, there are many who don’t have a clear understanding of who God is. I finally came to grips with this after nearly 12 years of being saved, to which I’ll admit I had a sketchy understanding of at best. I doubt I’m the only one who had trouble understanding the concept of the Trinity. I have to wonder how many other Christians out there are struggling with understanding who God is.
Some have said that the Roman Catholics coined the term ‘Trinity’. The word ‘trinity’ may not appear in the Bible, but the concept is extremely biblical as can be supported by many passages, which I’ll quote a few.
God revealed as Father: John 6:27 and 1 Corinthians 8:6
God revealed as Son: John 1:1, 14; John 20:26-29, Hebrews 1:8
God revealed as Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3,4 and 1 Corinthians 6:11
I really like the following two passages because they show the trinity in action and how God co-exists as all three persons.
Luke 3:21-22: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.’”
John 14:15-17: Jesus speaking to his disciples. “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”
In relating to God, we are relating to a personal God, as revealed in 3 persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these persons is distinct, yet each shares the same essence.
A person is by definition self-conscious, self-determining, with rational intellect. Essence means the most basic, intrinsic, personal qualities that characterize a being.
We are told in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” The reference to the invisible God is in line with John 4:24 where the Bible says that “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.”
A good starting point here is that God is not like us. He is the eternal, unchanging, creator of all things, whereas we humans are changing, finite, created beings. To make God in our image is to essentially create a idol. Because of who God is, we are the ones who need to adjust our expectations.
The expectation is that we have a limited ability to understand and describe God, as shown by Isaiah 29:16. This blog entry can’t even come close to describing God’s nature, yet I’d still rather post a tiny snippet of truth from the Bible than spend hours blabbing on about my own intellectual ideas of who God is.
We really should stop projecting aspects of ourselves onto God, or trying to fit him into our realities. Making God fit our personal or cultural box is a lazy thing to do, and is ultimately dangerous.
It is true that God made man in his image, but there are many more aspects of the invisible God that are not like us. In other words, it is healthy to start from the fact that God is not like us, and then we can relax in the revelation of what he has given to us.
I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of talking to someone who projects parts of him or herself onto us in a conversation, and how does that make us feel? For example, I had someone call me stubborn out of the blue in a conversation, yet it was the person who called me stubborn who was projecting that part of himself onto me. As they say, you spot it, you got it.
We do this to God all the time. Maybe we are the type-A personality who projects that onto God and relates to him as the control freak. Or in my case, we could be the detail perfectionist who always wants things to go smoothly, and so we relate to God as the personal errand boy who can always locate a parking spot or guarantee fast internet and flawless cell phone reception.
We can approach God as someone who is not like us, yet as a personal God who wants to relate to us.
While understanding end-time events is important to living our lives today as Christians, we should also be getting back to the basics to understand more deeply what the Bible says about those core doctrines of the Christian faith.
This all hit me last weekend, when I realized how unfamiliar I was with those basics. And with that, I felt compelled to go back and revisit those basics. Having sat in several interesting theological lectures and discussions over a weekend retreat, the topics quickly became hyper-intellectual and I was lost trying to make sense of it all. Having left the retreat with more questions about God than when I came in with, that didn’t sit very well.
In one particular lecture, the presenter spent 3 hours talking about how different cultures put a face on Jesus. His conclusion was correct, in the sense that Jesus cannot hold the cultural baskets that we try to place him in. While I appreciated the lecture and the conclusion, I also wondered why he put so much emphasis on the visual aspect of the face of Jesus and how it relates to cultures. One person challenged him on precisely this point, asking if this exercise is even relevant. The presenter replied to this challenge, but he soon got sidetracked and never really answered the question. He admitted this himself.
Later on, I left the retreat and attended a church downtown on Sunday morning where the sermon was very timely. I learned more in 30 minutes during that sermon about who God he is than what was spent at the entire retreat attending lectures, discussions, and poring over books in the library. The sermon really got down to the basics. I am grateful to God that he was able to bring me there (both to the retreat and the church service) and show this revelation about himself as 3 persons with one essence, that is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The doctrine of the Trinity is a good example of one that has been muddled up , and as a result, there are many who don’t have a clear understanding of who God is. I finally came to grips with this after nearly 12 years of being saved, to which I’ll admit I had a sketchy understanding of at best. I doubt I’m the only one who had trouble understanding the concept of the Trinity. I have to wonder how many other Christians out there are struggling with understanding who God is.
Some have said that the Roman Catholics coined the term ‘Trinity’. The word ‘trinity’ may not appear in the Bible, but the concept is extremely biblical as can be supported by many passages, which I’ll quote a few.
God revealed as Father: John 6:27 and 1 Corinthians 8:6
God revealed as Son: John 1:1, 14; John 20:26-29, Hebrews 1:8
God revealed as Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3,4 and 1 Corinthians 6:11
I really like the following two passages because they show the trinity in action and how God co-exists as all three persons.
Luke 3:21-22: When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.’”
John 14:15-17: Jesus speaking to his disciples. “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”
In relating to God, we are relating to a personal God, as revealed in 3 persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these persons is distinct, yet each shares the same essence.
A person is by definition self-conscious, self-determining, with rational intellect. Essence means the most basic, intrinsic, personal qualities that characterize a being.
We are told in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” The reference to the invisible God is in line with John 4:24 where the Bible says that “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.”
A good starting point here is that God is not like us. He is the eternal, unchanging, creator of all things, whereas we humans are changing, finite, created beings. To make God in our image is to essentially create a idol. Because of who God is, we are the ones who need to adjust our expectations.
The expectation is that we have a limited ability to understand and describe God, as shown by Isaiah 29:16. This blog entry can’t even come close to describing God’s nature, yet I’d still rather post a tiny snippet of truth from the Bible than spend hours blabbing on about my own intellectual ideas of who God is.
We really should stop projecting aspects of ourselves onto God, or trying to fit him into our realities. Making God fit our personal or cultural box is a lazy thing to do, and is ultimately dangerous.
It is true that God made man in his image, but there are many more aspects of the invisible God that are not like us. In other words, it is healthy to start from the fact that God is not like us, and then we can relax in the revelation of what he has given to us.
I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of talking to someone who projects parts of him or herself onto us in a conversation, and how does that make us feel? For example, I had someone call me stubborn out of the blue in a conversation, yet it was the person who called me stubborn who was projecting that part of himself onto me. As they say, you spot it, you got it.
We do this to God all the time. Maybe we are the type-A personality who projects that onto God and relates to him as the control freak. Or in my case, we could be the detail perfectionist who always wants things to go smoothly, and so we relate to God as the personal errand boy who can always locate a parking spot or guarantee fast internet and flawless cell phone reception.
We can approach God as someone who is not like us, yet as a personal God who wants to relate to us.
What are the Last Days?
Broadly defined, the last days are the time period between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his yet-to-happen 2nd coming. These days are also referred to as the ‘age of grace’ or the ‘church age’. These ‘last days’ have been going on for over 2000 years now, and so what applies to living our lives today as Christians would just have applied to believers in the early church.
People in the church today seem to be rather complacent that the 2000 years of last-days will go on indefinitely. But the Apostle Paul never had that luxury of time or sense of complacency. As evidenced by his life and the letters that he wrote in the New Testament, he fully expected that Christ would return at any moment, and there was a sense of urgency in his life and witness that is lacking in today’s times.
The phrase ‘last days’ suggests that these days are in fact limited, and they have a start point and an end point. It is rather foolish to live as if the current age of grace will go on forever, yet we all struggle with this by the very fact that they have been going on for 2000+ years. It is human nature to think that things will continue as they have been for a long time. One also has to ask why God has allowed these days to go on for so long.
A good answer to that is the verse in the Bible which says that 1000 years are like a day in God’s timing.
Secondly, for every additional day of grace that we have been given, that is one additional day for more souls to come into God’s kingdom and to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. Just in today’s church service alone, a half-dozen hands went up for those who accepted the invitation to make Jesus their personal Lord and Savior, and they were prayed for at the end of the service.
It would seem that in the harvest of souls for God’s kingdom, that God would want to maximize the yield of returns.
This post will quickly look at the Biblical evidence to show the starting point of the ‘last days’ and how we are living in these days right now. Looking at the end point of these days will require a more detailed examination of Biblical evidence, given the various points of view out there to do with pre-millenialism, post-millenialism, and so forth.
If we look at Joel 2:28 in the Old Testament, the prophet writes that, “Afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (God speaking through the prophet)
The Old Testament shows that God’s Spirit worked through specific people in specific times, but there was not yet the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all people. That happened with Jesus’ disciples during Pentecost, after Jesus had risen from the dead, as we read in Acts 2:1-4. Peter himself then quoted the Joel verse above, and used the phrase ‘last days’ explicitly, which you can read in Acts 2:14
The fulfillment of the Joel prophecy was the starting point of the last days, essentially, and we have clear evidence that it happened after Jesus rose from the dead. We can also read John 14:16 where earlier, Jesus promises his disciples that “I will ask the Father, and I will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”
This is all a good reminder to follow the example of the apostle Paul and live a Christian life in the expectation that Jesus could return at any moment. Certainly, we can make the argument that 2000 years later on, there should be more urgency, not less, because we are that much closer to the day of the Lord.
People in the church today seem to be rather complacent that the 2000 years of last-days will go on indefinitely. But the Apostle Paul never had that luxury of time or sense of complacency. As evidenced by his life and the letters that he wrote in the New Testament, he fully expected that Christ would return at any moment, and there was a sense of urgency in his life and witness that is lacking in today’s times.
The phrase ‘last days’ suggests that these days are in fact limited, and they have a start point and an end point. It is rather foolish to live as if the current age of grace will go on forever, yet we all struggle with this by the very fact that they have been going on for 2000+ years. It is human nature to think that things will continue as they have been for a long time. One also has to ask why God has allowed these days to go on for so long.
A good answer to that is the verse in the Bible which says that 1000 years are like a day in God’s timing.
Secondly, for every additional day of grace that we have been given, that is one additional day for more souls to come into God’s kingdom and to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. Just in today’s church service alone, a half-dozen hands went up for those who accepted the invitation to make Jesus their personal Lord and Savior, and they were prayed for at the end of the service.
It would seem that in the harvest of souls for God’s kingdom, that God would want to maximize the yield of returns.
This post will quickly look at the Biblical evidence to show the starting point of the ‘last days’ and how we are living in these days right now. Looking at the end point of these days will require a more detailed examination of Biblical evidence, given the various points of view out there to do with pre-millenialism, post-millenialism, and so forth.
If we look at Joel 2:28 in the Old Testament, the prophet writes that, “Afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (God speaking through the prophet)
The Old Testament shows that God’s Spirit worked through specific people in specific times, but there was not yet the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all people. That happened with Jesus’ disciples during Pentecost, after Jesus had risen from the dead, as we read in Acts 2:1-4. Peter himself then quoted the Joel verse above, and used the phrase ‘last days’ explicitly, which you can read in Acts 2:14
The fulfillment of the Joel prophecy was the starting point of the last days, essentially, and we have clear evidence that it happened after Jesus rose from the dead. We can also read John 14:16 where earlier, Jesus promises his disciples that “I will ask the Father, and I will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”
This is all a good reminder to follow the example of the apostle Paul and live a Christian life in the expectation that Jesus could return at any moment. Certainly, we can make the argument that 2000 years later on, there should be more urgency, not less, because we are that much closer to the day of the Lord.
Thursday 14 July 2011
Introduction
A cheery hello to everyone reading this!
This project is something I've had in mind for awhile, and have made reference to the fact that I would eventually be starting such a project from my current blog 'Based in Shanghai'. I've thought about how to do this project, and also how not to do it.
http://www.based-in-shanghai.blogspot.com
The main purpose of this project is to teach and encourage new Christians about how to live lives that glorify God and give honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this time period that we are living in right now.
I've been a Christian for about 12 years now, and came to know Christ mainly through the ministry of the Alpha Course (Nicky Gumbel) when I was living in Vancouver Canada at the time. A few years later, I moved to Shanghai and have mainly been living and working there as a teacher. I also lead various small groups, as well as serving actively in the expat church over there.
For the last several years I've been quite interested in Bible prophecy and predictive prophecy about the 'end times' and how this applies to living our lives right now. I've learned a lot, and will admit up front that I subscribe to a particular view about end time events (the mainstream one actually) which can be quite controversial. But then, the Christian faith is a controversial one to begin with, so this is nothing new.
Nonetheless, I want to avoid making a blog that rehashes what is already out there in terms of Bible prophecy and end time events. A quick internet search will reveals tons of information. For the record I highly recommend the 'Left Behind Series' for a fictional account that applies the particular view of the end times that I happen to believe and so do many others. The entire book series is fiction, of course, but the scenario that it outlines is one of many possibilities that *could* happen if Jesus were to return at any moment. Other good authors to read up on are David Jeremiah and his prophecy series.
Every now and then, I'll make blog entries that go into this sort of thing and describe end-times scenarios, but that is not the main purpose of this blog, nor is it to get into debates about the timing of the rapture, tribulation, etc.
Rather, I want readers to understand and apply what the Bible says about how to live our lives as Christians right now, in the light of what the Bible reveals about Jesus and his 1st and 2nd comings.
I am convinced that Jesus could come at any moment, yet I want to be ready for when he does. To that end, I need to be living a life that glorifies God and is fully surrendered to his plans and purposes.
Having said that, this blog will in no way try to nail down and specific dates or get into predictions about a time of when Jesus could come back. The Bible makes it perfectly clear in Matthew 24:36 that this kind of exercise is fruitless
In Matthew 24:36 we read from the words of Jesus, "No one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know. Only the Father knows."
This verse should be proof enough to dismiss any of the recent nutcases who have claimed that the rapture or the end of the world would occur on XYZ date, only to have had XYZ date pass and for the nutcases to revise their predictions. Since the day and the hour is unknown, it is not for us to try and predict these things.
Yet as we will see later in this blog, the particular set of end-time views that I believe do justice to the doctrine of imminency, that is the idea that Jesus could come at any moment -- and we need to be ready.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:2 we read, "You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night"
With that in mind, let's be ready for his coming and live lives that give glory and honor to the Father.
This project is something I've had in mind for awhile, and have made reference to the fact that I would eventually be starting such a project from my current blog 'Based in Shanghai'. I've thought about how to do this project, and also how not to do it.
http://www.based-in-shanghai.blogspot.com
The main purpose of this project is to teach and encourage new Christians about how to live lives that glorify God and give honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this time period that we are living in right now.
I've been a Christian for about 12 years now, and came to know Christ mainly through the ministry of the Alpha Course (Nicky Gumbel) when I was living in Vancouver Canada at the time. A few years later, I moved to Shanghai and have mainly been living and working there as a teacher. I also lead various small groups, as well as serving actively in the expat church over there.
For the last several years I've been quite interested in Bible prophecy and predictive prophecy about the 'end times' and how this applies to living our lives right now. I've learned a lot, and will admit up front that I subscribe to a particular view about end time events (the mainstream one actually) which can be quite controversial. But then, the Christian faith is a controversial one to begin with, so this is nothing new.
Nonetheless, I want to avoid making a blog that rehashes what is already out there in terms of Bible prophecy and end time events. A quick internet search will reveals tons of information. For the record I highly recommend the 'Left Behind Series' for a fictional account that applies the particular view of the end times that I happen to believe and so do many others. The entire book series is fiction, of course, but the scenario that it outlines is one of many possibilities that *could* happen if Jesus were to return at any moment. Other good authors to read up on are David Jeremiah and his prophecy series.
Every now and then, I'll make blog entries that go into this sort of thing and describe end-times scenarios, but that is not the main purpose of this blog, nor is it to get into debates about the timing of the rapture, tribulation, etc.
Rather, I want readers to understand and apply what the Bible says about how to live our lives as Christians right now, in the light of what the Bible reveals about Jesus and his 1st and 2nd comings.
I am convinced that Jesus could come at any moment, yet I want to be ready for when he does. To that end, I need to be living a life that glorifies God and is fully surrendered to his plans and purposes.
Having said that, this blog will in no way try to nail down and specific dates or get into predictions about a time of when Jesus could come back. The Bible makes it perfectly clear in Matthew 24:36 that this kind of exercise is fruitless
In Matthew 24:36 we read from the words of Jesus, "No one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know. Only the Father knows."
This verse should be proof enough to dismiss any of the recent nutcases who have claimed that the rapture or the end of the world would occur on XYZ date, only to have had XYZ date pass and for the nutcases to revise their predictions. Since the day and the hour is unknown, it is not for us to try and predict these things.
Yet as we will see later in this blog, the particular set of end-time views that I believe do justice to the doctrine of imminency, that is the idea that Jesus could come at any moment -- and we need to be ready.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:2 we read, "You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night"
With that in mind, let's be ready for his coming and live lives that give glory and honor to the Father.
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