A Discussion of How to Watch and Wait for Jesus’ Return to Conform With His Will?
Li
Yang
It
was a summer afternoon, the blazing sun was beating down. Li Jiayin
and several co-workers were sitting in the shadow of an old locust
tree. Watching the old tree, she recollected her childhood, in which
she used to sit under the tree with her uncle, hearing him tell Bible
stories and the testimonies of experiences of the spiritual seniors.
A few years ago, her uncle once reminded her to be watchful. Now,
disasters are getting worse and worse, and the four blood moons have
appeared. From various signs it can be said with some certainty: The
day of the Lord has come; the Lord will come to reap and rapture
Christians at any minute. But how ever to be watchful and wait for
the Lord’s return? How to wait to conform to the Lord’s will?
What does it mean to be watchful? Jiayin sensed that she was not
clear about these questions, and then commenced a discussion with her
co-workers.
The Lord Jesus
said: “Then
shall the
kingdom of
heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went
forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five
were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no
oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their
lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes;
go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed
their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil;
for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so;
lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them
that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the
bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the
marriage: and the door was shut”
(Matthew 25:1-10). Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus once told
us a very vivid parable about who can enter the kingdom of heaven. He
said that only the wise virgins can welcome the bridegroom, and the
foolish virgins who haven’t taken oil with them cannot. When I read
this parable, I was determined to be a wise virgin to welcome
the second
coming of Jesus,
and feast with Him.
Now
it is the end of the last days. Many brothers and sisters, who truly
believe in the Lord and wait for Him coming back, must have such
questions: The Lord Jesus has
said, “And,
behold, I come quickly”
(Revelation 22:12). He has promised us to return. Has He come back
yet? How can we know whether He has returned or not?
One
day, in a Bible study
meeting, I had a debate with several brothers and sisters because of
our different opinions about the Lord’s appearance. I believed that
the Lord would appear on the Mount of Olives in Israel when He
returned, for the Bible says: “And
his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is
before Jerusalem on the east”
(Zechariah 14:4). Israel was the birthplace of God’s work, so the
Lord would still descend in Israel when He returned in the last days.
As long as we paid close attention to any signs in Israel, we would
surely be able to welcome the Lord’s appearance. While a sister
raised a query, “Now all sorts of disasters have frequently
occurred, and the prophecies of the Lord’s return have already been
fulfilled.
It’s
a fine day today. Outside the window, the light breeze was blowing
softly. In the yard, leaves on the trees were dancing gaily in the
breeze to express their happiness …
Once-in-a-hundred-year Total Solar Eclipse Passes God’s Warning of the Last Days!
On
August 21, 2017, the news of huge interest, the once-in-a-generation
total solar eclipse in the U.S., almost hit the headlines of every
main news media on computers and TVs.
The
eclipse began its sweep over Lincoln Beach, Oregon of Western United
Statas, at 9:05 a.m. local time on August 21., At 10:16 a.m., the
moon completely blocked out the sun, creating a total solar eclipse,
a rare astronomical phenomenon. Anywhere inside the 70 -mile of the
Path of Totality experienced 2 minutes and 40 seconds of darkness.
The whole sun gradually could be seen after 11:36 a.m. local time.
Next, the band passed through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and
other 10 states, and finally this spectacular total solar eclipse
ended near South Carolina, at about 3 p.m. EST.
The
once-in-a-hundred-year total solar eclipse drew many astronomers and
stargazers flocked to the site to witness it. Everyone has his own
mood and feeling toward this rare spectacle. Some people marveled at
it, some felt excited, some older people felt lucky to see the wonder
in their lifetime. However, as Christians, we thought of the almighty
God’s prophecies and warnings first while viewing the rare total
solar eclipse.
There
are many prophecies about the signs of the last days in the Bible,
some of which convey God’s warning to the people of the last days
through the appearance of astronomical signs, such as, “And
it shall come to pass in that day,
said the Lord GOD, that
I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth
in the clear day”
(Amos 8:9). “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds
and of thick darkness, as the morning spread on the mountains”
(Joel 2:2). “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come”
(Joel 2:31). “…her sun is gone down while it was yet day”
(Jeremiah 15:9). “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the
moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25).
That
is to say, today, in the last days, when the sun was covered suddenly
at a sunny day and the earth plunged into darkness, it was the
fulfillment of the prophecies of God in the last days, which is to
say, God has begun to judge this world and send down great disasters.
Yes! The fulfillment of the prophecies of the last days has a direct
relationship with the catastrophe predicted in Revelation and also is
closely related to God’s warning.
There
are some comments on the Internet, saying that this total solar
eclipse corresponds to the news the prophet Jonah conveyed to the
Ninevites that God would destroy them. People who are familiar with
the Bible know that, before Jonah conveyed God’s will to the
Ninevites, the people of Nineveh, from their king to the common man,
were ensnared in sin and licentiousness, eating, drinking and having
fun, worshiping false gods and evil spirits to such a point that it
was unbearable for God to witness. So God raised up the prophet Jonah
to warn the Ninevites that He would destroy the whole city after
forty days. When they heard God’s warning, the Ninevites turned
away from their evil ways, thus winning God’s mercy and tolerance
through their sincere confession and repentance for their sins, which
was a special event that God’s punishment toward man transformed
into forgiveness through the historical record of the Bible. Almost
during the same period, the city of Sodom which was evil and corrupt
to the extreme as the Nineveh, were burned away thoroughly by the
brimstone and fire God sent from heaven. This is because, the people
of Sodom were not only corrupted by Satan and lived in sin, but
remained impenitent, greedily enjoyed the pleasures of sin, even
harmed the messengers of God. Ultimately, the only thing that awaited
them was certainly God’s wrath and righteous punishment!
Looking
back to the different end of Sodom and Nineveh, while reflecting on
ourselves, we have to admit that the extent of corruption of the
whole mankind in the last days has even gone beyond that of people of
Sodom and Nineveh. With the technological development and material
abundance, many people fall into sin of luxury and dissipation and
cannot free from it. In order to scramble for profit, there always
start wars among different countries and races for destroying and
killing. In order to satisfy desires, there are always human strife,
attack, plots and murder among even ordinary people. In order to
crave indulgence of the flesh, people eat, drink and play everywhere
with music and dancing night after night, living in an evil and
licentious life. Hence, when the prophesies of the last days are
fulfilled one by one, it is the time that God’s warning reaches
this mankind. If we still don’t repent and are stubbornly going our
own way like the men of Sodom, can we escape the great disasters
which are near to us?
The
terms that Jonah conveyed the news of God’s destroying the Nineveh
were 40 days, that is to say, from the moment that Jonah conveyed
God’s will to the Nineveh, there were only 40 days left for the
Ninevites to repent before God. Today, when you watched the total
solar eclipse with different moods, have you thought about how long
God will leave for us people in the last days to repent?
It
was expected that seven years later, in 2024, the total solar eclipse
will occur again. Many people know that in the Bible, seven is
regarded as completion and it usually represents God’s will is
fulfilled and completed. The Bible says, “Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29). Now is
the last days with a lot of misfortunes and mishaps. Before the
arrival of the catastrophic disaster prophesied in the Revelation,
within seven years before the next occurrence of total solar eclipse,
how will God treat these people who are not willing to turn away from
their evil ways and return to God like the men of Sodom? In recent
years, thinking about the people who died in earthquakes, tsunamis,
plagues, floods, droughts, typhoons, wars and terrorist attacks which
frequently take place, and thinking back the different end of the
Ninevites and the men of Sodom, the answer has been self-evident to
all.
How
Should We Welcome The Return Of The Lord Jesus?
Nowadays,
all the believers in the Lord are
expecting the Lord Jesus’ second coming to bring man into
the kingdom of heaven. Especially when people reading the
scripture Acts 1:11, “Which
also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven?
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.”,
they think that the Lord left on a white cloud, so he will surely
return on a white cloud. Thus most people just wait for the return of
the Lord Jesus passively. But over more than two thousand years have
passed, man still hasn’t seen the Savior coming with
clouds. In recent years, whenever I see the disaster is greater and
greater and the church becomes more and more desolate, I
couldn’t help looking up to heaven and crying out to the Lord, “O
Lord! Nowadays various signs of the last
days have
already been fulfilled, but why have we still not seen your return?”
With the passage of time, I began to doubt: Is it truly after God’s
heart that we wait for God’s coming so passively? Then how shall we
welcome the return of the Lord?
In
1994, I accepted the gospel of
the Lord Jesus.
At that time, my third elder sister gave me a Bible,
and we made an appointment to attend a meeting on Sunday. That day,
as soon as I entered the church, a rectangular stereoscopic oil
portrait of the Lord Jesus
Christ came
into my view: He bears the image of a Jew and wears a white robe,
with long curly blond hair spilling over His shoulders, with blue
eyes, a high nose, and a kindly face…. I was quite amazed and
thought within: actually the God I believe in bears a Jewish image….
Have You Welcomed the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus?
Zhang
Liang
Since
I believed in the Lord, in order to welcome the Lord Jesus’
return and be raptured to the
kingdom of heaven,
I have been passionate, preaching the gospel,
sustaining the weak brothers and sisters and so on. However, although
many years passed, I didn’t see the Lord come to rapture us into
the kingdom of heaven. Instead, the faith and love of brothers and
sisters in the church were getting colder and colder. In 2002, I
suddenly heard that the Lord has already come back to take true
believers in Him into the kingdom of heaven. Right then, I had an
immediate thought: It’s impossible. The Lord
Jesus should
come upon a cloud. Afterward, I inquired the brothers and sisters in
varying churches about the news that the Lord has come back. They all
shook their heads, saying, “That’s impossible. The Lord will come
back with a cloud. We all haven’t seen it yet. So, He hasn’t come
back.” So I was even more certain that the Lord should come back
with a cloud. I could not accept it if the Lord has not come back on
a cloud.
I
have been expecting the return of the Lord Jesus since
I believed in Him. I believe that every true believer in the Lord
longs for His return and even more hopes to hear His words. Then, how
should we welcome the return
of Jesus?
In order to find the answer, I studied the Bible many
times and asked many brothers and sisters for help. Someone said,
“The Bible records that the Lord
Jesus will
return in the same way He went into heaven, returning on a white
cloud. Those who truly believe in the Lord will be caught up to
heaven to meet Him. We should wait patiently and have faith in the
Lord.” Some said, “The pastors and elders in the church will know
it first when Jesus returns. Nothing will go wrong if we follow
them.” After hearing these words, I just held onto them.
There
was a popular story in the time of Solomon, which goes like this:
Once, King Solomon received two baskets of rare flowers from the
envoy of a neighboring kingdom. These two baskets of flowers were
extremely alike in their leaves and petals. The envoy said to King
Solomon, “Your Majesty, of these two baskets of flowers, one is
that of genuine flowers and the other artificial ones. Sire, your
wisdom is famous all over the world, and all the people in my country
admire you. Your Majesty, please differentiate for us the basket of
genuine flowers from that of artificial ones, and the people in my
country will surely celebrate your inexhaustible wisdom.”
Have
You Welcomed the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus?
Zhang
Liang
Since
I believed in the Lord, in order to welcome the Lord Jesus’
return and be raptured to the
kingdom of heaven,
I have been passionate, preaching the gospel,
sustaining the weak brothers and sisters and so on. However, although
many years passed, I didn’t see the Lord come to rapture us into
the kingdom of heaven. Instead, the faith and love of brothers and
sisters in the church were getting colder and colder.
How
Will Prophecies About the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in the Bible
Come True?
Each
genuine follower of the Lord Jesus is
expecting Him to come back soon so that his wish for years could be
realized. And he can receive the Lord’s promise and enjoy His
blessings. Especially in the end-time, our heart of longing for the
Second Coming of Jesus
Christ becomes
more eager. It is written in Acts 1:11, “this
same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen him
go into heaven.”
And it says in John 14:3, “And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
Therefore, the brothers and sisters firmly believe that the Lord
Jesus will
come again. Then, in what manner will the Lord Jesus come? Will He
really come on a cloud as we imagine? Will the prophecies be
fulfilled in the same way as we think? In what manner should we
welcome His return? This is a question that each of us who follow the
Lord Jesus must consider seriously. If we are careless, we’ll
probably lose His salvation.
