Truth and Salvation

"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 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" (Mat. 24:3-10). "And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake" (Lk. 21:16,17). "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. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains... For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Mat. 24:11-16,21-24). "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Lk. 21:25,26). "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Mat. 24:26--31). "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mk. 13:32).

"And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all... so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Lk. 17:26-29; Mat. 24:39). "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Lk. 21:34-36). Here we have a composite of some key things that Jesus spoke concerning the end time and his second coming. I would like to just point out a few crucial elements of what he had to say here, as we are without doubt approaching the fulfillment of all these things. The first integral thing I see is that in the time of the end there will be many who had possessed the love of God, but fail to preserve it in their lives as times get very difficult. These will be those who fulfill the "foolish virgins" in the parable of the ten virgins, whose lamps went out while they were in the journey to meet the bridegroom (Mat. 25:1-13). It is no coincidence that Jesus taught this very parable during the same sermon from which these things about the end time are taken. These are also those who will betray the elect, as they will be the ones in the position to do so; seeing that they continue in the journey of holiness with them for a season. It will be like Judas betraying Jesus because he, being with Jesus in the ministry, was in the position TO betray him. Those whose "love waxes cold" are also going to be the fulfillment of the 'tares' in the parable of the wheat and the tares, whom Jesus said will be cast out of the kingdom of God into a furnace of fire at the end of the world (Mat. 13:40-42). Another important point made by Jesus is that the end will come WHEN "this gospel of the kingdom [of God] shall be preached in all the world." What this tells us is that the Gospel that he was talking about HAS NOT been preached in all the world, because the end HAS NOT come. The Gospel of 'Christianity' has been preached in all the world, but that is NOT "the Gospel of the kingdom [of God]," which Jesus spoke of in this sermon.

To understand what IS the Gospel of the kingdom of God, we need only look at the words "Gospel," and "kingdom of God," by the scriptural defining of these terms: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" (I Cor. 4:20). "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). Now THAT is the Gospel that Jesus was talking about my friend. The pure, unadulterated power, love and holiness of God's Spirit, unmixed with man's additives. And that makes a lot of sense, seeing that the scripture tells us; " Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [from sin]" (II Cor. 3:17). Yes, the holy Spirit of God is the ONLY presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, and "that Spirit" needs none of man's ideology added to it; but rather for man to get out of the way and let Jesus be center stage, and ALONE on that stage. THAT Gospel has NOT been preached in all the world, but it will be. The other really crucial element to these words of Jesus is the fact that he mentions ONLY ONE second coming of himself back to this world. Does that sound strange for me to say? Well, everyone who adheres to the false "rapture" doctrine is proclaiming TWO second comings of Jesus, without realizing they are doing it of course. Jesus made it crystal clear that his coming would be visible, even as the lightning is visible, and that it would be "immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days." He also makes it clear that this will be the time that he gathers, or catches up his elect, both dead and living, from all places to meet him in the air as he comes; and that this event will be accompanied by "a great sound of a trumpet." This sound of the trumpet also is synonymous with other places where he spoke of his second coming and the catching up of his elect to meet him (I Cor. 15:51-53; I Thess. 4:15-17). So that is ONE second coming of Jesus, and ONE catching up of his elect to meet him and be glorified with immortality; BOTH of which things take place together at the END of the time of great tribulation. I know that is a great disappointment to all of the "rapture" adherents, but it is irrefutable scriptural truth that simply cannot be overturned. And of course it is worthy of the greatest of consideration to note that Jesus admonished us to pray much always, and to "keep [our] hearts with all diligence;" so that we might be in the number who do "endure unto the end, [and] be saved" (Prov. 4:23). There are so many other things that can be addressed on this subject from other places in the Bible, both old and new testaments; but I am limited here to set forth these few things on a daily post. Nonetheless, it is certain that there are no scriptures that would contradict the truth of these things that are taken purely from the Bible in this article. May God help us all to fulfill the right side of these things, for it is certain that we will fulfill one side or the other. Amen.