Spring is Coming
My beloved spoke, and said to me: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away! (Song of Solomon 2:10-13 NKJV)
Labor Day
The last hurrah of summer is just about here. Then we look forward to Fall when leaves fall, and I suppose that is why it is called fall. We have some nice days and the foliage is often pretty and the crops are harvested, but all we can anticipate is another round of Alberta Clippers and Polar Vortex’s. Cars won’t start, roads will be impassible at times and if your furnace fails, well good luck finding a repairman. I do not look forward to winter, but I do look forward to spring. It speaks to me of a better time that is coming for Christians. For the unsaved, winter is all they get, but for the saved our verse today is a picture of hope and promise. “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!” Our bridegroom is coming as He has promised and when He does come, His bride (the true believers who have been born again) will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Fairy Tales
Unbelievers think Christians are living in a fantasy world because it has been over 2000 years since the Lord said, “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 (John 14:3 NKJV).” Paul makes it clear that the person who has died “in Christ”, that is a believer in Christ, will not be left out when the rapture occurs. As a matter of fact, they are raised first then the living believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And then all kinds of wickedness and natural disaster will occur on earth. I am glad that I will not live to see that winter.
But what about the promise? Will the Lord keep it? Yes, He will. Peter anticipated our day when he wrote, “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3:3-4 NKJV).’" Then He goes on to say that the Lord doesn’t have our kind of calendar because one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day with Him. Many have tried to calculate the date of the Lord’s return, but it cannot be done because the Lord said that only the Father would reveal that day and hour. The Son has given us the promise of His return, but He has not told us when He will return. Instead He has told us to be always ready, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect (Luke 12:40 NKJV)." Now as I understand the Lord, He has only promised to come twice. Once as a babe at Bethlehem and once to set up His kingdom. But that second coming involves the rapture or catching away of the church, then a period of tribulation, then the revelation of the Lord to the world to set up His Kingdom. So, I think we need to be ready for the rapture if we want to avoid the tribulation.
Why Hasn’t the Lord Returned?
Peter seems to take the second coming of the Lord beyond the kingdom age. He tells us what is going to happen before the eternal day and new heavens and new earth is ushered in. But the second coming and all of these events have not occurred because the Lord still wants to see a few more saved from the judgments that are coming on earth as well as from the eternal judgments in the Lake of Fire for the unbeliever. The Lord does not want to condemn, He wants to save. (See John 3:17). But in righteousness He will condemn those who reject Him and His offer of mercy. So, Peter says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV).” Since I believe the message of scripture is that we are saved by faith, then coming to repentance must mean that the person has come to faith. Those who do not have faith, have not repented. They are still telling God how to do His business. Those who have faith, have finally accepted the fact that God is right even when that makes them wrong.
Are We Ready?
I am looking forward to the time of the singing of birds. I am waiting for the Lord, my bridegroom, to say, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! I am looking for spring and not for a polar vortex.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of August 25, 2019