Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
He Is Coming Back
Pastor Scott
Sunday, August 08, 2004
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"...Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
(Acts 1:11)
Do you realize that the coming of the Lord is mentioned 300 times in the New Testament? The coming of the Lord is mentioned in 1,825 verses in the Scriptures; 50 times in the epistles. That is a huge percentage. If the Word of God speaks about the coming of the Lord this much, how much are we speaking about it? When was the last time you told somebody Jesus is coming back? We talk about Jesus having died (and we do need to do that), but folks need to know that He is coming back in the clouds and in power. For us He is coming back as Savior; for them He is coming back as Judge. But He is coming back. Every eye will see Him, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Rom. 14:11). People are not getting the full gospel message if they don't understand that He is coming back to judge men's hearts. He's coming back and every man's deeds will be judged whether they are good or evil.
Hebrews 9:28 says, "...and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Are you looking up? Everybody is not going to be raptured, anymore than everybody will be saved. You are going to be raptured by faith. You are going to be raptured by hope, by expectation, by believing, by looking, by preparation, by the profession of your mouth. The Bible says that we can hasten the return of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:12). That doesn't mean we can speed up the time, for the time is already set. What it means is that we can effectually usher in the coming of the Lord in our lives.
Here we are looking for the coming of the Lord. We are in preparation for ruling and reigning with Him in His kingdom, but it is going to be by faith, by hope--the blessed hope, the favorable expectation--the looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Lord. What are you doing to stir yourself? It is right at our door.
Philippians 4:5 says, "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." If we believe the Lord is at hand, then what will be the consequence? You will let your moderation--your disciplined life, your balanced perspective--be known unto all men. Yes, we have to go out and work. Yes, we do have daily lives and responsibilities, but it's to be in moderation. How aware are we that the Lord is at hand? How much does it motivate our thoughts and the preparation of our lives?
Hebrews 10:37 says, "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Scoffers have said, "Where is this coming that everybody talks about?" If it is appropriated by faith, then it is sooner than when we first believed. I believe in the reality of Jesus' coming more than the next breath that I take. It is sure. Don't place your hope in the stock market or your real estate investment. You can't trust in any of that, but Jesus coming back is sure. What are you investing in? Are you investing in the coming of the Lord? Do you understand that in those hours He is going to arrest us and save us from the final judgment on the earth? Are you looking up? This isn't our home. We are pilgrims passing through here. "Let your moderation be known by your behavior unto all men, the Lord is at hand."