| Vol. VI Number 9 | March 3, 2002 |
There are several references in the Bible concerning the Lord coming with his saints to conquer the world which is controlled and run by Satan. This coming of the Lord is at this time very imminent! The exact day and hour no one knows, but we can see the signs of the times and know that the time is at hand for the Lord to call the true believers home and return with them to set up his divine millennial reign.
Jude 1:14-19
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.Revelation 19:1-21
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
These and other passages tell of the Lord's return and describe the signs of the times. We are living in an age where men have rejected the teachings of the Bible and search to fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We are living in a world where the wicked are in control of the world while the righteous are considered to be the freaks. We live in an age where the adulterer is held in high esteem, while the ones who are faithful to their spouse are looked down on. We live in an age where the media portrays sin as healthy entertainment. How far off can the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ be?
We are living in an age where technology enables us to communicate around the world, read documents from all over the world, send information all over the world, and post information on both the Usenet and mail groups which can be read by all. Most people connected to the Internet have the ability create a read only personal web page. With all of this communication through the Internet along with other technologies that I haven't even listed, we have all of the technology needed to fulfill the prophecies in the Bible. When you use your MAC, VISA, Discover, or any other card, you are doing banking on the Internet. Now they are issuing smart cards with embedded chips in them. They look just like a regular card on the outside but have added capabilities. The next step is a chip embedded in your wrist. This will be sold as a item where you won't have to carry individual cards, but one chip which you cannot lose will be good for all of your accounts.
How soon is it to the coming of the Lord. In the past century we have seen the human race go from a agrarian society to a cosmopolitan technology oriented society. We have gone from using beasts of burden to cars, trucks, aircraft, and railroads for transportation. The majority of people just a century ago usually never ventured more than seventy miles from where they were born. The pioneers who crossed America traveled an average speed of ten miles a day. Now we have been to the moon and back, use satellites for everything from television, Internet, and global positioning. Your new car might even have gps built into it so when you get lost the car will tell you how to get to where you want to go.
Look at the prophecies concerning the last days. They talk about natural disasters and and a tremendous increase in knowledge.
Daniel 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Definitely knowledge has increased where presently people who have never met each other are working and collaborating on the same project. Look at how the Bible describes the weapons of the last days. What was Ezekiel describing in the first chapter?
Ezekiel 1:1-28
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
Could this be a fighter aircraft of today? Ezekiel describes a landing gear, the wing structure, the canopy, and the tremendous noise that a jet makes. Also Ezekiel has never seen a fighter jet and a man suited up with the helmet, oxygen and communication equipment. Did it look like a fire breathing dragon to him that was alive with all of the things that goes on in a flight like the landing gear folding up into the body of the aircraft? We know what a fighter jet looks like, but a man from 400 BC seeing one must have been a very scary thing.
There are other descriptions of aircraft that are in use today in Revelation. The authors of the prophetic books of the Bible did not have the vocabulary that we have today to describe what the Lord was showing them. Imagine if you were living back during the time of the prophets and you were shown space ships, satellites, jets, computer screens, and even a steam engine train passing by. Seeing all of this and you were told to write down what you are seeing. How would you describe what the Lord was showing you?
Now that we are considering what the Lord was showing the prophets how close is it to the day of the Lord. Now that we have all of this technology at our disposal, with even reports of presidential discussions about using atomic weapons, how close are we to Armageddon?
1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
If the Lord called the church home today, would you be ready to meet the Lord in the air? Is there some secret sin in your life that will prevent you from rising to meet the Lord in the air? If there is, now is the time to seek the Lord with all of your heart and ask the Lord to forgive your wickedness and ask for the Lord's help in cleansing your life.
2 Corinthians 6:2
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)Romans 13:11
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Friends, as the Apostle Paul said, ``... now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.'' I hope to see you in the rapture.
3014 E Street Philadelphia, PA 19134 Church Office Phone: (215) 634-3637 Published by: Rev. LeRoy D. Cressy (215) 535-4037
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Copyright © 2002 LeRoy D. Cressy
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