It’s February, or Lovuary or some such thing on the Rom Com channel. Ads for diamonds and fancy pajamas and roses and such fill the many interruptions to the movies and other shows. But I want to write about the love that God showed us by sending Jesus to live with us as Son of Man.
As you know, I am studying the book of Revelaton with the incredible Nancy Guthrie. We’re still in Chapter 1, but I’m filled to overflowing already with a new understanding of how Jesus is connected to the Old Testament and how He loved us enough that the “end of the world” as we know it will be an event I don’t want to miss. With connections to Daniel’s vision and others, and the first twenty verses in Chapter 1, I am more in “love” with Jesus than ever. Imagine that He loved us enough that he left the riches and glory of heaven to scuff up the dust, experience scratching his holy little face with smelly straw in a cold stable, faced rejection and innuendo and challenges from everyone he met, including the rag-tag group of disciples, endured homelessness, prosecution, beating, betrayal, wearing a pressed-down crown of thorns, and was nailed, cruelly to a rough cross with huge spikes, and left to die a humiliating public execution.
He endured humanity, mortality, discouragement, insensitivity, betrayal, and homelessness because he loved us.
So, when it says in Matthew 21:3 7-40 what our response muse be, I am ready, are you, to listen and obey this command: “You MUST love the Lord, your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. A second is equally important: You must love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
He demonstrated this love, modeled it. First, by reproving the Sadducees and priests and Pharisees, the leaders of his faith–the Chosen race, He loved them first. They were unlovable. He loved the leper, the blind, the crippled, the least among his society. He loved the rich, young ruler. He loved his disciples, though he had to discipline them often because they questioned, argued, and sought favors. He loved the little children. I’m thinking he loved the lowly colt he rode on in a mocking procession into Jerusalem. He loved, yet cursed Jerusalem and predicted the destruction of the temple, the most holy place. And throughout the centuries until the moment I am writing this, He loved, and saved my soul, even me. He knew I would be among the chosen, and my heart is filled with awe, wonder, and continues to ask Him, why me?
His answer is, throughout scripture: Deuteronomy 32:8 says, “The Lord goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” He loved me in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him…Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. And in Revelation 1:17, the Risen and Reigning Christ said to me and all who will hear, every nation, tribe, language–all those who believe He is the Son of God and loved us enough to die for us: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. I was dead and behold, I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” In verse 4, the Doxology, the beginning of Revelation, it is written: “Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and wo was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings on the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sin by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father–to Him be glory and power forever and ever amen. Look, He is coming in the clouds, and everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the people of the earth will mourn because of Him. so shall it be. Amen.” And Who said this? “I am the Alpha and the Omega Who is, and was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
While there is yet time before Armageddon, the end of the world as we know it, there will be, as Matthew and others in the Bible describe it, a time like ours. Crime will be rampant, there will be wars and rumors of war, earthquake, fires, floods, famines, the rise of anti-Christs, false prophets, deceivers. Could this be the TV commentators and false preachers who seem to have all the answers? Could it be faith systems which extold prosperity if we believe in God? Could it be denominations which have allowed, as in the book of Revelation, the sin of corruption and false doctrine in the name of inclusion and current philosophies that defy God’s laws? Yes, the sheep shall stray. Yes, deceivers whill come like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Unless we know the scriptures and pray for discernment, many will be led away from the redeeming message and the absolutes of God’s laws.
We cannot risk making God in our image, or worshiping the idols of “I can do what I want,” or postpone dealing with God until it’s convenient. Jesus says: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13. Finally, verse 14: and the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” There’s a difference between hearing and listening. And what will end times look like?
Verse 29: “At that time the Son of Man, Christ, will appear in the sky and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man, coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other…”
Just as the world watched the Chinese balloon, or will watch the Super Bowl, or the devastation of earthquakes, famine, hurricane damage, wildfires, the Grammy’s satanic dance, rampant crime, lawlessness, mass migration and the rise of one-world rule, and Presidential speeches, in the vernacular: “we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
Bowing to Almighty God, praying for forgiveness, and worshiping in holiness and repentance will allow us to look to the skies with hope, dedication to Christ, and without fear. How do I know that? Because God Almighty says it is true. Every knee will bow to Jesus, either in fear and trembling, or in utter worship as Moses, Daniel, and John did. They fell down as dead until Christ touched them and said, “Fear Not!”
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