Living in the Last Days
1st The surety of His coming
Luke 12:40 ESV
You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
John 14:3 ESV
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 NIV
According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord…
James 5:8 ESV
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
2 Peter 3:3-4 NIV-84
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
Jude 1:14 NIV
the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
Revelation 22:12 ESV
"Behold, I am coming soon…”
2nd The signs of His coming
Matthew 24:3 NIV
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
1. False world religions
Matthew 24:5 NIV
For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
2. War
Matthew 24:6-7 NIV
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
3. Famines
Matthew 24:7b NIV
There will be famines
4. Pestilence
Luke 21:11 NIV
There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events…
“Epidemiologists and healthcare professionals believe it is a case of when, not if, the world is hit by a global epidemic of a deadly infectious disease, killing millions of people.”
*Source: Reach MD “Scientists Issue Fresh Warning On Next Global Pandemic, Disease X”
5. Earthquakes
Matthew 24:7b NIV
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Matthew 24:8 NIV
All these are the beginning of birth pains.
6. Persecution of Christians
Matthew 24:9 NIV
Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
One in three Christians face high levels of persecution in Asia, with India entering the top 10 for the first time. Open Doors estimates that 245 million Christians worldwide face high levels of persecution this year, up from 215 million last year.
*Source: The Guardian, January 15, 2019
7. Falling away
Matthew 24:12 NIV
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
8. Gospel preached to the World
Matthew 24:14 NIV
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
9. Days of Noah
Matthew 24:36-38 NIV-84
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
Genesis 6:1-7 NIV-84
When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth
“I am sure that during this century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression. Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering with humans. But some people won’t be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics, such as memory, resistance to disease and length of life. Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who won’t be able to compete,” he wrote. “Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant. Instead, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate.”
*Source: Dr. Stephen Hawking, Theoretical physicist, as reported in UK Sunday Times 10-15-2018
A Chinese researcher is claiming to have created the world's first genetically edited human babies.
*Source: NPR 11-26-2018
3rd The sequence of His coming
1 Thessalonians 4:13 NIV-84
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
Acts 7:60 NIV
Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 NIV-84
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 NIV-84
According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:16a NIV
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,
1 Thessalonians 4:16a+b NIV
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
John 5:25 NIV-84
I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
1 Thessalonians 4:16c NIV
the voice of the archangel
1 Thessalonians 4:16d NIV-84
and with the trumpet call of God,
1 Corinthians 15:52 NIV
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
1 Thessalonians 4:16e-17 NIV
And the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
1 Corinthians 15:52 NIV
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
4th Our service until His coming
1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8 NIV
So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
