Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," May Edition , 2010
Prepare Your Heart For The Coming Of The Lord
"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:8).
It is vitally important that we begin now to prepare our hearts for the soon coming of the Lord. This is especially true now that God has begun to sound forth the long anticipated midnight cry awakening call.
The midnight cry awakening call is all of our realization that the Lord Jesus really is coming soon, most likely in the year 2012, or shortly thereafter.
It is important to spell this date out, because many people today, who profess themselves to be looking for the Lord to come, are themselves also–ironic as it may sound!–intellectually scandalized over His expected coming.
That is why there is so much opposition to the stating of any date as a possible time for the second coming of Christ. The taboo here flows from the idea that any objective historical focus on the time of Christ’s return must fit a certain mold of received preconceptions–a mold that is in and of itself adverse to all objectivity.
We are talking a system of false teaching that intellectually scandalizes the masses today, through its insistence that Jesus is coming for a secret pre-tribulation rapture of the church “at any moment,” and therefore it must be wrong to tie the second coming of Christ to any objective observable historical reality.
Hebrews 10:25 affirms that the day of the Lord can be seen approaching, however, and that in response to that knowledge believers were to meet for mutual edification and exhortation.
Now the historical context of the Hebrew 10:25 passage relates to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem in the wars of 67-70 A. D. The Hebrew Christians could see the destruction of Jerusalem coming, who recalled Jesus’ words in Matthew chapter 24 and other passages.
The same response, in real time, applies to the end of the age, as well. Those who understand the midnight cry awakening call can see the end-time judgment coming, just as surely as the early Hebrew Christians could see the destruction of Jerusalem coming in 70 A. D.
What, then, is this “midnight cry awakening call” that bridges the end-time historical reality chasm for those who are knowledgeable of it? Keep learning.
Related Article Links
Why Would Anyone Want To Be Indifferent Toward The Soon Return Of Christ?
On The Relationship Between Human Free Will And Divine Foreknowledge In Bible Prophecy
On Avoiding Extremes Regarding The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ