“As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’” (Mt 24:3)
I do not purport to know the day or hour Jesus will return (Mt 24:36), but the signs are everywhere. Only, who is paying attention? At breakneck speeds, amoral society careens willy-nilly from lust to lust, and is proud of it (1 Jn 2:16). Has it done this for so long now that it has permanently lost the scent of the trail to what really matters? Of course it has.
The signs are clear.
Too many to name here, but read the warnings in the Bible of how this world ends (Dan 12; Mt 24:4-14; 2 Tim 3:1-5; 2 Pet 3:3-4; et al.) and know that it is true. Perhaps our society is too self-absorbed to care. Not many decades ago the simple joys and inescapable sorrows of life were at least willingly felt, for it was the overarching disposition of our culture to esteem the Scriptures and learn from them that the whole of life was meant to point us to a better future, not of this earth. Today our culture scoffs at those Scriptures, and every matter, good or bad, is but a temporary distraction to race past on the way to grabbing up more of a world in free fall. Yes, look any direction at the lost and indifferent and spiritually bankrupt, scratching the itch of the un-itchable, and know that it is all true.
The signs are near.
And they reveal that there isn’t enough time in this vast universe, let alone in this world, to fill our needful souls. Lord knows, even as believers, we have been guilty of partaking of all that the temporal realm has to offer (James 4:4). But aren’t we destined “to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”? (2 Cor 5:4b) Shouldn’t every fiber of our souls be resounding within us: “We were made for so much more than this!” (Jn 14:2-3) “Agreed on all counts,” some will say. “But even though we can’t stop this world from falling, doesn’t it make sense to at least try to slow its onslaught?”
We can’t do that either and never could. What we can do, however, is far better: We can step off the pathway of a degenerating world’s influence and choose not to be conformed anymore to its bidding (Rom 12:2). For with every new day, this world is not spinning its way back to Eden. It is spiraling under a curse (Rom 8:22), and shaking itself down to the last grains of the hourglass, taking as many souls as it can with it. But not ours! As God’s children, we are heaven-bound, set and secure. Which is all the more reason to admit that we have been affected and influenced by this delusion of a utopian revival by the hands of men; that it has been a thorn in our side long enough.
Let today be the day, then, that we relent and follow Jesus, knowing that there will never be enough time to recreate our own Eden. But by the grace of God, there is still enough time to do what we were put here to do. Let us step off together—away from the idols of temporal pursuits—to become the hands and feet of the Alpha and Omega as we were intended, to properly take hold of our mission of reaching the lost, of shining a light from every hill for God’s glory. And above all, with full hearts and renewed urgency, let us do these things, not because we fret about any particular sign of the times we live in—we are not meant to worry—but because we recognize that…
The time of the signs is here.
I hope this encourages you to live for eternity today.
Kevin Murray
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