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How Will We Know When The End Comes?


 Editor    Jun 10 : 21:41
 None    Editorials

We also will be able to recognize the coming end to this age.

Can we tell when Christ returns.Jesus told the apostles that just as they were able to observe the time of year from the obvious and predictable cycles of nature  (Matt 24), we also will be able to recognize the coming end to this age.  That is, the attitudes of men, and the way they choose to live will clearly indicate our proximity to the end (Matt 24 ).
 
In Mark 13:17-31 Jesus warns the apostles that in only a short time they would not only abandon Him, but as in Peters case deny that they even knew Him. These men, Jesus' closest friends, on the night before His crucifixion, still couldn't grasp what was about to take place.  Even Jesus' own prophetic words pointing them towards His death, the event for which He was born, were met with an self-assured, rejection that such a thing could never happen.  As we look back to those events we might ask "How could they not see what is now so clear to us?"

The answer may be closer than we think. The apostles after three years still could not fully embrace Jesus's words because they were unwilling to completely let go of their own opinions. As a result their minds weren't fully committed to the things of God, but instead  made room for their own humane ideas, which seemed right to them, but were infact opposed to God's will. So much so that Jesus called Peter, Satan for standing in the way of God's will.  A person could be forgiven for sympathizing with Peter in this instance. "Didn't he mean well? " you might ask. Perhaps so, however Peter was putting his own humanistic thinking ahead of God's will. That's why Jesus called him Satan. Anyone refusing to submit to God's will in their life is in fact satanic regardless of their good intentions.
Although it's intellectually possible for us to recognize that we're in the "end times", how hard is it for us to grasp that they are in fact here? As the apostles were unwilling to let go of their own ideas and in so doing miss the single most important event in history, so also might we miss the oportunity afforded in the bible to really prepare for what will surely happen. When the shepherd was struck the flock was shaken and for a time each went their seperate ways. Surely Peter must have regreted to his last breath the time he failed the Lord because he failed to heed His warning. His denial though forgiven could never be taken back. We cannot afford to be deceived into thinking we are prepared for an event we can barely stand to discuss. Certainly we cannot look to the world for reassurance as it plunges headlong into an abyss of chaos and dissorder.
The fruit is ripe, the leaves are changing color, and the harvest awaits the reaper. What season are we in ?

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