Living With a Sense of Urgency

Well, thank you very much. That had a very moving message to it. So, we all appreciate it.

Norman, for me, I gave the wrong scriptures. 1.33, Psalm 133, not 1.31. So, that's what happens to me. I don't know about you, but...

2. Brethren, we're living in the end time, the last day of man's rule on the earth. The latest Good News magazine addresses this subject, especially in the editorial. Let's turn over to Matthew 24, verse 36. Matthew 24, verse 36. Now, I want you to notice what Jesus Christ had to say here.

Verse 36. But of the day and the hour no one knows, no not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. So, Christ said that only the Father knew, and specifically at that time. But as time went on, Christ began to reveal more and more details of events that would transpire prior to His return. Luke 21, and in verse 20, we find the parallel chapter to Matthew 24.

Let's notice that Christ here in Luke's account adds a few more details. Very true. No one knows the exact day or the exact hour of Christ's return. But that does not mean that we cannot know the general period of time. As Luke 21, 20 says, When you shall see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that the desolation is near. So we find that when this occurs, we can know that the desolation of Jerusalem is near. And those who are in Judea are told to flee to the mountains. In verse 28, He began to outline a series of events that would take place. And in verse 28, He says, When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws nigh. And then verse 31, So you likewise, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. So even Christ said, you can know that it's near, that it is coming. Actually, the book of Revelation gives a series of events that transpire, that lead up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Now, we've been covering the book of Revelation in Home Bible studies. You might remember there are seven seals, seven trumpets, seven last plagues. And when the seven trumpets begin to sound, there are a series of major world events that are going to transpire. In Revelation 11, verse 15, we find that it culminates with the seven trumpet, and we read here in Revelation 11, verse 15, that when that seventh angel sounded, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. So we know that Christ is going to come at that seventh trump. And so, you can begin to observe the events leading up to that as they begin to unfold and know that that time is near. Now, I believe in Matthew 24, there is a verse that absolutely indicates that we're living in the last days. That's Matthew 24, verse 22. Matthew 24, chapter, and verse 22.

Notice what Christ says here, that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. And the word means, saved alive, or preserved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. Now, there are those who will argue that this verse doesn't mean saved alive as far as the flesh, but that it's talking about no one would be converted or saved in that manner. Let me read you a number of modern translations and how they translate this verse. The CEV translation. I've got a computer program. It has about 25-30 Bible translations on it. So, I just went through taking a quick look to see how they translate this particular scripture. Notice, it says, if God does not make the time shorter, no one will be left alive. That's one translation. Good news. It says, God has already reduced the number of days. Had He not done so, nobody would survive. The Living Bible says, in fact, unless those days are shortened, all mankind will perish.

Then the message says, if these days of trouble were left to run their course, nobody would make it. The NCV says, God has decided to make that terrible time short. Otherwise, no one would go on living. Nobody would live. NIV, if those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. In the NLT, in fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive.

And finally, West, Word Study of the Bible. And if those days have not been curtailed, all flesh would not be saved from destruction. So what we find is that there is going to come a time, Christ predicted, when man would reach the point in history where all flesh would be destroyed off the face of the earth if he did not intervene. If God allowed mankind to run their full course, wage all the wars and their stupidity, they would end up destroying all human life off the face of the earth.

Now, why is God going to intervene? Well, notice the last part of the verse. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be curtailed. Brethren, do you realize it's because of you? Because of those that God has called and given His Spirit at the end time, His Church, that God will spare humanity from utter destruction, that God will intervene. That is a tremendous responsibility when you stop and think about it. That God is going to save mankind because there are a group of people.

They're called the elect, which means the chosen ones, who have been chosen by God, who have been called to repentance, who have been given His Spirit. That it's because of those people and their obedience to God that God will spare mankind in the end time. So we live in an age today when for the first time in history it's possible to annihilate all life off the face of the earth. Was it possible during the great Egyptian empires? No, they couldn't have done it. What about the Babylonian? Could you with spears and knives and clubs kill every last man, woman and child on the face of the earth?

Well, of course not. What about during the time of the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, civil war? Any war you want to think of, first world war, second world war. Now we find that with the advent of the atomic bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that it is now possible, that ushered in a new age, it is now possible for all life to be destroyed from the face of the earth, cosmocide to take place.

Today we've got many methods for destroying mankind and all life from the planet. We have atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs. They're working on neutron bombs. We have bacterial and viral infections. What about things like AIDS? What about staph infections now? Because a man's fighting against germs and all of this, we've developed some of these super bugs now. No telling what might come along.

What about germ warfare, chemical warfare? Or just a couple of drops of some of these agents are so powerful, put into the water system of a city, could kill millions of people. We live in an age where it's possible to do total devastation. If you have total warfare, nations go to fight against each other, and you have all of the results of that.

You find millions and billions of people being infected. In fact, in the book of Revelation, we find there's one battle that takes place, and as a result of that battle, one-third of mankind who's left alive at that time dies. Now, just taking the present population, if we based it on that, there'd be over 2 billion people. Think of it. 2 billion people who would die in that warfare. So we find the insanity of mankind, that without restraint and without intervention, that man, the Bible says, would go ahead and destroy himself off the face of the earth.

Now, there are probably methods that you and I haven't even dreamed of yet that they're working on. Laser beams, you know, from space, they already have that going. Heat weapons where you can stun a person and heat them so badly that they have to run. There are all kinds of things out there. We are the generation that this is talking about.

How do we know? Well, Matthew 24 and verse 34, let's notice a continuation of this prophecy. Christ said here, Was he talking about his generation? You only have two possibilities here. His generation, well, they passed away. And all of these events in Matthew 24, some of them occurred, but not all occurred. But he says, this generation, what generation? The generation in which it is possible for all life to be annihilated from the earth. That's our generation. That's the generation when all these things will be fulfilled.

I'd like for us today to take a very quick look at the events that must transpire or occur before Jesus Christ returns to the earth. But then I want us to focus on the conditions that Jesus Christ said would exist on the earth in the church. And we're concerned about the church, especially because we are the ones, those at God's calling, and given his Spirit, the church is the one that we're concerned about. And see what Christ himself said would be occurring in the church, and what type of encouragement or warning that he might have given to us. And we need to see how what he says can definitely impact all of us.

You might remember the latest Good News magazine is one that's devoted quite a bit to prophecy. It has a lead article on seven prophecies that must be fulfilled before Jesus Christ returns. Let me just summarize those for you very quickly, just so that we have a foundation. Number one is a human race would have the ability to exterminate itself, and I've already touched on that. That it is possible now in this age for man to destroy himself. Number two, a Jewish homeland had to be reestablished in the mid-east. A hundred years ago, that seemed impossible. But yet, here we are today. It's been done. The Jews are there. There's a little nation of Israel. And then you have all the fighting over that. Three, an end time king of the north and king of the south will rise up, and they will begin to clash with one another.

We see that beginning to happen. We see two different cultures, two different approaches to life. Beginning to take place. Number four, the end time union of European nations will unite together. And we have seen that developing before our eyes for decades now. And it's beginning to really pick up more and more momentum. Number five, the end time rise and fall of Israel and Judah. Judah has risen. The nations of Israel have risen, the United States, British Commonwealth. And yet now we begin to see the gradual, sometimes quick, decline of our peoples and the values that we have held. Six point, the Gospel would be preached in all the world. Guess what? That's our job. To take the Gospel to the world, all of us. And I'm not just saying our organization, I'm just saying that God has placed upon His end time servants the responsibility to preach the Gospel to the world. And then number seven, instant worldwide communications and God's final witnesses. Because the two witnesses will use the ability to communicate worldwide. And so what God is about to do, the two witnesses will very boldly proclaim it. And when a plague is about to happen, rivers are going to turn to blood, oceans turn to blood. The sun become hot, it's going to be dark tomorrow afternoon. Those type of things will happen and they will be prophesied and they'll go around the world.

Now the important question for all of us is this. How would you act? How would you live? How would you order your life if you really believed you lived in the end time?

If you really believed you were living in the last days?

I can remember years ago sitting around sort of bull sessions talking about, well, when the end really gets close. And we know we're getting close and we see world events transpiring. Well, that's the time that we're all really going to gear ourselves up. We're going to pray more, we're going to study more. We'll fast often. We will make sure we're close to God so that we're ready. And when that time comes, we would like to be taken to a place of safety. We'd like to be protected. We'd like to be able to do the work of God. Are we on fire? Have we let our prayer, our Bible study slip? Is there an urgency about us in everything that we do? It doesn't mean we stop living. I'm not saying that, but I'm saying that neither do we compromise. In 2 Peter 2, beginning in verse 4, 2 Peter 2, beginning in verse 4, God inspired three examples here for us to learn from. And all of these actually tie in with the end time. Beginning in verse 4 says, If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and deliver them in the chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. Now we find that they sinned, and then they were punished for their sin. The lesson is, for us in the end time, that there will be punishment for man's sins and rebellion unless he repents. If we don't repent, God is not a respecter of persons. Now in verse 5, And he did not spare the ancient world, that's the pre-Flood world, but saved Noah, one of the eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. Now I want you to notice that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. So he talked about God's plan, what's right, what one should do. Did they heed the warning? Well, there were only eight souls that were saved alive in the ark. The rest of mankind perished. They simply did not heed. Well, the lesson is, we may even preach the Gospel, we may go to the world, but there may not be that many who heed. That's up to God. But the warning still has to go out. The responsibility of preaching is there. We'll come back to Noah later on, but verses 6 and 7. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example, to those who afterwards should live ungodly, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed from the filthy conduct of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to night, or day to day, by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. And God, or the Lord, knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. And then it goes on to talk about those at that time who were the ungodly, and what God was going to do, and it goes on down to our day to day. So we find that God spared Lot, and God will spare those who are doing what is right, those who are righteous, and those who are zealous and on fire for him.

Now one of these examples I think we can learn a lot from. What about the example of Noah? In Matthew 24, we find Noah mentioned again, Matthew 24, beginning in verse 32.

Let's go back to this, Matthew 24, 32. And see what we can learn from the lessons from Noah's day.

First of all, there's a parable given here.

It says, Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branches has already become tender and put forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So we all know that principle. In the spring, when things begin to bloom, and trees are putting on leaves, you know that spring's coming on, summer's not far behind. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near. It's at the very door. But surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away to all these things fulfilled. Now verse 36.

But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. So the return of Christ, His coming, the events that transpire, will be just like... it was before the Flood came on this earth. For as in the day before the Flood, they were eating and drinking. They were marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. See, society functioned normal at that time. People had jobs, as it says here, they were eating and drinking. They had to have enough money to buy food, clothing, shelter. They were marrying, they were reproducing children. And then the earth was destroyed by water. And that came upon them quickly, as we go on to see here. Verse 39. And they did not know until the Flood came and took them all away. So also will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding. At the mill, one will be taken, and the other left. So you'll find they were caught unawares. Now, how many people, brethren, are going to heed the warning today? There are over seven billion people on the face of the earth. How many of them do you know who truly understand the plan of God, who obey Him, who keep His commandments? A pitiful few in comparison. Hold your place here and turn back to 1 Thessalonians 5. Because in 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 1, we find that what happened in Noah's day is predicted to occur again in our day. Beginning in verse 1, Now concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. So part of what we will see happening in the future, there's going to come a period of time when it looks like we've got world peace. Perhaps it looks like there's peace in the Mideast. Perhaps different countries, different nations are talking to one another. There may even be treaties signed, and it seems to be peace and safety. And then, boom, quickly you find sudden destruction. But you, brethren, are not in darkness. So you and I are not to be in ignorance or darkness. That that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the suns of light and the suns of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Now, it doesn't mean never go to sleep physically. It means don't spiritually go to sleep. Be sober! Be aware of what's going on. We need to watch. So, with that in mind, let's come back to Matthew 24 again.

And notice verse 42.

Same thing is told us here. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. So we are told to watch. But know this. If the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed the house to be broken into. And again, if you know somebody is going to break into your house, and you know about what time they are going to do it, you have the police there. You have two or three big dogs there. You may have security guards there. You are ready for them. You don't just allow them to come in. Verse 44. Therefore, you also, be ready. For the Son of Man is coming in an hour, you do not expect Him. So we are to be ready. Verses 45-47 shows, while we are waiting for the Master to come back, notice, Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his Master will make ruler over the household to give them food in due season? Blessed is the servant whom his Master, when he comes, when he finally shows up at the house, will find soul doing. So what it is stating is that when Christ comes back, He will find that His servants have been working. They have been doing. They have been producing. Assuredly, I say to you that He will make him ruler over all of His goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My Master is delaying His coming. Now why would He say, The Master is delaying His coming? Well, how about all of us? Many thought Christ was going to come back in 1975. Then, when that didn't happen, they moved the date, 1982. Then 1992 kept popping up. 2004 was Usher's date. Now the next date I hear being banded around is 2012.

Dr. Hay used to think 2020. So, you know, different ones come up with different dates, and as one date passes, another date comes along. Perhaps it would be easy for us to say, The Lord delays His coming.

After all, it's been 1975. That's 25 years ago, plus seven, 32 years. That's been a long time. We thought the work would be over by that time, and yet it didn't happen. Now notice what happens to the servant when he begins to say, My Lord is delaying His coming. He begins to let down. He begins to beat His fellow servant, verse 49, to eat and drink with the drunkards. The Master of the servant will come on a day when He's not looking for Him, and in an hour that He's not aware of, and will cut Him in two. And appoint Him His portion with the hypocrites, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now I don't think anybody's going to run around using those exact words. I think the Lord's delaying His coming. Sometimes we say, Well, I guess we got prophecy wrong, or God has given us more time. Now both of those statements could be true. I'm not denying that. But the pitfall is to let down in our spiritual condition. To let down in our relationship with God. To let down in our relationship, proper relationship with one another. Are we living our lives with a sense of urgency today, knowing that we are that generation? What you find is that Matthew 24 and 25, both of these chapters are part of the Olivet prophecy. A lot of times we just sort of quit with chapter 24. But let's move on over to chapter 25, because this continues Christ's teachings about what will happen at the end time, and what we need to be aware of. Notice this is the parable of the five, I mean the ten virgins. Five are wise, five are foolish, as we find in verse 2. Those who were foolish took their lamps, but they took no oil. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. And verse 5 says, while the bridegroom was delayed, He didn't come when they thought, they all slumbered and slept. Not just five of them, but they all did.

And at midnight the cry went out, Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Let's go out to meet Him. So they get up and they trim their lamps. If you've ever had a kerosene lamp, you know you have to trim the wick after a while. It gets burnt down and you have to trim it.

But the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oils, for our lamps are going out. See, not enough oil. Then the wise said, No, if we did that, we won't have enough. You've got to go to those who buy and sell. And while they went to buy, verse 10, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in. Those who are not ready don't go in. Verse 13, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. So we are told again to watch. And I want you to notice the markers or the admonitions that Jesus Christ Himself continues to give His servants. Servants, not servants, servants. That we need to be ready. We need to watch. We need to be sober. I mean, we've seen all of those. Now in verse 14, we have the parable of the talents through verse 30. And what it is doing, it's describing those then who are faithful in doing the work of God. They use the talents and the gifts that God has given them to increase. Personally, spiritually, to increase. And then to use those in doing the work of God. So what it shows, if I could just summarize this whole section here, is that we have to continue to work. We have to continue to grow spiritually. We've got to be involved. You cannot go out and hide your talent. You've got to use the gifts and the talents that God gives to us. Now in verse 31, we find when Christ comes back, He will judge the nations. And He describes those who are in the body of Christ. And He said, I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked. You gave me clothing. I needed water and you gave me a drink. And so on. I was hungry and so on. And they said, well, when did we ever see you in that condition? And you remember what Christ said here in verse 40. Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. And so He shows here that we must also be willing to serve and to give and to help the needy. And especially those within the body. As it says here, the least of my brethren. Those that you might consider the least. That we've got to be willing to serve one another and be willing to help one another.

All of these scriptures revolve around the end time and are being ready in what we're going to do. Now let's go over to Luke chapter 12. Luke 12 actually has many parallels to Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Luke chapter 12. When you begin to look at what He has to say to the end time generation, it begins to be very sobering. And we need to be reminded of these. In Luke 12 beginning in verse 35, notice what Christ says about the faithful servant versus the evil servant. Let your waste be girded and your lamps burning.

So you've got to gird your waste up. You've got to get ready for action. And you've got to let your lamps be burning. So that means they've got to have oil in them. And you yourself be like men who wait for their Master when He will return from the wedding. That when He comes and knocks, they may open to Him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. But surely I say to you that He will gird Himself, have them sit down to eat, and they will come, or He will come and serve them. And if He should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, if the Master of the house had known what hour the thief would have come, He would have watched, not allowed the house to be broken into. Therefore, be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect.

Now I want you to notice the analogy that is being drawn here. It says the Master had gone to His wedding. Now you could use it either way. But let's use it from the point of view of, here's the big homeowner, or Master of the house. Perhaps He's in the process of getting married.

He's coming back to the house, and all of His friends are going to be brought in, and they're going to have a great wedding feast. And the servants are waiting for Him to come. Now He hasn't told them specifically when He's going to be there. He hasn't said, at five o'clock on this day, look for Me. No, they know that He's coming, and that He will be there. And so they're waiting. They've done all the preparation. The decorations are there, the house is set, the food is prepared, the wine is there, all of the silverware, plates, everything is out. They're ready to attend the wedding.

They have their proper clothing on. And the bride has also made herself ready. Well, this is the exact thing that God is expecting us to do. We are the Bride of Christ today, and you and I have to be ready when the bridegroom comes. Because, you know, He's going to expect us to be ready. If He comes, and we're dressed in flip-flops, we've got curlers in our hair, we've got a gunny sack on, we're smacking gum, we've got grease on our hands and dirt on our face, we're in trouble.

He's going to take one look, and He says, this my bride, that's not going to be very appealing. In verse 41 here, we find again the fact of the servants talking about, verse 45, my Master is delaying His coming and begins to beat His servants.

So again, we find the same analogy being drawn. So when Christ comes back, He wants to find those who are His servants doing what He said they should be doing, not just sitting back. You see, there are those who think the work has already been done.

It's been accomplished. It's over. You realize that there are over two billion people have been born since Mr. Armstrong died? What about those two billion people? Should we try to get the Gospel out to as many of them as possible? They have had an opportunity to hear as yet. Now, God expects us to work, to be so doing, until He returns. And again, you find delaying. But let's notice, focus on verse 47.

And that servant who knew His Master's will, knew what His Master wanted, knew what the plans were, and did not prepare himself, so he's not ready, or do according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. So, brethren, we know what God's will is. We've got to be preparing, and we've got to do according, live according to His will.

And verse 48 goes ahead and says, To whom much is given, from Him much will be required. We have been given much knowledge, much information. And God expects us to use that. He expects us to use His Spirit in service, in giving, in helping, in whatever way that we can serve. If you knew a Category 5 hurricane was about to strike the state you lived in, and it seemed to be headed right for you, how would you prepare? What would you do? Would you be alert and watch for it? Would you have TV on, radio on?

Would you try to prepare for the disaster? Would you board your house up or put the shutters down? Save food and water? Would you have your car all gassed up, extra gasoline, perhaps in the trunk, to be able to travel out of the path of the hurricane, if it were a direct strike? Or would you do nothing?

Would you say, yeah, I've heard about these hurricanes, and you just sort of sit back and take it easy and decide you're going to have a party? And be totally unaware of it. Not prepare for it. Not be ready for it. And when it strikes, then you are caught off guard. Well, at the end time, most people in society are going to be caught off guard. But you and I should not be that way. We should be able to read the signs of the time.

In verse 54 here, verse 54, Then he also said to the multitude, When you see a cloud rising out of the west, and immediately you say, While a shower is coming, and so it is, And when you see the south wind blow, you say, Well, there will be hot weather. And there is. Hypocrite, you can discern the face of the sky and the earth. But how is it that you do not discern this time? So you and I are to discern the times that we live in, the conditions around us, And we are to be ready.

Christ has not left us without knowledge, information. Jesus Christ has personally given us many warnings in the Bible. In Revelation, chapter 2 and 3, we have the messages to the seven churches, and in chapter 3, there are three churches specifically pointed out. Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. The Sardis church is described here as being dead. Verse 1, I know your work said you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. A dead person does not do anything. They are not doing anything. They are their name. Does that mean that at the end time that there will be those in the church who are spiritually dead, are just not doing anything?

In verse 3, he goes on to say, If you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. So the indication is that these people will be alive at the end time, the end time generation of this particular people will be there. He comes over to Philadelphia, and notice what he says to them. In verse 8, You have kept my word and have not denied my name. So they are commended for holding on to the truth, not compromising with it. And I would have to compliment all of you, I should say.

Because we have a group here who were not willing to compromise with the truth, but were willing to hold on to it. Well, this is what he is saying. Now he says, Because you have kept my commandment to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Now the word persevere here means steadfastness, constancy, endurance, a patient steadfast waiting, enduring, sustaining, persevering. So he shows that at the end time, when everything is falling apart around us, that we have to persevere.

We have to remain strong. And then in chapter 3 verse 14, we come to the lay of the sins. Here's a group of people who he says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. Because you say, now I mentioned this last week, notice their own opinion of themselves.

And what this shows is that sometimes our opinions can be wrong. We can have a certain opinion of our spiritual condition, who we are, how we're doing. You say, I'm rich, and I've become wealthy, and I have need of nothing. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Talking about spiritual conditions here. They are not prepared already because they don't see themselves. Their view of themselves is completely different from God's perspective. Now you ask the question, why? Why could somebody think this way?

How could they think this way? Perhaps being lukewarm is a possible explanation. Because if they're lukewarm, what does that imply? If they're wretched, miserable, blind, naked? Well, they're not praying the way they should. They're not studying the way they should. They're not fasting. They're not serving. They're not involved. They're all by themselves. They're doing their own little thing. They're not close enough to God to respond to His leadership, to respond to His Spirit, to respond to His direction.

And so therefore, they're going their own way. And these are very clear scriptures. These are admonitions for the Church at the very end time. And what do we see in society about us, brethren? What do we see the general attitude of so many people? It is a lukewarm attitude in society. It is an attitude where people just want to be left alone, do their own thing, nobody tell them what to do.

And we find those types of attitudes have a way of just seeping and creeping into the Church and affecting all of us. In chapter 19, in verse 7, when Jesus Christ does return to the earth, and chapter 19 pictures Him returning on a white horse, verse 7 says, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

Have we made ourselves ready? Have we prepared ourselves? You find certain things are going to happen at the end time, if I could summarize them. The wicked or the disobedient don't believe they're going to be punished. And so they go on with the same lifestyle, eating and drinking, marrying, giving and marriage, that they normally do.

They don't fully comprehend the signs of the times, and be able to read those the way they should. Did they do that in the days of Noah? Did they listen to Noah? No. Noah's day is a type of our day, and we find that they became totally depraved prior to the Flood. We find from the Scriptures that at the end time there are some, a number in the Church, who are not prepared, who are not ready.

We have a totally false impression of their spiritual condition before God. So the question that Christ continued to throw out there is, are we ready? Are we prepared? Do we have our loins girded up? That's a picture of someone grabbing his robes and pulling them up, and the bottom of the robe underneath a sash, and the ability then to move into action and to run, if need be. Are our lamps full of oil?

Are we watching for the Master's return? Now we know there are certain events that have to take place, but we don't use that as an excuse to say, well, He's delaying, He's coming, and beat one another, and stop praying and studying. Will we be ready when the Lamb comes? In Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, Luke 12, there is a former fulfillment and a latter fulfillment of those Scriptures. The former fulfillment of those Scriptures occurred in 67 to 70 A.D.

We find that Jerusalem was conquered, the temple was burnt to the ground, and it was torn down to the foundation. They even went down and removed the foundation stones from it. The city was laid waste, 600,000 Jews were slaughtered, and thousands sold into slavery. You'll find that they crucified tens of thousands of Jews. They ran out of trees, they cut every tree down about 11 miles around, and going out of Jerusalem, as close as they could put them, was one cross after another, on which they crucified any Jew that tried to get out of the city.

Things got so bad in the city that they were eating their own children, and you find that the strong were taking away from the weak. Now, Jesus warned His disciples and the church, see, it's a duel, that when Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, flee to the mountains. The Christians in that area, in the hill countries and around Jerusalem, escaped the impending calamity, because when they saw the armies under Vesputian and under Titus coming, they fled to the city of Pella in 69 A.D. They heeded Jesus Christ's words.

They were watching. They were aware. They were not taken, let's say, by surprise. They watched and they responded. You and I need to ask ourselves every day this question. Does my life reflect the last days? Does my life reflect the knowledge and the understanding that I am living in the last days? Is it reflected in how we live? Is it reflected in how we treat one another? Is it reflected in how we treat our family, our mate, our children?

Is it reflected in our prayer, our Bible study, in the fervency we should have, in our preparation and getting ready for Christ's return, in our watching and trying to be aware? Are we living like we are in the last days?