| Romans 13:11 "And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."
Paul told us here that the hour has already come for us to wake up from our slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. You may ask: "Isn't it true that we were already saved when we first believed?" Actually there are two meanings for "being saved" in the Bible. The first one refers to the spirit being saved, which we received when we first accepted Jesus. The other one refers to the redemption of the body, which means our body will be conformed to that of the resurrected Christ during the Lord's second coming, so that we can be with the Lord forever. Therefore in Romans 8:23 Paul said: "and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit (namely being saved in spirit), groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies." We should be alert today to get ready for the seconding coming of the Lord.
We always speak of the second coming of the Lord. But we also feel that it may not happen in the near future, so it doesn't concern us. We are just like people in the days of Noah, eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, no different than the people around us. When Noah told people God was going to flood the whole world, many of them felt he was just trying to scare them. But we can never predict God's time. Noah and his family believed in God by faith in such an ungodly world and waited on God's salvation. So when God's time came, the world was flooded. Only Noah and his family were saved.
Likewise, we are now living with God's promise and hope. He told us that he will certainly come back to take us. We must live a life of hope by faith. No matter how you look at it today, you will find that the Lord is indeed coming soon. There are political uncertainty and economic instability in the world. There might be an economic organization to unite the whole world and monopoly the whole financial market, like what has been predicted by the Revelations as the shadow of upcoming anti-Christ government. On the other hand, the Lord also said himself that the gospel will be spread to the end of the earth. Then the end times will come. One volunteer translator from Wycliffe once shared that by 2000 AD, the Bible would have been translated in each and every language on earth. In other words, the Lord is indeed coming soon. Brothers and sisters, are you ready for the second coming of the Lord? Are you really looking forward to the second coming of the Lord? Pray with Pastor Tong Liu 
Lord, may you wake us up from our spiritual slumber so that we are no longer indifferent to your kingdom. Rather, because of your seconding coming, we will have the glorious hope. May your Spirit renew us every day. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen! |
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