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The End Is (Not) Near
April 29, 2016

Read: James 5:1-9
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. (v. 7)

If you were to look up Doomsday, Apocalypse, Jesus Second Coming, or End of the World prophesies on the Internet, you would find literally millions of predictions—all of them wrong. Jesus himself said that this would happen (Matt. 24:4); that there would be many false messiahs, who will lead many astray. Hundreds of people have made very specific predictions about when Christ would return: Simon the Essene (ad 70 ), Pope Sylvester II (January 1, 1000), Pat Robertson (1982),  Isaac Newton and others (January 1, 2000), Harold Camping (October 7, 2015). And yet, we are still here.

James says we must be patient as we await “the coming of the Lord.” He gives the example of a farmer, who patiently waits for the crops to sprout, grow, and ripen until harvest. Waiting takes time. And God experiences time very differently than we do. The apostle Peter wrote, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). So according to God’s calendar, Jesus has only been away just a bit more than two days.

Until Jesus comes back, we aren’t supposed to grumble and speculate on the date of his return. No one knows the date except the Father (Matt. 24:36). Instead, we are to be transformed by the Spirit and then demonstrate our faith by our actions.

Prayer:
Come, Lord Jesus!

Author: Susan Hetrick

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