Post by Cindy on Aug 26, 2015 11:49:00 GMT -5
When we read about the first time Jesus came, we often do so either wistfully, or else looking at it as history. What I'm going to suggest here though, is that we look at it as a blueprint for what will happen the next time He comes. Obviously some things will be different. He won't be coming back as a baby this time, but many important things will be the same and we can learn a great deal to prepare ourselves and others by them. Look at the way Matthew 3 opens with John preaching in the wilderness to "prepare the way for the Lord." That's what many godly people are doing right now. Back then, Israel and even the surrounding countries were aware that Israel's Messiah would be coming soon, and today the world is again expecting Jesus any time. Amazing that the world back then was waiting and looking for Him, and yet still the vast majority missed Him! I'm afraid that we can count on that happening again today as well. It was especially astounding that it was Israel's religious community, both the conservatives and the liberals, that almost as one refuted and rebuked Him, eventually as we know, sending Him to the cross. Now look at the church today and what do we see? Pretty much the same thing. Both the conservatives and the liberals are finding ways to basically say, "where is the promise of His coming?" and deny Him, while at the same time, leading their congregations straight to Hell. Doesn't that remind you of what Jesus told the religious leaders in His day? (Matthew 23:13–15 etc)
Let's go back to Matthew 3 again though and see what John the Baptist said: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:7–10) So very different then what we hear preached by the majority today, and very different then what we see in the lives of people claiming to be Christian's. Today, people seem to think just like the Jew's did back then, that just because they call themselves Christian, which they do for a variety of reasons that are all made up by men not God, that they're safe and will go to heaven. But John insisted that for someone to see the Kingdom of Heaven, their life had to prove that they had been changed by God. He's not talking about serving in a soup kitchen once a week or being in some ministry that does some form of service. What he is talking about is that a person who's been truly saved will show it in their day to day life in ALL they say and do in private and in public. They may very well do things like serve at a soup kitchen or in some other ministry, but those things alone prove nothing. It's their day to day, minute by minute life that shows whether or not they have in fact been changed by God and are producing fruit that shows it.
People who've been changed and show this fruit are not prefect by any means, but they most certainly strive to be perfect. They strive to be holy, separated by God to His service. They don't strive for this in order to be saved, they do so because they've been saved. The fact is that no one can produce the fruit of repentance consistently in their life unless they have been saved. Certainly people can fake it and even fool themselves for awhile, but not for a lifetime. That's one way we can tell who's really saved and who's not. Trials will make a saved person stronger, while someone who's been doing it in their own strength will eventually fall apart and give up. Sadly today many people wrongly think that these people turned away from God and lost their salvation, instead of realizing the sad truth, that they were never saved to begin with.
Now let's look at the next two verses, without forgetting what was said previously that "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”: ““I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”” (Matthew 3:11–12) Looking at history, we know what happened to the majority of the people of Israel - they rejected Jesus and because of that they were baptized with fire. Israel was destroyed and the people were killed or went into slavery being sent all over the world as slaves - those that survived the trip anyway. Thankfully, some of them came to their senses after that and were saved, but for the rest, their life is horrible indeed for they are and will continue to spend it in Hell for all eternity. But back then, when Jesus was here the first time, He went through Israel proclaiming the good news to all and warning them of the consequences of refusing Him as well as the consequences of accepting Him. Sounds strange doesn't it, that He would tell them of the consequences of accepting Him, but He did. He let them (and us) know it wasn't going to be a picnic. But He also let's everyone know that the reward will be well worth it! We can safely bet that every single human being in Hell right now would instantly agree that it's far better to serve Christ then to follow our own ideas and try to rule our own life. They know for sure now exactly where that got them and that they're going to be there, forever.
Today, there are again some godly people preaching the same thing. Telling people that God demands true repentance and a changed life. You cannot be saved and still live like the rest of world does. They're reminding people of the ultimate consequences of their choices and actions, the consequence of Hell for eternity vs heaven for eternity. They're letting people know that God demands obedience and will hold every person accountable. There will be no excuses then. We won't be able to say, "but I didn't get to that part in the Bible" or "but I didn't understand that" or even "but my pastor didn't teach us that." Why? Because in our country at least, everyone has access to God's Word and all have heard about it. It's their choice whether or not they decide to read or study it. If they're saved, then they've had the Holy Spirit urging them to read it. Sadly many ignore Him for so long they no longer hear Him. If they're not saved, they still hear enough to know there's a book that will tell them about God. Yes, pastors will be held accountable if they haven't taught the Truth, but regardless of that, each person is held accountable for not seeking Him with all their hearts and that includes reading His Word.
Back then, when John told them that the "winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”, he meant it quite literally, and we see the results of that especially when Jerusalem finally fell in 70 ad. The Christians escaped that horror because they remembered that Jesus had told them to flee and the Holy Spirit reminded them all in time to get out of the country by then. It's really a miracle when you look at it closely. It's estimated that there were 1.2 million Jew's trapped in Jerusalem when the Roman's besieged the city and Tacitus, the Roman historian substantiates this by claiming that 600,000 of them died in that siege! yet our Lord got all those who belonged to Him out safely before hand! If you think about it though, there were something like 35-40 years leading up to that before it happened. God gave them all plenty of time to repent.
Today the very same thing is happening. We're being given time to repent and to warn others. The problem is that we can't look back and know how long before the ax will fall this time. The only thing we can know for sure is that before it starts for good, that the Lord will gather up those who belong to Him in the rapture. That doesn't mean that "bad things" won't happen before hand. We can know they will, simply by looking at all that happened between the time John the baptist and Jesus told them these things and when God used Rome to wield the ax. That's why God is forever reminding us that "today is the day of salvation". We are not promised "tomorrow". We can't even know if we'll live through the rest of this day, much less have tomorrow. We need to keep focused on what's really important, and that's warning everyone of what's going to happen. There are no "if's" about this. It WILL happen. People are making their choice constantly whether or not they realize it. There is no such thing as "middle ground". When they put off making a decision, they're actually choosing to reject Christ, but fooling themselves into thinking they're not. Those who think they're saved and yet are living a life of sin, need to be told to think again! We need to love them enough to tell them that! We need to warn them that "every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” and explain to them what that actually means for them.
Does this fill you with terror for a loved one? Don't suppress it! Use that terror to get yourself going and tell your loved one the truth! Remember, the Lord will give you all you need and even give you the words to speak if you only ask Him to. Use it to get yourself into God's Word and apply it to your life as though your life counted on it, because it does! This time, let's be different then Israel was. Let's pray as hard as we can, study God's Word as hard as we can, and tell others what's going to happen. Let's tell them about the terrible times coming on the earth in judgment and let them know that's just a very mild preview of what they'll see in Hell. Let's remember the words of Daniel: “Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.” (Daniel 9:13–14) and this time, let's seek the Lord favor by turning from our sins and giving our attention to His Word, and telling everyone we can about it!
Let's go back to Matthew 3 again though and see what John the Baptist said: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:7–10) So very different then what we hear preached by the majority today, and very different then what we see in the lives of people claiming to be Christian's. Today, people seem to think just like the Jew's did back then, that just because they call themselves Christian, which they do for a variety of reasons that are all made up by men not God, that they're safe and will go to heaven. But John insisted that for someone to see the Kingdom of Heaven, their life had to prove that they had been changed by God. He's not talking about serving in a soup kitchen once a week or being in some ministry that does some form of service. What he is talking about is that a person who's been truly saved will show it in their day to day life in ALL they say and do in private and in public. They may very well do things like serve at a soup kitchen or in some other ministry, but those things alone prove nothing. It's their day to day, minute by minute life that shows whether or not they have in fact been changed by God and are producing fruit that shows it.
People who've been changed and show this fruit are not prefect by any means, but they most certainly strive to be perfect. They strive to be holy, separated by God to His service. They don't strive for this in order to be saved, they do so because they've been saved. The fact is that no one can produce the fruit of repentance consistently in their life unless they have been saved. Certainly people can fake it and even fool themselves for awhile, but not for a lifetime. That's one way we can tell who's really saved and who's not. Trials will make a saved person stronger, while someone who's been doing it in their own strength will eventually fall apart and give up. Sadly today many people wrongly think that these people turned away from God and lost their salvation, instead of realizing the sad truth, that they were never saved to begin with.
Now let's look at the next two verses, without forgetting what was said previously that "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”: ““I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”” (Matthew 3:11–12) Looking at history, we know what happened to the majority of the people of Israel - they rejected Jesus and because of that they were baptized with fire. Israel was destroyed and the people were killed or went into slavery being sent all over the world as slaves - those that survived the trip anyway. Thankfully, some of them came to their senses after that and were saved, but for the rest, their life is horrible indeed for they are and will continue to spend it in Hell for all eternity. But back then, when Jesus was here the first time, He went through Israel proclaiming the good news to all and warning them of the consequences of refusing Him as well as the consequences of accepting Him. Sounds strange doesn't it, that He would tell them of the consequences of accepting Him, but He did. He let them (and us) know it wasn't going to be a picnic. But He also let's everyone know that the reward will be well worth it! We can safely bet that every single human being in Hell right now would instantly agree that it's far better to serve Christ then to follow our own ideas and try to rule our own life. They know for sure now exactly where that got them and that they're going to be there, forever.
Today, there are again some godly people preaching the same thing. Telling people that God demands true repentance and a changed life. You cannot be saved and still live like the rest of world does. They're reminding people of the ultimate consequences of their choices and actions, the consequence of Hell for eternity vs heaven for eternity. They're letting people know that God demands obedience and will hold every person accountable. There will be no excuses then. We won't be able to say, "but I didn't get to that part in the Bible" or "but I didn't understand that" or even "but my pastor didn't teach us that." Why? Because in our country at least, everyone has access to God's Word and all have heard about it. It's their choice whether or not they decide to read or study it. If they're saved, then they've had the Holy Spirit urging them to read it. Sadly many ignore Him for so long they no longer hear Him. If they're not saved, they still hear enough to know there's a book that will tell them about God. Yes, pastors will be held accountable if they haven't taught the Truth, but regardless of that, each person is held accountable for not seeking Him with all their hearts and that includes reading His Word.
Back then, when John told them that the "winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”, he meant it quite literally, and we see the results of that especially when Jerusalem finally fell in 70 ad. The Christians escaped that horror because they remembered that Jesus had told them to flee and the Holy Spirit reminded them all in time to get out of the country by then. It's really a miracle when you look at it closely. It's estimated that there were 1.2 million Jew's trapped in Jerusalem when the Roman's besieged the city and Tacitus, the Roman historian substantiates this by claiming that 600,000 of them died in that siege! yet our Lord got all those who belonged to Him out safely before hand! If you think about it though, there were something like 35-40 years leading up to that before it happened. God gave them all plenty of time to repent.
Today the very same thing is happening. We're being given time to repent and to warn others. The problem is that we can't look back and know how long before the ax will fall this time. The only thing we can know for sure is that before it starts for good, that the Lord will gather up those who belong to Him in the rapture. That doesn't mean that "bad things" won't happen before hand. We can know they will, simply by looking at all that happened between the time John the baptist and Jesus told them these things and when God used Rome to wield the ax. That's why God is forever reminding us that "today is the day of salvation". We are not promised "tomorrow". We can't even know if we'll live through the rest of this day, much less have tomorrow. We need to keep focused on what's really important, and that's warning everyone of what's going to happen. There are no "if's" about this. It WILL happen. People are making their choice constantly whether or not they realize it. There is no such thing as "middle ground". When they put off making a decision, they're actually choosing to reject Christ, but fooling themselves into thinking they're not. Those who think they're saved and yet are living a life of sin, need to be told to think again! We need to love them enough to tell them that! We need to warn them that "every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” and explain to them what that actually means for them.
Does this fill you with terror for a loved one? Don't suppress it! Use that terror to get yourself going and tell your loved one the truth! Remember, the Lord will give you all you need and even give you the words to speak if you only ask Him to. Use it to get yourself into God's Word and apply it to your life as though your life counted on it, because it does! This time, let's be different then Israel was. Let's pray as hard as we can, study God's Word as hard as we can, and tell others what's going to happen. Let's tell them about the terrible times coming on the earth in judgment and let them know that's just a very mild preview of what they'll see in Hell. Let's remember the words of Daniel: “Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.” (Daniel 9:13–14) and this time, let's seek the Lord favor by turning from our sins and giving our attention to His Word, and telling everyone we can about it!