31/12/11

Stop looking up and walking, He is besides you

Book of Malachi -


The one matter that very Church and almost every Christian is so taken up with is about Jesus coming again. During the times of Malachi this matter had also encapsulated the minds of the Jews; they too were waiting for the Saviour to come (the first time).

Yesterday I was at a function, a brother and sister in the Lord had dedicated a place for the work of the Lord. They have a small hall which they are giving people who do the Lord's work, making disciples for the Lord.

At the function one of the topics that popped up (which does in most gatherings) is about the second coming of Jesus. There was something very nice a brother put, people are walking with their heads facing up instead of looking front. Even while eating their looking at the sky to see if Jesus is coming and not taking note of what they are eating.

In the book of Malachi, the Lord attends to this matter giving people a clue of when the Saviour would come. The Lord speaks of the coming of John the Baptist. Had they just trusted the Lord they would have not missed the coming of Jesus. Their anxiety to receive the Saviour actually caused them to miss Him and they are still waiting for Him to come even after more than 2000 years of His coming and going.

Malachi not only speaks about Jesus' first coming but also of His second coming. In this book there is a very beautiful title given to Jesus Christ when He comes again as 'The Sun of Righteousness'. The Hebrew word translated as 'sun' comes from the rooting meaning 'brilliant'. The second coming of Jesus Christ as to do with one purpose and that is to give us His Righteousness without which we cannot enter Heaven. He is not going to give it to all but to only few after judging them from among all.

Like the Lord gave the sign of John the Baptist for His first coming, similarly He has given us more than one sign for His second coming. That is the reason people like Paul were never preoccupied with the second coming. Even if they did not know the exact time they knew the signs that preceded the event. Paul attends to the anxiety of the Church of Thessalonians in his second letter to them. He reminds them about the coming of the son of perdition.

Among the many other signs that precede Jesus's second coming, is the coming of the two witnesses. It is only when the two witnesses are killed and raised on the 4th day that the world needs to start look for Jesus Christ to come. Also they would not need to look up for His coming in a cloud does not mean a real cloud. One would not need to look anywhere for all will still see Him coming in His glory. All includes you and me and even our fore fathers who died and slept long back having believed in Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ we are children of Light and not of darkness. God has given us His Spirit, a Spirit of adoption not to leave us as orphans lost. Let us no further be distracted and like the Jews loose the most important purpose of Jesus Christ.

I prayer this New Year you would concentrate on growing in the Lord and harvesting for His Kingdom. Wish you a spiritually prosperous New Year.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, we pray for all your people that they do the work You set for them and not get distracted with your coming again. You are Light and light exposes everything and hides nothing, it is only those who are in darkness that find things hidden. You have given your people enough clues of the end and it is only the people of the world who will be surprised at the end. Open the eyes of your people and bring them out of darkness...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Malachi 3:1-6
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Malachi 4:1-6
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before [present] the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-10
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Read Revelation 11:3-19

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