When The Son Of Man Comes, Shall He Find Faith On The Earth?
In Luke 18:8 Jesus is speaking a talking to His disciple about praying. He says, “men ought always to pray, and not to faint..” He then told a story (parable) about a city judge who didn’t fear God or man. A widow came to him saying, “avenge me of my adversary.” He didn’t do anything for a while but, a while later he said to himself, “though I don’t fear God or regard man, this woman troubles me. I will avenge her or she will keep coming and weary me.” Then the Lord said, “hear what the unjust judge is saying. Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you he will avenge them speedily.” Then the Lord seems to shift to a distant time in the future, and he ask, “Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?”
Will you have faith in the coming days? I believe Christians are in for hard times in the near future. Why? Because of the hour in which we live. I believe that the world is at a point in time where the stage is being set for end time events to begin to unfold. In Matthew 24, Jesus is on the Mount Of Olives when His disciples come to him ask,
“when will all this happen (the destruction of the temple). What will signal your return and the end of the world (age)?”(Matt 24:3 NLT)
The first thing Jesus tells them is, “Don’t let anyone mislead you..” Then He gives a list of events that lead up to some very troubling signs saying
“..for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines (hunger) and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.”
Most Christians believe we will have been raptured by this time. Keep in mind Jesus in talking to His believing disciples, the same ones who are the first to receive the Holy Spirit on Shavuot (Pentecost). They are the first believers. If Jesus is talking to them, He is talking to us.
The next thing Jesus says is shocking. “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed.” First century believers did face these thing in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed by the Romans. Keep in mind though, Jesus is answering the question, “What sign will signal your return and the end of the world (age). Obviously, the world did not end in 70 A.D. Jesus is still talking to believers. The Question is to what believers? He is talking to believers who will be alive at the time these things happen. Again He says,
“Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn from me and betray and hate each other. ( Matt 24:9-10
Jesus is talking about persecution for latter day believers. In some instances we will even face death. Are you ready for that ” professing Christian?” Will you hold to your faith and proclaim Jesus as your Lord in the face of open persecution? Will you hold to your faith in the face of impending or certain death? Or do you just think it can’t happen to you? Are you above the Master then?
The disciple is not above this master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matt 10: 24-25)
Jesus faced great opposition from the religious leaders of His day. He continued in His claim to be the Son of God, the Messiah, to the point of death. I am not trying to scare anyone, but, what a terrible thing it would be to be unprepared for one of the worst times Christians have ever faced? Are you sure you are going to be raptured before anything bad happens. Do the scriptures say this to you without being twisted and taken out of context to make it so?
A Falling Away From The Faith
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ( Matt 24:12-13)
Will you turn from your faith in such times. Many professing Christians will do exactly that. The churches are full of people who may or may not be true believers. We don’t know who they are – the true or the pretenders. It is possible to sit in church week after week, say the right things at the right times, and never actually have a true conversion. You know the language – the lingo. People are dressed in their own holiness on Sunday mornings, mixin it up with all the other professing Christians. Who are the true ones though? Are you one – One of the true believers? You really can’t tell them apart. God knows who they are, the ones who have been truly converted, and, the ones who have not. Take a look at the parable of the wheat and the tares.
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matt 13:24-30)
If the kingdom of Heaven is likened to this parable lets look at some possibilities.
Good Seed is sown in a field – The Word Of God has been preached in this world, and, those who believe begin to grow and bring forth fruit accordingly.
An Enemy sows tares (weeds) among the good seed (wheat) - The devil plants confusion which causes unbelief in God and His word. Those who are confused and unbelieving bring forth fruit accordingly. In a garden weeds affect the seed that was sown and, destroy the life of the garden. They compete for space, water, light and nutrients. They can also be alternate hosts for pests and diseases. The enemy of God has sought to do the same to God’s garden. Just as weeds in a garden act as host to things you don’t want in the garden the unbelieving world becomes an alternate host for darkness, evil, rebellion, and perhaps even demonic influence or possession.
Distinguishing the Wheat from the tares – The servants asked if they should go and gather up the tares. The man said no, you might root up the wheat with them. He decides to let them grow together until the harvest.What is the point in letting them grow together? The bigger the plants become the easier it is to tell them apart. In the world today we have believers and non believers. As we get closer to God’s harvest the easier it will be to tell them apart. This is true in the church as also.
As we approach the harvest of God the tares and weeds become more apparent. You can see it all around us today. The world is plagued with all manner of sin such as, sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, just to name a few.
Those who believe in, and obey God’s word, will begin to stand out as strange and be labeled as intolerant, because of their testimony of Jesus. Like weeds in a garden overtake the true plants of the garden, so will those who do not believe in, and who do not obey God’s word, will begin to attack the believer. Those who are the true believers will stand in their faith and not deny Christ or back down from preaching his word. Those who have been professing Christ for years without a true conversion will most likely back away from the faith for fear of persecution. Some, hopefully, will realize that they need to Lord in this time and will be truly converted, and, stand their ground in the faith.
The Harvest – At the harvest the farmer commands the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. When the harvest of God is finished, according to this parable, it seems God will have the the tares (the wicked) bound up to be burned. And will gather the wheat (the righteous) into His barns.
These will be hard times for the entire earth, but, especially for those who hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Why would we have to go through such a thing. I believe that the time of testing is necessary to sift out God’s people from among the world, to sift out unbelievers from God’s people, to cause those who are on the fence about God to make a decision for God or Satan. This time of testing will purify our lives. That is not to say God does not see as a pure in Christ right now (those who truly believe). During this time however, we will be purified and set aside in the sight of all the world, to be witnesses. We will be an unmistakable representation of our God on the earth at that time.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
So are you ready for the test? Which one are you? Do you have faith? Are you a true convert? Will you hold on to your faith in time of testing? Or, are you just professing to be a Christian and have never had a true conversion? The whole world will be tested. When it is over some of us will come out pure and spotless with the body of Christ. The rest will have let their love grow cold, fallen from the faith and professing to be a Christian, and will have taken sides with the world in persecution against God’s people.
Immediately After Those Days – The Gathering of The Saints
“Immediately after the distress of those days
” ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[c]“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.(Matt 24:29-31)
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