I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. (Ecclesiastes 3:17)
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
As noted in Tuesday’s Daily Word post, the powers that be, and all the wicked ones who hate God, would like to simply cancel Christ Jesus. They would if they could, and they no doubt think they can. Not so much because they have any reason to think that they — vain creatures which God made of the dust — can possibly outwit our shared all-powerful Creator, but for their blindness:
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (Ephesians 4:18-19)
If you, Reader, have yet to come to Jesus Christ in faith and in truth — and are concerned that the Bible, God’s holy Word, makes it irrefutably clear that you’re “condemned already” (John 3:18) and that “the wrath of God abideth on” you (John 3:36), meaning that your soul is on its way to eternal torment in hell followed by the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8) — here’s the unspeakably good news, the gospel. I suggest you stop reading this post, and focus your time and energies, right now, on studying the contents of that link, for none of us knows when we shall pass from life unto death.
Then return to finish reading what continues, below.
For those who are absolutely sure you’re in the faith, let us proceed.
While we are without a shadow of a doubt in the long-prophesied last days, everything is working to God’s purpose. That doesn’t mean that evil isn’t running rampant, for, of course, it is. Nor does it mean that we should just check out and lose ourselves in the mind warp of Netflix or any other such mundane distraction.
On the contrary, God tells His people throughout the Bible to judge righteously (John 7:24). to use our God-given discernment (1 Corinthians 2:14) and power and love and soundness of mind (2 Timothy 1:7) to be continually about His business (1 Corinthians 15:58), shedding abroad the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, raising up new disciples to likewise labor amongst us, to feed His sheep, the saved, His holy Word, and to minister to those in need.
Further, we should serve as diligent watchmen (Mark 13:34-37), calling out the evil in our midst (Ephesians 5:11-13), engaged in spiritual warfare against the enemy (Ephesians 6:12), and warning folk, everywhere, of the fiery wrath of God Almighty to come (Ephesians 5:6-10):
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:9-12)
Read those scriptures again, for they serve as a most dire warning of these end times we’re now all living in, worldwide.
There are only two paths: 1) the path of condemnation and eternal torment, or 2) the way (John 14:6) of salvation by God’s freely given grace through faith in His Son Jesus the Christ, the one and only Savior of the world (John 4:42).
Which brings us to the following crucial chapter of Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians, written nearly two thousand years ago, when the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was not yet at hand as it now is. The “man of sin” and the “son of perdition” whom Paul refers to, below, is, of course, the Antichrist (1 John 2:18), also known as the beast (Revelation 13:17-18):
2 Thessalonians 2
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 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.
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; 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. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 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: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
***
Amen.
Reader, choose you this day whom you will serve:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)
You cannot serve two masters.
By not serving the Lord Jesus Christ you are, by default, serving the devil.
Even Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin knew, “Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run / There’s still time to change the road you’re on”.
But only one will lead you to heaven.
Plant’s suggestion that “There’s still time to change the road you’re on” is the whisper of the piper, the devil, who desperately wants to lead you not to (Luciferian) reason, as “Stairway to Heaven” suggests, but to eternal torment in writhing pain alongside Satan himself:
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
Therefore, choose wisely, as if your eternal existence depends upon it, because it does.
