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In this special message from Dave, he encourages us to look to Christ, to spend time in the Word and in prayer as we eagerly look to the 2 Coming of the Lord Jesus. You can either listen or watch this message by clicking on the video or the audio, or read this message here:
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Before I get started with this article, I want to say how thankful I am for each one of you and for your faithful prayers for Servants of Grace. We not only have an excellent team of writers here at Servants of Grace, but we have wonderful readers and listeners, thank you!
It is around 8pm here in California as I begin to write this article, and here soon, I’ll also put this in audio and video forms. I’ve been praying over the past few days about what to say, and honestly, my heart is sad but hopeful. Sadly, many people are dying from this virus all over the world. Christians should never rejoice at seeing people die, whether they are in America, Europe, or Asia. All people are made in the image and likeness of God and need the grace of God to deliver them from divine punishment. Thankfully Jesus has come and delivered such hope and grace in the gospel He bled, died, and rose for, and now empowers His people to proclaim on mission for Him through the Holy Spirit. It is hope in Christ; I intend to focus on this article.
We don’t know the date our time here on earth is over we just don’t. Hebrews 9:27-28 says this, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” For the Christian, judgment is based on what we have done with the inheritance of Christ, we’ve received by faith in Him. This is why the inspired writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 9:28 says, “those who are eagerly waiting for Him” and in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 says, “12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
For the non-Christian, this will be far worse. Revelation 20:11-15, “11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
It’s easy to say as Christians that we believe in the 2nd Coming for the Bible speaks about the 2nd Coming twice as much as it does about the first coming of Jesus. But have you thought about the 2nd Coming of Jesus? I would venture to say yes, but have you thought about it at any depth and any length? Have you given it due consideration as you should? Paul, in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. says that he eagerly longed for the day.” That day is the 2nd Coming of the Lord Jesus. Paul eagerly looked forward to that Day, the Return of Christ, and lived his life in light of it.
I want to ask you today, “Are you dear Christian eagerly looking forward to the 2nd Coming of Jesus?” Can you say with Paul that you are “eagerly” looking forward to the Day of the Lord? Or are you living as if it doesn’t matter? We, as Christians, say that time matters, and it does. We will, as we have seen as Christians, be held accountable for what we have done with the gift of eternal life. It is not just here, and now that matters, it is where we are headed that matters. Jesus in John 14:3 says this, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
See what Jesus says is He goes before you to prepare a place for you. That place has been prepared for you by none other than the Lord God through the finished and sufficient work of Jesus Christ. He is the one in John’s Gospel who says seven times I AM, which echoes back to Exodus 3:14, “I am who I am.” I Am is the Lord God who has revealed Himself in the 66 pages of the Word of God as the person of Jesus who came to bled, die, rise, and will return.
At the end of days, there will be no disease, death, famine, or debilitating disease. There will only be Jesus. Revelation 21:4 says, “4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” At this time in redemptive history at the end of days, there will be only glad rejoicing in the Lord and worship of Jesus before His face by the people of God. There will be no more sin, no more sickness, no more sickness, and no more viruses.
Today many people are in fear, but their fear is directed at the wrong thing. They are fearful of what may happen to them if they get a virus, but they are not afraid of what might destroy their souls. Jesus knows that fear of the world and the message it brings can cause anxiety. Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-34, this very thing, “25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek, after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Dear Christian friend, you have zero reason to be afraid. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that it is appointed for man to die once and then appear for judgment. Judgment is coming make no mistake about it. There are no covers to hide under at this judgment. You cannot say you will not attend because you will. You cannot run to the store and prepare enough or stockpile enough hand sanitizers or any other such thing to prepare.
Your judgment, dear Christian, is not of your salvation; it is one based on what you have done with what you’ve been given through the finished and sufficient work of Christ. The people who need to fear the coming judgment are non-Christians who are stockpiling goods but not dealing with the reality that their sin is sending them to hell, a place of unending, unrelenting, conscious punishment.
In Genesis 6 the people were increasingly corrupt, and the Lord said in Genesis 6:5-8, “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord used Him to save humanity from the Flood. While Noah was about to build the ark, God said of the people in Genesis 6:11-12, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” The people didn’t care that judgment was coming. God made a covenant with Noah and told him that him and his family and the animals in the ark would be kept safe from the judgment of the Flood. Genesis 6:18 says, “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
Instead of preparing for the coming judgment of God in the form of the Flood, what the people did is what non-Christians do now and act and live as if divine judgment didn’t matter. Instead of preparing for eternity by repenting and trusting in Christ alone, they went and did their own thing.
Today we see the same thing with many grocery stores, including the one in the town where I live is almost out of nearly everything. We are exactly like the people of Noah’s day. We love pleasure, entertainment, and are obsessively drinking of its lust and pleasures every day. Instead of fearing God and repenting of our sins, we stock up on groceries, we load up on movies, and we huddle in our homes. What we fail to understand is that God gave us the money to buy the homes we have and continues to give us money to keep them.
Furthermore, God gave us money so we could go to the store by giving us the jobs that provide the money. Even further, God gave the owners of the companies the ideas they had to start the companies they did and prospered their businesses so their employees could have jobs. Even further, the Lord instituted leaders of countries to institute laws that make it possible for society to function and people to get paid and have working conditions that are acceptable to work at. On and on, we could go. All of everything in our lives comes from the good hand of God.
Consider a man in Tennessee that I read about the other day. He bought some 17,000 coronavirus related products to sell to people. Due to the price gouging on the internet, this man is not able to sell the products he bought to make a profit from. What this man’s story shows is what I’ve been describing, namely that we will stockpile resources and food to prepare for a virus, but we will not prepare for what is of ultimate concern because people only care about what is temporary, not eternal. We are exactly like the people before the Flood. And what is coming in the 2nd Coming is greater than the Flood. None other than the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead.
See the judgment of Jesus is no joke. Christians believe rightly that the justice of God is just, but what we fail to understand also to that is that the judgment of Jesus is holy. God is holy, and therefore He demands justice, and His wrath burns against sin. At the 2nd Coming of Jesus, we will see Jesus in the radiance of His holiness, and He will merely speak His word out of His mouth and destroy His enemies from one end of the battlefield to the rest of the battlefield. Revelation 19:11-16, 21 says this, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” The story continues in Revelation 19:21, saying, “And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.” That is the power of the returning Lord Jesus that He will speak His Word and destroy all His enemies with a Word the Sword that slays the enemies of God.
Today dear Christian, I want to plead with you. The President has declared this a National Day of Prayer today, and that’s good for us as Christians. I want to urge you towards six things, and they are these for today and this week as I wrap up today:
- Read your Bible and study it.
- Spend regular daily time in prayer today and this week.
- Confess your need of and for God’s grace and specifically repent.
- Pray for your church leaders, medical professionals, and the government.
- Check on family and let them know you love them.
Lastly, God is on His throne so we can trust Him. Hebrews 13:5,8 says this, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We have a God who is unchanging, and whose character is sure and steady. In Christ are all the promises of God so we can trust Him. He is coming back. He is at work and mighty to save and sustain His Church! So, let us trust Him and declare the goodness of the gospel while there is still yet time. Our urgency for sharing the gospel comes from the 2nd Coming of Jesus as those who eagerly await with expectation the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. Let us like Paul look eagerly towards the 2nd coming of Christ and avail ourselves of the means of grace and as we do so, live holy lives in honor of our Lord as we seek to faithfully proclaim the gospel to the lost while there is yet still time.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
