Challenging Believers to Think and Thinkers to Believe

A Time Like No Other

Written by Jerry Robinson
Originally Posted on 5/7/2007

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Each and every day, we are nearing the day of Christ’s return. Living to see this event, and to witness God’s Word come to pass in our own lifetime, is a desire that many Christians have had throughout history. In fact, many Christians in former centuries fully anticipated that Christ would indeed return in their own lifetimes. However, this perpetual expectation of Christ’s return has exhausted the hope many Christians throughout the ages. In addition, a large number of false prophets have set dates which led to initial excitement and to eventual disillusionment.

Therefore, when Christians today claim that “the end is near,” they find opposition not only outside the church, but inside it as well. Many scoffers point to the last 2,000 years of “false hope” as proof that Christ is not going to return. This type of scoffing is itself a fulfillment of prophecy. In 2 Peter 3:3, 4, the Apostle prophesies: “scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” (NKJV)

More sympathetic scoffers point to all of the false prophets and date setting and conclude that Christians should not spend any energy focusing on Christ’s return. For this reason, many Christians have equated the study of Biblical Prophecy with foolishness. This has led to a lack of teaching on Bible prophecy which has led to an immense ignorance of the prophetic portions of God’s Word. According to my friend Bill Koenig, “approximately 100 Million American Church members have very little to no understanding of Bible Prophecy.” You can read his report here.

This disregard for the prophetic portions of scripture is unfortunate for two reasons:

Watching for Christ’s Return is God’s Will

Those who reject the importance of Biblical Prophecy today do so to their own disadvantage. It is God’s will, and Christ’s command, that we stay in a mode of constant readiness for the return of Christ. We find a plethora of scriptures that instruct us to do so. (Luke 12:38, Luke 12: 45-46, Col. 4:2, 1 Cor. 16:13, Matt. 24:40-43, 1 Pet. 4:7, Matt. 25:1-23, 1 Thess 5:6, Mark 13:33-37, Luke 21:34-36, Rev. 3:3, Rev. 16:15) To live without Christ’s return in scope is a blatant disregard of Scriptural truth and is an attitude that is constantly warned against in the Bible. Of course, it is out of His great mercy that God desires us to keep focused upon His return. God has designed each one of us with a need for purpose and with eternity in our hearts. Living with the end in mind keeps our purpose well defined.

Our Unique Generation

Those who enjoy history know that it is full of amazing events. However, it is virtually impossible to pinpoint any time period in history that parallels that of the 20th century in uniqueness. From the amazing and rapid advances in technology, to the staggering amount of blood shed in global warfare, to tremendous political and religious upheaval experienced worldwide, the 20th century has no competitor. And the 21st century already promises to continue to the trend. Try to find someone who will dispute the incredible uniqueness of our generation. It is eye-opening to speak with people who were born in the early half of the 20th century. So much change in one single lifetime. Today, mankind’s knowledge base now doubles every 18 months. Nothing like this knowledge explosion exists in history. So what happened? Did man suddenly become more intelligent? Are 20th - 21st century brains larger than previous centuries? No. Rather, we are simply seeing Biblical Prophecy come to pass. Did you know that the Bible states that just prior to Christ’s return, mankind’s knowledge would increase? (Daniel 12:4) We are living in a time like no other.

There are several events that the Bible says will occur in the days leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. We will be investigating these prophecies one by one in this article series entitled: A Time Like No Other.

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