Ensign: The Guessing Game

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 April 2013

And yet another leader's died, so he can't possibly be the Antichrist, or the man who's inferred to by Daniel and referred to by Jesus as the “abomination of desolation”. And yet another war has ended in at least a cease fire if not an outright truce, so it can't possibly be the Ezekiel 38-39 war. (For more details on that, please read said chapters.) Another year has come and gone, and we're still here on Earth.

I wonder sometimes if the reason so many people are turned off by Jesus making claims – and we as evangelizing believers making those claims – to be their Savior and Lord and even those within the church are lukewarm at best and indifferent at worst is because we're trying to graft the Bible onto history. Pay attention to the wording there; I'm not talking about the Bible AS history, which it certainly is, but the Bible ONTO history.

To see everyone and everything and what they do or don't do as a sign of the “end times” or “tribulation” (the New Testament word) can cause us to freeze in what we do daily, in those matters like earning a living and making a life. The potential is always there; instead of our being about our Father's business (the twelve-year-old Jesus' explanation for being in Jerusalem's temple and NOT with Joseph and Mary as they were leaving, from Luke 2:41-52) we can become busybodies.

Does this mean we DON'T want to witness, does that mean we shouldn't evangelize? Of course not. (In fact, one criterion for the Antichrist or abomination of desolation to have free reign in the world is FOR the gospel to be preached everywhere first, per Matthew 24:14.) It's just that in our enthusiasm for “winning souls” we need to realize it's not ourselves, those who have already accepted as Jesus as Savior and Lord, doing the winning. It's the Lord Who is.

When the church was in its first few decades, Paul cleared up this dispute at the church of Corinth by saying we can't be divided, saying I follow Apollos or Cephas or Paul or any other teacher, but rather “I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:12) In our last few decades we need to be reminded it's not we follow Joyce or we follow Rick or we follow Franklin, but that we follow Christ. Any teacher who doesn't point you back to the Word of God is setting you and themselves up for a humongous fall.

Read the coolest line in a devotion yesterday. “Authority comes not by telling others what to do, but from doing the things you want others to do.” It is very easy to look up to others and still be unmotivated to do what we know we should do to spread Jesus – not His words, not His deeds (sorry, I haven't raised anyone from the dead lately), but Jesus Himself – by doing what He wants us to do.

Just as the Son of God is to be our example, so you and I can also be examples, have to be examples, for the people we come into contact with day by day. And stop guessing – we don't have to be perfect, or even do it right the first (or first hundred) times, we're under grace – for when we get to heaven

All our questions will be answered,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.