On May 22, 2024

“LAST THINGS II” – NOTES ON KEEPING STEADY IN THE DAYS OF TROUBLE: CHRIST THE ROCK SHALL BE OUR PEACE AND OUR PROVISION – (WITH VIDEO)

SCRIPTURE. “‘Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life,’ as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying can add one hour to [the length of] his life?

And why are you worried about clothes? See how the lilies and wildflowers of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin [wool to make clothing], yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive and green today and tomorrow is [cut and] thrown [as fuel] into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

‘Therefore do not worry or be anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted),’ saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ For the [pagan] Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; [but do not worry,] for your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ‘But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness’ [His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also. ‘So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’” – MATTHEW 6:25-34, AMP

KEY TERM: “STOP BEING WORRIED!” ‘Merimnaó’ [μεριμνᾶτ]: “From a root word meaning, ‘To disunite;’lit. to take no thought or be anxious about; do not be distracted by; syn. with ‘solicitude’ (to be overly concerned about someone or something); to be [excessively] troubled with the cares of this world; ‘to seek to promote one’s own interests’ [over God’s or your neighbor’s]; anxiety; uneasiness of mind occasioned by the fear of evil or the desire of good.”

QUOTATION. “The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. ‘It probably won’t come.’” ― JRR TOLKIEN, The Return of the King, 1955

In case you don’t know me that well, I love dark humor!

COMMENTARY. “There is scarcely any sin against which our Lord Jesus more warns his disciples, than ‘disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life.’ This often insnares the poor as much as the love of wealth does the rich. But there is a carefulness about temporal things which is a duty, though we must not carry these lawful cares too far.

‘Take no thought for your life.’ Not about the length of it; but refer it to God to lengthen or shorten it as He pleases; ‘our times are in His hand,’ and they are in a good hand. Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as He pleases. Food and raiment God has promised, therefore we may expect them.

‘Take no thought for the morrow, for the time to come.’ Be not anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. As we must not boast of tomorrow, so we must not care for to-morrow, or the events of it. God has given us life, and has given us the body. And what can He not do for us, who did that? ‘If we take care about our souls and for eternity, which are more than the body and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for us food and raiment, which are less.’ Improve this as an encouragement to trust in God. We must reconcile ourselves to our worldly estate, as we do to our stature. We cannot alter the disposals of Providence, therefore we must submit and resign ourselves to them. Thoughtfulness for our souls is the best cure of thoughtfulness for the world.

‘Seek first the kingdom of God, and make Religion your business.’ Say not that this is the way to starve; no, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world. The Conclusion of the whole matter is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers we may get strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us. Happy are those who take the Lord for their God, and make full proof of it by trusting themselves wholly to ‘His Wise Disposal.’ Let Thy Spirit convince us of sin in the want of this disposition, and take away the worldliness of our hearts.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK. I am a worrier. Yep. I have mentioned before that the first new name God bestowed on me as a new Christian was “Didymus.” If you do not recognize that name as I did not at first, it refers to the one called “Thomas, the Doubter.” You see, I was trained in empirical science that demanded a material proof for everything, but that would not get me very far in matters pertaining to the Kingdom of God apparently.

More happily, He bestowed a second name to me only a few months later: “Petros.” Meaning, “Little Stone.” Not a very big one, mind you, more like a pebble, but a stone nonetheless. Thus was my ‘Worrisome’ penchant to be tempered by a ‘Toughness’ that would grow in me as I learned to trust God more and more as the challenges in my subsequent life would require.

FIVE REASSURANCES. I discovered a wonderful little article on why we need not be frightened or anxious about the Days to Come. Concerned? Of course! This is not a call to bury our heads in the sand, but on the contrary, to ‘Be fully informed’ about what lies ahead in order to make reasonable (but not frantic!) preparations.

The essay is by CHARLES L. HAYNES, JR. entitled, “5 Reasons to Not Be Afraid if We Are in the End Times,” published in Crosswalk on July 19, 2021 (edited).

Your Redemption Is Drawing Closer. “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” – LUKE 21:28. In other words, Jesus is saying when these things begin to happen look for Me, because I am coming soon. Your fear should be replaced by anticipation because your salvation is drawing closer. Isn’t that reason to rejoice? Jesus is encouraging you not to be afraid. Remember, you are on His side. And sneak peek to the end of the story, Jesus wins. Because He wins, you win—so don’t be afraid. When you see the signs, that means His Coming is getting closer so lift up your head and rejoice!
You Should Be Encouraging Yourself and Others. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” – 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-18. It feels like there was a time in the Church when we lived with the expectation and hope of Jesus’ Return. I don’t know if that still exists today, but regardless, we need to look at the End Times and the expectation of Christ’s return as a means of encouraging each other. When Jesus comes back, every wrong thing will be made right and every broken thing will be made well. That’s something we can all look forward to. The world might be crazy right now, but I know it won’t always be that way, because Jesus is Coming! This is not something to be afraid of, but something that can encourage you and someone else.
You Have Work to Do. “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” – MATTHEW 24:14. Knowing that we are living in the End Times, this is not the time to shrink back! There is still something called the Great Commission—our responsibility to ‘preach the Gospel and make disciples.’ If you want to be afraid of something, be afraid for those who don’t know Jesus, because their end is different than yours. This should compel us to want to share the love and hope of Jesus to those who don’t know Him. This will not be easy work, especially as the love of many grow cold in our society, but this is necessary work. How else will they know unless we tell them? Let’s be committed to the cause of Christ and even more so as we see the day approaching. I challenge you (and myself) to be true salt and light to a world that needs it. Let’s be godly examples in our homes, communities, and places of work. The very fact we know the signs should motivate us to action.
You Are Closer to Seeing Jesus. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” – 1 JOHN 3:2-3. One of the awesome things about when Jesus Returns is that we will see Him! Isn’t that what Christianity is all about? Seeing our wonderful Savior! The One who loved us so much that He suffered, died, and Rose Again for our redemption. In that Moment, your faith and all that you have believed will become sight. One of the great beauties of it all is that we get to see Him ‘just as He is.’ That means in all of His Glory and Splendor. I know you may have experienced the Presence of God before, but never like this.
You Are Closer to Your Eternal Home. “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” – REVELATION 22:1-5, 14. On That Day you and I will no longer be victims to the Curse of Sin which will be gone forever. We get to enjoy God’s Presence forever and ever. This is the ultimate hope and destination of your faith in Christ. I implore you to ‘Cling to This Hope.’ And as you see the Signs of the End Times rejoice—because your Salvation is truly at hand!

THREE LAST THINGS. In 2017 I published a short list of things to do TO PREPARE for the Coming Storms of the Last Times. I then modified and updated them in 2024 (The Sixth Seal II, pp. 124-131; edited). What follows is a brief summary of those responsibilities to complete our discussion. So do we move to a Practical Review of things that ‘Encourage,’ to things that will help us to ‘Survive.’ Selah.

SPIRITUAL PREPARATION. To get straight to The Basics: ‘Get Right With God!’ For the Unbeliever, this means you must finally accede to the Lord’s requirements to become ‘Born Again.’ This means to turn your life over to Him, lock, stock and barrel as we old timers used to phrase it (Romans 10:9-10). For Believers, it is past time to shore up all the loose ends, close off any openings in your character that need ‘elimination of false idols’ in the Spirit of Repentance, and laying your life down for Christ fully, no holds barred. ‘Unto life or unto death’ (Revelation 12:11). Finally, it means devouring the Scriptures and solid Christian literature as never before, to become wiser than before in the ways of the King, as with the radical ‘Renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:1-2).

FINANCIAL PREPARATION. Such Practical Necessities in the face of impending economic straits or even market collapse demand we get ready for that possibility. The Lord impressed me that we need only construct a ‘Thirty Day Plan’ should a shut down of a normal supply of goods and services take place. First, place your ‘cash assets’ in a reliable fund or even a home storage safe along with a small amount of precious metals (silver is much more affordable). Second, ‘downsizing’ from the big house, nonessential expensive “toys,” and other typical American items and pastimes that drain the coffers is important.

PHYSICAL PREPARATION. While I am no survivalist, we ought to think like one to some moderate degree to prepare for ’30 Days Off the Grid,’ if necessary. First, as Christian Realists we should possess and be trained on a firearm of some sort, plus ammunition. This for both self-defense and, possibly, hunting. Second, consider purchasing a gas or solar powered generator for both heat and cooking of non-perishable foodstuffs. Third, an inexpensive water purifier would be a handy way to insure your ability to remain hydrated (and clean) during the Time of Restriction. Fourth, it would be wise to purchase an amateur (ham) radio for the reception of emergency broadcasts.

CODA. To conclude, “Perilous times are coming” (2 Timothy 3:1), defined by the Greek term, ‘Chalepos’ [χαλεποί]: “Harsh, savage, difficult, dangerous, painful, fierce, grievous, hard to deal with; ‘describes a society that is barren of virtue but abounding with vices,’ when men through desperation will become self-protecting brutes.”

In all of this PREPARATION FOR THE LAST TIMES is the most fundamental, ground level admonition of all: ‘To fix all our plans in Christ!. I shall therefore conclude with the verse that kept coming to me for this essay, from His own mouth.

“Whoever does not carry his own cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not ‘first sit down and calculate the cost,’ to see if he has enough to finish it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish [the building], all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’” – LUKE 14:27-30, AMP

I believe these to be among the Final Words of our Lord to all who belong to the Remnant Church of the Last Days of History. For the Honor of our King, for the Rescue of the lost, and the Gain of Heaven itself forever and ever.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/vPGPLv-Fqmw