Living
in this present evil age
d
June 2019
In these days of lawlessness and darkness, evil is abounding
seemingly unchecked. Around the world we see evidence of the devil’s work; violence,
cruelty, senseless bloodshed, wars and rumors of wars, sexual perversion of all
kinds, the blatant disregard for the sanctity of life, deception, and moral
decline in general. We are truly living in a dark and evil age. We are also
seeing Biblical prophecy dealing with the days before the Lord’s return unfolding
right before our eyes (for those that know and believe the prophecies of the
Bible). Where is all of this leading?
There seems to me to be only two possible scenarios.
[2Ch 7:14 NKJV] 14 "if My people who are called by My
name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land.
1. If we, God’s people, will humble ourselves, pray, seek His
face, and turn for our wicked ways, God says that He will hear and heal our
land. But will we? So much of the so-called church is becoming “politically
correct”, in other words, following the ways of the world. So how many true
believers will it require to cause the healing?
2. The second possible scenario is the story of Noah and Sodom
and Gomorrah. At some point the evil becomes so great that God moves in
judgment to deal with the situation.
Noah - [Gen 6:13, 22 NKJV] 13 And God said to Noah,
"The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ...
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
[Gen 7:1 NKJV] 1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into
the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen [that] you [are]
righteous before Me in this generation.
For Noah, when Noah and his family were the only righteous
ones left, they were taken out of the judgment and judgment came to those that
remained.
Sodom and Gomorrah - [Gen 18:20-21, 26, 29, 31-32 NKJV] 20
And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is
great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 "I will go down now and
see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that
has come to Me; and if not, I will know." ... 26 So the LORD said,
"If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all
the place for their sakes." ... 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said,
"Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will
not do [it] for the sake of forty." ... 31 And he said, "Indeed now,
I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be
found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy [it] for the sake of
twenty." 32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will
speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said,
"I will not destroy [it] for the sake of ten."
For Lot, when the righteous of the land went below ten,
judgment came and lot and his family were taken out of the judgment.
[Gen 19:13-17 NKJV]
13 "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has
grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy
it." 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his
daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will
destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. 15 When
the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take
your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the
punishment of the city." 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of
his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being
merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So
it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape
for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to
the mountains, lest you be destroyed."
All of this tells us that at some point, evil becomes so
great that God removes the righteous and brings judgment to the earth. Where
are we today? It is my personal feeling that considering the condition of the
world today, and the end time prophecies that have been fulfill, and those that
are in the process of being fulfilled, we are quickly approaching the day when
God will remove the righteous remnant and bring the judgments of the book of
the Revelation upon the earth.
So, what is the righteous remnant to be doing in days such as
these?
[2Pe 3:10-14, 16-18 NASB] 10 But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the
elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will
be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way,
what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking
for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the
heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense
heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a
new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you
look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and
blameless, ... 16 as also in all [his] letters, speaking in them of these
things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and
unstable distort, as [they do] also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own
destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your
guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and
fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to
the day of eternity. Amen.
Peter also gives us some instructions in 1 Peter 1:5-11:
[2Pe 1:5-11 NKJV] 5 But also for this very reason, giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge
self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if
these things are yours and abound, [you] will be neither barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from
his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your
call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Luke gives us some further general instructions:
Luke
12:35-44 - 35“Be dressed in
readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36“Be like men who are
waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they
may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37“Blessed are those
slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to
you, that he will gird himself to
serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.38“Whether he comes in the
second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39“But be sure of this, that
if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would
not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40“You too, be ready;
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
41Peter said, “Lord, are You
addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42And the Lord said, “Who
then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge
of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43“Blessed is that slave
whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44“Truly I say to you that
he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
We are to
be ready, alert and found busy doing the Lord’s work.
And what is that?
We
are to be His ambassadors, His representative to re-present Him to the world
around us. We are to bring good news to the afflicted, bind up the
brokenhearted, destroy the works of the enemy, set captives free, call people
out of this present darkness and into His marvelous light, and make disciples!
[Isa
61:1-2 NASB] 1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has
anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2 To
proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To
comfort all who mourn,
[Mat
28:19-20 NASB] 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age."
[1Jo
3:8 NKJV] 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the devil.
And
as the Father sent Jesus, so He sends us: [Jhn 20:21 NKJV] 21 So Jesus said to
them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send
you."
From
the letters to the Churches in the book of the Revelation, the Lord gives us
these general words of counsel regarding how to live in these days of evil:
From Rev. 2 and 3, we are to:
[Rev 2:4-5, 10, 15-16, 25
NASB] 4 'But I have [this] against you, that you have left your first love. 5
'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds
you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand
out of its place--unless you repent. ... 10 'Do not fear what you are about
to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so
that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be
faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ... 15 'So you
also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16
'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make
war against them with the sword of My mouth. ... 25 'Nevertheless what you
have, hold fast until I come.
[Rev 3:2-3, 10-11, 17-20
NASB] 2 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to
die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3
'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep [it,] and repent.
Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not
know at what hour I will come to you. ... 10 'Because you have kept the word of
My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that [hour]
which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the
earth. 11 'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one
will take your crown. ... 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become
wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy
from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so
that you may clothe yourself, and [that] the shame of your nakedness will not
be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19
'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore, be zealous and
repent. 20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he
with Me.
Summarizing, we are to:
·
Love
God with all our heart,
·
Serve
Him faithfully and diligently,
·
Be
obedient,
·
Be
filled with the Holy Spirit and operating in His power and gifts,
·
Have
no fear,
·
Be
faithful even unto death,
·
Repent
of sexual immorality and idol worship in any form,
·
Hold
fast to what we have,
·
Be
watchful and remember what we have received and heard,
·
Keep
the Lord’s commandments and persevere,
·
Seek
His righteousness,
·
Seek
discernment and revelation of truth from the Holy Spirit,
·
Be
zealous for the things of God,
·
Listen
for His voice, and
·
Open
the door wide for Him to come into our hearts.
[Rev 3:22 NKJV] 22 "He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." ' "
Let’s
pray that the true Church will rise up in this hour, strong, courageous, not
afraid and not discouraged!
[Jos
1:9 NLT] 9 This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or
discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
The course and future of
this present evil age of darkness is clear. Judgment will come. God’s master
plan is made clear in the scriptures. Our task is to call people out of this
present age of darkness and evil and into His marvelous Kingdom of light.
[Gal 1:3-5 NKJV] 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us
from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5
to whom [be] glory forever and ever. Amen.
[Rev
18:2-5 NKJV] 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a
prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3
"For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and
the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her
luxury." 4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out
of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her
plagues. 5 "For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has
remembered her iniquities.
[1Pe
2:9 NKJV] 9 But you [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
The
future of God’s people is secure and glorious. We are already citizens of the
Kingdom of God destined to rule and reign with our Lord forever by virtue of redemption and wedlock to The King of Kings; Jesus. This is
our hope of glory.
[Col 1:27 NKJV] 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.
[Rom 5:2 NKJV] 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this
grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
[Eph 1:18 NKJV] 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Remember: [1Co 2:9-10 NKJV] 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which
God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed [them]
to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God.
And we pray:
[Mat 6:10 NLT] 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will
be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
[Rev
22:20-21 NKJV] 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am
coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Maranatha!
21 The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.
