Monday, August 12, 2013

Future: Time regarded as sill to Come


Micah 4:2-5

Future: the time or a period of time following the moment of speaking or writing, time regarded as still to come, and often we look to an event that’s impending.  At the time of this paper Jan and I are in Prague and it was a holiday we looked forward to, and we had put time into the planning and were looking forward to the day we would experience our river cruise down the Danube from Budapest to Nuremberg and then to Prague.  Now it has been a great time and our time spent planning has made the trip a fun time with our friends Barb and Joe Whitehouse, but it does not compare to what God has shown Micah about the return trip to planet earth of His Son, His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

As we planned, we had a date and time in our minds about when the trip would happen, and guess what, so does the Father of our Lord, it’s going to be much different than when He came to the planet in the virgin Mary.  Jesus is telling His disciples about the Father’s plan for His return trip.  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send out angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”  (Matthew 24:29-31)

When we arrived in Budapest, the people at the Hilton West End were expecting us, and they had a nice room waiting for us, but there was no one going before us making an announcement.  Now, when it comes to the Son’s return the Father has been diligent in His preparation and has made sure that the return trip was reported to the people He loves on planet earth.  The Father has spoken about this day often through His prophets, men like Ezekiel, Daniel, and later through men like Matthew and John, just to list a few. 

The day of the Lord, the day of His coming, and the apostle John gave this account of what the Spirit showed him about Christ’s coming; “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.” (Revelation 19:11)  The apostle goes on in verse 13 to tell us what he is called, “The Word of God” Do you recall the first verse in chapter one in the book of John; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 

But this is not what Micah is reporting, all of that happens first, and what Micah is seeing is the reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, and the apostle John tells us in the Revelation it will be for a thousand years.  It will be a thousand years without the influence of Satan, but mankind will still have a desire to live independently of Christ’s authority.  These are the latter days, and should not be confused with the last days, as I stated we have been living in the last days since the death of Christ on the cross.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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