Ready Or Not! (By Pastor Bob Rester)

READY OR NOT...JESUS IS REALLY COMING! By Pastor Bob Rester

Jesus is coming soon! A familiar statement that every Christian has heard since conversion, and all those that came before them. Most early true believers believed His coming was imminent and lived their lives close to the revealed Word of God, not out of fear but out of true gratefulness, love and unshakeable faith in what God had spoken thru His Son, and His disciples, and the Old Testament Prophets. However, over two thousand years down the road of time from when those words were first spoken and believed, those who are foolish enough to think that they can surmise, philosophy or invent out of their own imagination a truth that is more truthful now than when it was first spoken have begun to question the solid statements of scripture, ever those Words spoken by the Son of God Himself.

Lk 12:40-4940 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.  41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?  42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?  43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.  45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;  46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.  47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

2 Pe 3:1-13, 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:  2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:  3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,  4 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 the creation.  5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:  6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. KJV

These same minds of self-acclaimed spiritual brilliance are the same arrogant individuals who are claiming that there is no “Heaven” or “lake of fire”.  While I have never been to either one of these places and have no intention of pursuing a tour of the “lake of fire”. The Bible is so clear about the purpose and conditions of both places that only a person of incredible arrogance and unbelief would attempt to stand in Gods place and call His Word a lie, while attempting to make up his own version of truth.  It’s entirely possible that some of these mighty philosophers have good intentions, but I personally believe that thousands, maybe even billions of would be believers are staggering under a load of unbelief caused by these spiritual guessers, who think they’re better equipped to discern the intent of scripture than those who were there and consorted with those who were there in the beginning.

It’s much like those dishonest activist United States judges who have destroyed our Constitution by changing it from its original intent to their own intent.  If the Founding Fathers had intended the Constitution to mean something else they would’ve written it that way. By the same common sense,  if the Holy Spirit who inspired the writings of the Bible had intended it to say or imply there is no “Heaven” or “Lake of Fire” He would surely have inspired it to be written that way.