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Jesus Is Returning Soon

Dr. David Reagan The Bible teaches that no one can know the date of the Lord’s return. But, did you know the Bible also teaches that we can know the season of the Lord’s return? And, did you know that we are living in that season? The signs of the end times do indeed point to the soon return of Jesus!

The message I am about to share with you is the basic message of Lamb & Lion Ministries and which I have covered in three episodes of our television program, Christ in Prophecy. It's the message that God placed in my heart in the late 1970’s, and it began to churn inside of me until I could contain it no longer. That’s when I decided to leave my career in higher education and step out in faith to proclaim this message to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

My feeling in those days was exactly like what the prophet Jeremiah experienced when he wrote that the message God had given him had made his heart like a burning fire shut up in his bones, and that he was so weary of holding it inside of him that he could no longer endure it.

Regarding the return of Jesus, we find these words in Titus 2: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

In response to that scripture, let me ask you this. Are you living looking for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus? That’s what this verse tell us that we’re to do. Christians are to live with an expectation, live with a yearning, live with a hope that Jesus may appear any moment.

I know from experience that most Christians do not have that hope in their hearts. I know that most Christians are rather apathetic about the return of Jesus.

I suppose one of the major reasons for that apathy is the fact that people have heard about it for so long that they have come to take it for granted. Oh, yes, they believe Jesus is coming back, but they think it's an event that will occur at some point in the distant future. The Lord’s return is not an imminent reality to them. Rather, it’s sort of pie in the sky, a dream, a hope.

The Fallacy of Date-Setters

Let’s talk for a moment about the timing of the Lord’s return. Is there anything we can know about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? Can we know, for example, when Jesus is going to return?

If you had asked me that question about 45 years ago, I would have said, “No, absolutely not! There is not anything that you can ever know about the Second Coming of Jesus.” But, after 45 years of intensive study of Bible prophecy, I’ve come to a different conclusion. When people ask me now, “Can you know when Jesus will return?” My answer is, “Yes and no.” No, we cannot know the date. Yes, we can definitely know the season.

Now, when I say we cannot know the date that Jesus will return, I mean that with all my heart. I believe that the Bible makes it crystal clear that we cannot know the date. In Matthew 24, Jesus Himself said, “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

I don’t know how the Scriptures could be clearer about this point. We cannot know the date. And yet, there are a lot of sincere people who are setting dates. I do not doubt their sincerity, but they are sincerely deceived. And, the closer we get to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the more of these people there are going to be, because Satan is going to motivate people to set dates. You see, Satan loves date-setters because they bring discredit to Bible prophecy. You know how it works. Somebody sets a date. People get their hopes focused on that date rather than on their Savior. They become obsessed with the date, and they run around all over the place talking incessantly about the date. The press picks up on the story and focuses in on the date. And, then, the date comes and passes, and the press heaps ridicule on both the Bible and those who believed in the date.

The individuals who put their faith in that date are embarrassed and they become embittered. They say to themselves, “Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll never do that again!” And, then, when a responsible prophecy teacher comes along and says, “I don’t know the date, but I do know Jesus is coming soon.” They say, “Oh, sure, I’ve heard that nonsense before.” And they refuse to listen. They turn off their ears to God’s prophetic Word. Satan loves it. The closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more of these date-setters Satan is going to raise up. The effect will be like the person who constantly yells, “The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming, the wolf is coming!” And he continues to yell it until guess what? Everyone decides to ignore him, and then the wolf comes.

Jesus is coming soon. We need to be aware of that. We need to keep in mind that although no one can know the date that Jesus will return, we can know the season, and it is my contention that we are currently in that season.

Like A Thief

I want to prove to you with Scripture that we can know the season of the Lord’s return. Let's begin with the letters that Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church, and let’s start with 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 1. I want to show you proof positive that we can know the season of the Lord’s return. The passage reads as follows: “Now as to the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.” There’s that statement I talked about earlier. He’s coming “like a thief in the night.” Verse 3 says it will occur while people are saying, “Peace and safety!” At that time, Paul says, “Destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.”

The fundamental point I’m leading up to is found in verse 4. Underline it in your Bible. Don’t ever forget it. This is the crucial verse. The verse proves beyond a doubt that you and I can know the season of the Lord’s return. The verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:4, says “But you brethren, believers, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”

Now, what is that saying? Paul is saying Jesus is coming like a thief in the night, but not for the brethren, not for Christians. He’s coming like a thief in the night for the world. He’s coming like a thief in the night for pagans. He’s coming like a thief in the night for those professing Christians who do not have any personal relationship with Him, and who have never really been born again, and who refuse to believe the Word of God and study the Word of God.

But, He’s saying, “Let me tell you, if you have been born again, if you’re truly a child of God, if you read the Word and believe the Word, there is no reason in the world why Jesus should come as a thief in the night.” Look again at verse 4 it says, “But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do.”

What do you think he means when he says, “We are sons of light and not of darkness?" I think what He’s referring to is the fact that if you are truly a born again child of God, you have the Holy Spirit residing inside of you. The Holy Spirit is the one who wrote the Bible. And, if you will lean on the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will illuminate your mind and illuminate your heart and open your eyes to understand the mysteries of God’s Word, including the season of the Lord’s return. And, so, it is true that the Bible says point blank that Jesus is coming as a “thief in the night,” but not for those who know Him and love Him.

There’s a similar passage in Hebrews 10. It says, “Do not forsake our assembling together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

What day is he speaking of? Well, we are told in verse 27 that he is speaking of the day of judgment, the day when the Lord will return. It is the day referred to in verse 31 where we are warned that it is a “terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Note again verse 25 where it says that we are to encourage one another “as we see the day drawing near.” Folks, that means we can tell something about the season in which we’re living. It means we don’t have to be totally ignorant about the time when the Lord is going to return.

Jesus Himself also indicated that we could know the season of His return. He did so in the Olivet Discourse, as is recorded over in the book of Luke. He delivered this discourse on the Mount of Olives to His disciples during the last week of His life. He listed many end time signs that we were to watch for, and then He said: “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up, lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

There are two reasons why we can know the season of the Lord’s return.... watch and read the remainder of this message!

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