Title: Preparation for the Second Coming
Commentary on Romans 96
Preparation for the Second Coming
Romans 13:11-14
1. When will the Lord's Second Coming be?
It goes without saying that the time of Jesus' second coming is of course the end of mankind. However, even in the Bible, the question of when the end of the human race will be put off as a big task.
(1) The Bible describes the coming of the Lord soon. In particular, all the churches at that time were very interested in the Lord's Second Coming in that the prophecy of the end that Jesus told his disciples did not teach when, and he used expressions that were expected to exist in the people of any age. You will find out that you have been waiting with “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will see the Son of Man come in his kingdom before they die.” They must have waited for the coming of the glorious Messiah, the second coming of the Lord (Matt. 16:28).
(2) God wanted all the saints to live a life of faith with the hope of the Lord's Second Coming. Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that he kept the details of the Lord's Second Coming in the utmost secrecy. The providence of God like this is to make all the saints look forward to the hope of the Second Coming. The reason is that the second coming of Jesus will be the realization of the hopes of all Christians. Only then will the Messianic kingdom, resurrection, transformation, and eternal heaven come true. Therefore, it is very natural for the saints to race toward the end of hope.
(3) The Christian's life of faith is in the bride-to-be who welcomes Christ. The Bible constantly emphasizes alertness to the grooming of the bride. “Keep this commandment without spot and without reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, for when the time comes, God will show his appearing… ” (1 Timothy 6:14,15). The most blessed saints in this world are those who welcome the Lord's Second Coming. Because they can live and fulfill all their wishes. Therefore, it is a beautiful thing to adorn our religious life with the goal of our greatest hope. God wants us to be such Christians.
(4) However, the Bible never mentions that time or time. Not only that, but it also alerts us to the mention of that time or time. Jesus said, “At that time no one knew, neither the angel of heaven nor the Son” (Matthew 24:36). Paul warns us not to be sober when the day of the Lord has come. It warns us, “We will not be sober or afraid that the day of the Lord has come, whether in spirit or by word or by letter that we have received from him concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gathering before him.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). When you say “in spirit or by word or by letter” you show that in any case reference to the day of the Lord is forbidden.
2. This is the time to wake up
“You know this time, and it is already the hour to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”
(2) It is said that the night is deep and the day is near. To say that the night is deep means that the spiritual night is getting darker. When the day is near, on the contrary, it refers to the time of the second coming of Christ. The spiritual night will inevitably get deeper and deeper as the end goes on. But the reality is that the low, which symbolizes the second coming of Christ, is drawing closer and closer. We must look to the soon approaching day and put off the work of the night.
(3) I was told to wear the armor of light. This is a garment you can wear when you take off the work of darkness. Here are a few things about what the dark days are. I told you not to go crazy. Debauchery is the life the prodigal enjoyed. It means enjoying life with wealth. It is a life that is enjoyed as a life in harmony with the world by abandoning the life that is pleasing with God in Christ. This is the life that people in Noah's days and people in Lot's days enjoyed. “Before the flood, people were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:38).
They enjoyed a life without God. It was not a life for the glory of God. I told you not to drink. This drink is not in a spiritual sense. I really don't know how many drunken saints in each church right now. In an age where people like to drink and they like to drink, they shouldn't come to a place where they get drunk together. I was told not to be lewd and lewd. Since the end times are the age of lewdness and lewdness, the church will also be tainted with this wave. I was told not to fight and fight. Struggle refers to fighting for the authority of the church, fighting for factions within the church, or fighting as a political movement. This battle is mainly a sin committed by God's servants, and the Lord condemned them as evil servants (Matthew 24:48-51).
Conclusion: As a concluding admonition to the saints living in the end times, Paul said, “Put on Christ alone, and do not seek the works of the flesh for the lusts of the flesh.” A life put on Christ is a life that bears fruit in Christ. This generation we are living in is very close to the time of the Lord's Second Coming. Now is the time to wake up. We must accept the words of “watch and pray so that you may be able to escape from all these things and stand before the Son of Man” as the word given in our present age (Luke 21:36).