Those of us who write of Jesus soon return have mentioned it so often I fear a great many people have stopped listening. Do you know that Jesus anticipated this? He said through one of His apostles, a man named Peter, the following: “Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4 NLT)

Aren’t we hearing almost exactly the same words today? Are not many saying something like, “Jesus is coming back? I’ve heard this all my life, and nothing has happened. The world has been here millions of years and it’ll be here millions more. If He hasn’t come in 2,000 years, He isn’t coming, so don’t talk to me about it.”

Since Jesus knew people would have this attitude, He explained why there would be a delay, at least in our minds. He said through Peter again,

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT)

Jesus is the God of second chances. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, so He is giving plenty of time for those who are willing to be saved from His wrath to come. Yes, that’s right. When He returns, it will be in judgment, but if you belong to Him, He will remove you from all danger before His wrath falls upon this world.

Very briefly this is what is coming:

1.     Rapture: He will remove His bride, the Church, from the world first.

2.     Tribulation: There will be seven years of God’s wrath upon the entire world.

3.     Christ Coming: For the second time, He will come to earth, but this time to set up His kingdom.

4.     Millennium: His kingdom will be for 1,000 years upon this earth.

5.     Eternity: At the end of the 1,000 years He will judge all who have rejected Him and they will be sent to the Lake of Fire to spend eternity. He will provide a New Heaven and New Earth for all who are His and we will spend eternity with Him.

Now that is a very basic, bare-bones outline of the near future. Yes, it has been a long time since He told us that He will return. However, every prophecy He has given has come to pass (that would be a 100% accuracy rate), and all future prophecies will also come to pass. He doesn’t lie.

But back to the statement that Jesus is the God of second chances. If you still have breath in your body, you can make a decision right now to be on the side of Jesus, the Son of God. Otherwise, there is only certain judgement for your future.

Perhaps you are one of those who feel that you have failed so much Jesus would want nothing more to do with you. That just isn’t true.

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37)

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done in life, Jesus can fix it. Listen to His words in these verses.

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” (Revelation 21:6)

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17)

“Whosoever” will is you. Anyone who wants, may come to Jesus and be saved. What about an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or a prostitute you say? What about a church member, or a hard-working man, or a loving mother? Anyone who comes to Jesus can be saved. Your status in life, your accomplishments or failures, your wealth or lack of wealth don’t matter. Jesus takes us just the way we are and gives us His righteousness, wiping away all the stains of the past and present. He takes us where we are and makes us somebody, a child of God.

Maybe you’re afraid your friends will laugh at you. Jesus said,

“Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

Only a fool would allow their friends to deprive them of the eternal joy of knowing Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. If you die without Him there is no hope. If He comes back today and you have never asked Him to save you, there is no hope.

Whether you believe it or not, Jesus has provided, to those who are willing to notice, signs of His soon return. The signs are all around us and increasing each day. When He came the first time, most ignored the signs. When He comes this second time, will the same be said of you? Will you ignore His warning?

Don’t put off what needs to be settled right now. The Lord is the God of second chances, but there will come a time when there is no second chance. We will either reign with Him or be judged by Him. Which will it be for you?

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Mankind almost chokes on the word “submit.” It gets hung in the throat and doesn’t want to come out. So it is heard as a mumble, barely audible. The only thing men usually remember about submitting is, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands.” That’s all they remember. All the rest is blank. God has a lot to say about submitting, and there’s a lot more to it than that. When Jesus served His disciples at the table, He was submitting. When He washed their feet (a custom at that time which is not practical today) He was submitting. Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” That is submitting. Jesus went to the cross and paid all our sins. That is submitting.

Submitting comes more from a tender heart than a bended knee. It is love personified in action. It is not “You submit. Me big chief.” That would be the total opposite.

Let’s glance at just a few verses that show the real story behind “submitting.”

“Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” (Matthew 20:23)

Jesus is saying that “of the God-head” this role is for the Father to fulfill.

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Jesus in His humanity did not look forward to the cross, but He submitted to the will of the Father.

“Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

The Son mimics the Father, and follows His lead.

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38)

Again, it is clear that Jesus submits His will to the Father.

“Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.” (John 7:16)

Jesus submits to the teaching of the Father.

“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28

The Father is not greater as far as the God-head is concerned, but differs in the role each performs.

“But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)

Christ in His humanity totally submits to the will of God.

“When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:28)

Here the Scripture is talking about the last enemy to be destroyed which is death. It is not saying that the Father will be put under Christ, but that Christ’s eternal rule will prevail under God in His role as the Son.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5-7)

Christ submits to His role as the servant in His humanity.

We see in these few verses that “to submit” is only acquiescing to the role we have been given to fulfill, and even in the God-head they differ. God the Father provides. God the Son fulfills, and God the Holy Spirit leads. Now that’s putting it VERY simply, but the point is, each submits to their role.

In our government there are three branches; executive, judicial and legislative. The President is in the executive role. The Supreme Court is in the judicial role, and Congress is in the legislative role. Each has differing responsibilities in their respective positions. (At least, that’s the way it was designed originally.)

Consider a team of two mules pulling a wagon. One is the lead mule and the other follows, maintaining stability. There can only be one leader. This is true not only with mule teams, but in the military, the classroom, the ball field (or court), etc. Otherwise there would be chaos.

As we have already seen, in the Trinity of the God-head, even though God is one, there are separate functions within the Trinity. The same is true of the home. Now it doesn’t matter how we think it should be God has said He designed it exactly the way He wants it. Homes are falling apart today, because we refuse to submit to His will. Now let’s take a look at God’s design for the Christian home.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (Ephesians 5:21-33)

I’m not going to expound on this a great deal, because the Scripture is quite clear in what is being said.

The first verse, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” is referring to the previous verses which are telling us all as Christians to submit to one another. But think this through husbands. Since it says we are to submit to all Christians that would mean we also submit to our wives. Then it moves specifically to the home, beginning in verse twenty-two.

Notice these key points from verses 22-24:

• Wives submit to THEIR OWN husbands.
• Wives submit to the Lord.
• The husband is the head of home.
• Christ is the head of the Church.
• The Church submits to Christ.
• Wives submit to their own husband in everything.

Now notice verses 25-33. It took THREE verses to instruct the wives, but it takes NINE verses to instruct the husbands, three times as many.

Notice in particular verses 25-27:

“Husbands, LOVE (emphasis mine) your wives, JUST AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH (emphasis mine) and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

How much did Christ love the Church? He died for her. That is total submission. Jesus Christ submitted Himself to the cross because of His love for His Church, His bride. To know what real love is read the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. I will provide verses 4-8a here.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

That is real love. Some guys concentrate only on, “You must submit to me,” and forget all about “We must love our wives as Christ loves His Church.” If you have that attitude, your wife will never respect you. She may fear you, but she’ll never respect you, and what does the Scripture say in verse thirty-three? Let’s read it again.

“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

If the wife has no respect for her husband, either she is disobeying God, or her husband hasn’t earned it by his love he shows for her. My guess is that most of the time it is the latter. He hasn’t earned it. Respect can only be earned. In this case, the husband is at fault for not providing the atmosphere for his wife to comply with “the wife must respect her husband.”

The husband must be the leader of the home, not the tyrant. A wife will follow her husband through fire when she knows she is loved. He will be her prince charming and will willingly submit to his leadership.

The home today, Christian homes, are falling apart primarily because husbands and wives are not following God’s design for their happiness. But when the husbands and wives follow God’s plan, their children will see the love and stability in their parents in a God-designed marriage, and will honor their father and mother.

We all, husbands, wives and children need to embrace God’s meaning of “submit.” We will all be much happier by doing so.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com