Christ is coming…soon! Make no mistake Dear Reader, this is a certainty. Undeniably we are living at an uncertain time in very uncertain world with nothing more uncertain than the future. What is due to happen in an hour, a day or a year is anybody’s guess and most usually we are wrong in our expectations.
But of this imminent event there can be no uncertainty. Its coming is sure and in that coming the life of every one on the earth will be affected,—your life, my life and the life of the other fellow. We need nothing more—though much, much more is given,—to assure us of this absolute, unchangeable certainty, than the promise of Christ Himself:
John 14
3 I will come again.
Now we know that Jesus is the living embodiment of truth. He is truth personified. Of Himself He said,
John 14
6 I am the…Truth.
He has never known, can never know and will never know here what it means to break His promise. Therefore, He who “has all power in Heaven and in earth,” to fulfill His promise, is eternally bound to fulfill this, His own promise. The word has gone forth; the promise has been made; it can never now be recalled.
The entire created intelligences of the Universe bear witness to the fact and thus the honor and the stability of the throne of God is staked against its fulfillment. Should that promise fail then the very throne of God Himself would fail.
Therefore, just when and how He has promised, CHRIST WILL COME. There is nothing, more sure, more certain than this. And now, Dear Reader, whoever you are, wherever you may be, whatever may be your station and status in life, this is of vital inescapable concern to you,—personally.
On that day it will be impossible to occupy the role of an interested or even disinterested spectator in the sidelines. You will be totally involved for it is far beyond your power to extricate yourself from the consequences of that day. Every man, every woman, every child will be involved. Not one will be able to hide; not one will be passed over by the searching scrutiny of Jesus who as the unchanging and unchangeable Truth declared,
Revelation 22
12 Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give to every man as his work shall be.
Now, every man includes all. It includes me; it includes you and all else beside. You, Dear Reader, will be involved in the consequences of the giving of the rewards of that day.
If there could be a court of appeal against any sentence then that did not please us, we might pass by the prospect without too much concern, but such is not the situation then. The decisions of that day will never be reversed, against them there will be no possibility of appeal. They stand forever.
There can be only one of two possibilities for each soul for it is written that on that day when…
Romans 2 [RSV]
5 God’s righteous judgment shall be revealed.
6 He will render to every man according to His works:
7 To those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life:
8 But for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.
Thus there will be but the two rewards, two sentences to be meted out by a righteous judge to every man and woman and child.
To one class,—and may you be among it as you most certainly can if you will, there will be eternal and unending life in the unimaginable bliss of God’s presence in a world that will be everlastingly free from sickness, death, pain, sorrow or parting. There will be life at its richest and fullest. There the highest heights of achievement and holy ambition may be realized and enjoyed. And ever there will be new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire new glories to enjoy and appreciate. It will be life as God intended it and will make the paltry pleasures and riches of this earth seem just nothing at all.
But on the other hand, there is to be had wrath and fury. This the Scriptures makes very evident to be total and terrible annihilation. It is the end, the cessation of existence, the termination of that which is most dear to us,—life. It is a reward and an ending that no one of us would willingly choose for himself when the time comes.
Yet strange as it may seem, the vast majority of this world’s inhabitants, by their course of action and their utter disregard of their opportunity to prepare for that day are thereby actually choosing to suffer that awful conclusion to their existence then.
Dear Reader, the time has come when you must stop and take eternity into your reckoning. Either at the moment you are preparing for that day by patiently seeking the life and the power of God to enable you to become fitted for the society of the redeemed or you are wasting your opportunity by living only for today and that which the world can offer at the present time.
And the great prophetic outlines of the Bible make it very clear that the day is drawing very near when these things shall be. There is the strongest evidence that they will come in your and my lifetime. Behind us stretches 2,500 years of faithfully and accurately fulfilled prophecy. Every prediction due to be fulfilled by this time has been fulfilled in the right place, at the right time, in the right order with the right number. There has not been a single failure and the tracing down of the Word of Prophecy brings us face to face with the fact that we are in very fact in the last days.
Dear Reader, you have no time to lose. Your future depends on what you are doing about it NOW. You do not have to be among those who will cry in anguish and dismay when the Lord comes, and seek to hide from Him in the rocks and the mountains. But to escape from that then you must act now. Prepare! Get ready! Get ready! But HOW?
Acts 16
30 What must I do to be saved?
The moment that you are awake and alert to the implications of the coming day, this is the question that jumps into your mind. It is beyond the scope of this tract to set that answer out in detail. But there is an answer. It is clear and specific and can be understood by every son and daughter of Adam.
It is not, “I must join some particular church.” There is neither salvation or security in church membership as such. It is not in the acceptance and adherence to a certain set of doctrines and beliefs. There is no salvation in a creed. Salvation is found only in a transformed life. Jesus said,
John 3
3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
“Born again?” What does that mean? It means just what it says. It means that the first, or natural birth that every one of us has will not gain for us admission into the kingdom of heaven. It means that there must be the beginning of another life in us, another birth to a life so different from the natural life that it will be fit for the society of holy angels for eternity. But how can this be?
There is a booklet that you can have free for the asking. It is called “From Bondage to Deliverance.” [Editor’s note: Later it was called “From Bondage to Freedom,” and on this website, I have renamed it to “Freedom from Sin.”] It will tell you just how this can be and exactly what you must do to obtain this salvation. It will explain to you from the Word of Living Truth the fact that your real problem is not what you do but what you are. You will learn that the wrong doing that concerns and troubles us so much is only the fruit or the outworking of the real sin that lies deep in the human nature.
You will learn that it is not God’s way to merely deal with the doing of the wrong, but that He is concerned with the root of the wrong, and that His plan is not to frustrate the expression of that sinful nature, but to do away with it altogether and give you a new life in its place, a life that will produce the very deeds that you long to see in your experience.
And when you understand this then you will see how it is that all these years we have been trying to do the right thing in altogether the wrong way, and the result has been frustration and failure. You will understand how it is that the things that you wished to do you could not do, while the very things that you hate yourself for are the very things that you do.
And then you will find that the message of this little book will lead you into the blessed experience of redemption from your own sinful self and the entry into a new life of freedom and joyful living and the satisfying experience of knowing that you are being prepared for the kingdom of Christ so soon to come.
You will know that when He comes you will be able to meet Him with rejoicing for His work of preparation has been done in and for you. And this book comes to you without cost or obligation of any kind.
Other articles by F. T. Wright:
- Covered Sin
- Another Look at Acts 3:19
- The Death of Ananias and Sapphira
- Prophecy in the Process of Fulfillment
- The Real Issues at Minneapolis
- Why Jesus Came
- The Studied Care of Your Health
- Forsaking the Holy Covenant
- The Number 666, part 2
- God’s Eternal Purpose
- Point of No Return
- The Contender
- The Parable of the Ten Virgins
- The Hidden Ark
- A Loving Heart