I have been on a spiritual journey - from the east coast, back to the west - where I belong, so God can fulfill His promises to me from long ago. Even though I have been away from my blog for over a month, I am amazed at how many new followers have found my blog on Twitter, BlogSpot, WordPress and Facebook. I so very much appreciate the ones who have stayed with me these past 3 years, and I welcome the newcomers, their questions and comments.
Today we begin a new subject - End of the World. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus has recorded for us that God shared with Adam how the world would be destroyed twice - once by flood and the other by fire. Those of us who believe the Bible know its accounting of the flood of Noah's day.
When Jesus walked on the earth He linked Noah's day with His return when He said...but as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son the Man be...for as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark...and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be...Matt. 24:36-39.
After Jesus rose from the dead He appeared to His disciples, presenting Himself alive, after His suffering, for 40 days sharing things about the Kingdom of God. Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight...And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said...Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven...Acts 1:9-11.
Jesus is confirming the flood of Noah when He equates His second coming to that event. Jesus explained how men won't even be aware that the end of the world is near - life will be going on as usual with no thought that the world would actually ever end - they pay no attention to those radical doomsday preachers - dismissed them as crazies! Jesus told us that in the days of Noah the people did not know until the flood came and took them all away that it was too late to repent, even if they were so inclined, so they were swooshed right into Hell.
The two bright shining angels told the disciples of Jesus 2,000 years ago, Jesus would return, but many will not even know until the end-time fire takes them all away. We have the Old Testament example of Noah, confirmed by Jesus in the New Testament - no wonder the whole Bible is debunked by the learned professors of government universities - in fact - radically & viciously condemned!
It is amazing, isn't it, how these rabid professors have no problem accepting as absolute truth the historical documentation about such notables as Socrates, an Athenian philosopher 470-399 B.C., or Plato, an acclaimed Greek philosopher 427-347 B.C., or Hippocrates a celebrated physician of Greece 460-377 B.C. Even Cleopatra and her love affair with Marc Antony, both ending their lives by suicide by 30 B.C. are acclaimed as absolute truth.
But, since so many centuries have passed without Jesus returning or ending the world, millions of people assume that historical documentations found in the Bible are merely allegories, myths, or fables. These naysayers insist that ancient Biblical manuscripts have been discredited because the information has been manipulated or distorted - cannot be trusted, let alone believed. These self-proclaimed scholars completely disregard the hundreds of Biblical prophecies that have precisely and accurately already come to pass - have been fulfilled!
None of this took the Apostle Peter by surprise since he was well aware of the sinful nature of men. He said...scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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 creation...for this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water...by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water...but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for the fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men...but, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day...the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance...II Pet. 3:3-9.
Now we have the Apostle Peter confirming the historical documentation of the historian Flavius Josephus, when he said that God told Adam the world would also be destroyed by fire. We will find confirmation about God's plans and purposes if we ask Him to show us. God wants us to know, so we will be prepared.
All of the apostles, including Paul, believed that the Lord would return in their day. So of course, everyone to whom they preached this message, also believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ because they preached it was the last days. We have lived in the last days since Jesus came upon the scene. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers of the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds...Heb. 1:1-2.
Let that sink in a bit - we have been living in the last days since Jesus appeared on the earth. But God wants none to perish, so is long-suffering while insolent and defiant human beings speak indignities against His name, blame Him for all the evil upon the earth, curse Him, or flat deny His existence. He loves His human family so much, that He chooses to endure every insult and curse, in order to save His beloved human beings from the wrath of His judgment against idolatry and immorality.
Did the apostles ask Jesus about the end of the world? Stay tuned...
God's sheep question the doctrines of men...sheeple follow without question~~~
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