Admonitions For The Apocalypse: Jude Series #10

You hold in your hands the guidebook to Glory and the pathway to purity in a world of worldliness. I do not claim to have all the answers; but I do believe that while we live in an era of high apostasy, we are approaching the ultimate apocalypse.

America has produced the highest level of the good life for the majority to enjoy over the longest period of time than any other nation. Christians have participated in this good life to its fullness.

In the sixties, we were bathed in the ocean of love in Christian circles. In the seventies, we were drowned in the syrup of make-believe religion. In the eighties, the sugar coating covered the pill of the raw reality of perversion. In the nineties, we were drugged by the angel dust liberalism.

In the decade of the new millennium, the Church was baptized in pride, believing we could escape the neglect of our salvation. Today, for a lot of so-called Christians, they have bought into the commercialism of the Gospel. They love the baby Jesus but despise the adult Jesus.

Our society loves the doctrine of Disneyland , Tinkertoy theology, Hollywood holiness, liberal lollypops, and the mirage of miracles. What is the result? Absolutes are out and tolerance is in. We are now afraid to ride a subway at night or walk across a parking lot.

America is practiced in its perversity, clever in its conceit, defiant in its devilry, violent in its vices, and senseless in its sensuality. America is rolling in luxuries, reveling in excesses, reeling in drunkenness, revolting in morals, and rotting in sin. Our nation is perfumed with religion and culture, but it is only spiritual formaldehyde disguising the deadly decay of a society on its last legs.

Is it possible that this generation will see the end of an age and the coming of Jesus Christ? Is the antichrist working behind the scenes now to establish his New World Order? What are true Christians to do in this age of apostasy?

By way of introduction, as we prepare to go verse by verse through the book of Jude, there are several admonitions for us to consider in this age of apostasy and the approaching apocalypse. In James 5:7-12, he teaches us how to prepare for the coming of Christ.

We Need To Look Up And Be Calm (James 5:7)

We do not need to be stocking our freezers with food and our basements with canned goods. God has not abdicated His throne.

We Have an Imperative for Christians

“Be patient” is a compound Greek term that means long tempered or having a long fuse. The picture is of a long-distance race. You cannot let momentary stumbles cause you to quit. We are running the race between the first and second comings of Christ. We are to stay calm until Jesus comes back.

“The Coming” means “the Lord comes along the side in person.” The term was used when the king would come and visit a village. We are to stay calm “until” Christ returns. “Until” is the picture of a pregnant woman who must be patient in the latter months until the baby is born.

We Have an Illustration for Christians

We wait on the latter rains. The early rains soften the soil and cause the seed to germinate. The early rain in Palestine comes in October. The latter rains were the spring rains. The farmer depended on the latter rains for the crops to mature. The farmer cannot do anything to bring the latter rains. He must patiently wait on God. Waiting time is not wasted time.

We work like the farmer while he waits. He cultivates the ground and tills the soil. The value of the harvest justifies his patient waiting.

We watch like the farmer watches his fields. Even though the physical eye cannot see the crops at first, there are things going on. God is at work under the ground and He is at work today.

We Need To Look In And Be Clean 

When we are in a waiting period, it is easy to become irritated and frustrated.

We Must Establish Our Hearts (v. 8)

“Establish” is illustrated when Jesus steadfastly set His face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). We must take action ourselves. We must make up our mind to do what God wants us to do in this life.

We Must Examine Our Attitudes (v. 9)

Grumbling is the results of grudges. Instead of feeling agitated and shaken up by our experiences, we must develop an inner sense of stability. When we harbor things in our hearts, things become bigger than they really are.

We Must Expect the Return of Christ (v. 9)

Since Jesus is about to open the door and step into our world again, we must not harbor grudges against fellow servants and the lost of this world. Three times, James reminds us that Jesus is coming soon. How will Jesus find us when He comes back? How would we live if we knew Jesus was coming this week?

We Need To Look Back And Be Challenged (James 5:8)

Look Back at the Prophets and Their Sufferings (James 5:10)

The prophets looked forward to the coming of Christ. We look back to the prophets and the coming of Christ. Look back at Hosea whose marriage failed, but he kept on serving God. Look back at Daniel who faced fiery trails, but stayed faithful to God. Look back at Jeremiah who was arrested as a traitor and thrown in an abandoned well, but looked up and was calm. Look back at Habakkuk who saw the future destruction of his nation and yet said, “The Lord is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me walk upon my high places” (Habakkuk 3:19).

Look Back to Job and His Steadfastness (James 5:11)

Job lost his family, fortune, fitness friends, and nearly his faith. However Job said:

1:21—The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

19:25-26—I know that my redeemer lives. And, at the last on the earth, and after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh I see God.

23:10—He knows the way that I take. And when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

42:10—The Lord restored Job’s loss when he prayed for his friends.

42:12—Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning.

The farmer works and waits. The prophets wait and witness!

“Endurance” is different from “patience” in James 5:10. James is telling us to endure the struggles and press on to victory.

We Need To Look Forward and Be Consistent (James 5:12)

Let your life match your lips. In the New Testament era, people did not sign contracts. Yet, there were many loopholes. People were perverting their oaths. They were hiding the truth by appearing to appeal to God to establish the truth.

James challenges us to review our worship, witnessing, words, and work.

As we prepare to study The Acts of the Apostates, we need to look up and be calm, look in and be clean, look back and be challenged, and look forward and be consistent. When short people cast very long shadows, we know the sun is about to set. When we look at the signs of the times, we know we are living in the closing moments of a generation who will see the coming of Christ.

We have good news and bad news before us. The good news is that Jesus is coming, but the bad news is that billions of people are not ready. The good news is that true Christians will live forever, but the bad news is people will die forever. The good news is that saints are going to heaven, but the bad news is that sinners will go to hell. The good news is that we shall see Jesus, but the bad news is that the lost will see God.

It is our God-given responsibly to share and speak the good news of Christ in a lost and dying world.