The Wait Is Nearly Over – Rejoice
By Dennis Huebshman
Revelation 3:21, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him/her, and eat with him/her, and he/she with Me.” (NET – all emphasis mine)
2 Peter 3:8-9, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Plain and simple, God is not bound by time as we are.
Then, 2 Peter 3:10 concludes with, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar; and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved; and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (See also Revelation 21:1)
Matthew 12:30-32, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters. (31) Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. (32) And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age, or the age to come”.
This last entry seems to contradict itself, because Jesus said, “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.” When Jesus was on this earth as a human, He expected that there would be people who would speak out against Him. However, He always left the pathway open for them to change and accept the gift He offered. A perfect example is Peter who denied Jesus three times, yet after the resurrection, Jesus sought him out. He gave Peter the opportunity to repent, which he did. From Pentecost forward, and being filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter became a major advocate for the Savior all the way to his own cross.
Then, we have Saul, who later became known as Paul, who persecuted the “Way”, as the early church was called. He literally had people that believed in Jesus put to death. However, after his own encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul completely repented, and became a major contributor to our New Testament that we have today. He totally reversed his previous stance against Christianity, to declare Jesus as being the one and true Savior for all of us. When his own people (Jews) turned against him, Paul carried the word to the gentiles, and showed that God is no respecter of persons. (Romans 2:10-11 and Acts 10:34-35 just as two examples.) Paul remained steadfast and faithful all the way to his martyrdom.
So, if people could speak out against Jesus, and then repent and be saved, why would blasphemy against the Holy Spirit be considered something that would not be forgiven? One source (Wikipedia) has an answer that would seem to put this into an easy to understand statement. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is conscious and hardened opposition to the Truth; because the Spirit is Truth. This leads people away from humility and repentance, and without repentance, there can be no forgiveness. The key is “hardened” and “without repentance”. These are those who have turned away from the Savior, and will not ever accept Him or the gift that He offers. They prefer what this world has to offer, and are blinded by satan’s evil ways.
Numerous passages in the New Testament tell us that without Jesus, there is no pathway to the Father. First and foremost, Jesus said that He and the Father were One. (John 10:30) This dispels the idea that Jesus never claimed to be God.
The Godhead is made up of three persons in one; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have to accept the whole Trinity, or none at all. John 3:18; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 John 2:18-4:6 and 1 John 5:12 all state that if we don’t have Jesus in our lives, we don’t have the Father. We would be denying the Truth that the Holy Spirit gives, and therefore will have refused to accept Jesus as our Savior. Sadly, there are many more that reject Him, than accept Him. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Denying that Jesus is real does not change the fact that He does exist. The Bible is the inerrant word of God, and Jesus will be returning soon to remove all believers from this earth. All the modern faux teachers, preachers and whatever that say there are many ways to heaven, are about to find out just how wrong they are.
True believers are not perfect, and we do the human thing of slipping into sin occasionally. Were it not for the Grace of our Savior’s sacrifice, and the Mercy given by our Father in forgiving our sins, we would indeed be miserable creatures. From the moment of the first sin on this earth (Genesis 3), God knew that we could never live up to his perfect standard. He knew He would have to make the way possible so that we could have true forgiveness. It required that He send a precious part of Himself to be a sin-free sacrifice, which would be the only means of atonement that we could have. It would require that all (Jew and Gentile) who wish to be saved and spend eternity in heaven would have to accept this gift. No fancy rituals, no special long speeches, just take the free gift and live for Jesus.
Seems simple enough, but enter the evil prince of this world – satan. He has been in the deception business even before the creation of this earth. He tried to set himself up as an equal to God, but a creation could never be the same as the Creator. He convinced a good portion of the angels to follow him, and thus we have demons. They can never be forgiven, as the pathway Jesus made for us is only for humans. Their fate is the Lake of Fire, which specifically was made for them. (Matthew 25:41)
There is one trait that our Father has; He will force no one to accept Him. He has given us the Spirit of Truth, and leaves it up to us to decide if we will accept His Son, or not. Many will turn to what this earth offers at the present, and refuse to consider their eternal destination. We are getting to that point where it will be very obvious who are true believers, and who are not. One day soon, true believers will disappear from this sin-filled earth, and in an instant.
For anyone who has any knowledge of God’s true word, and takes a serious look at how this earth is rapidly sinking more and more into evil, it’s obvious that the end of this age is very near. As Revelation 3:20 says, “He’s at the door knocking”. All who call on the Lord to be saved before the Rapture will not face God’s wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:10, and 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 just as two examples) It will still be possible to call on Jesus during the Tribulation, but at a much greater effort, and most likely at the price of martyrdom.
No one can put a date or time as to when the Rapture will take place, but it will be over in the “twinkling of an eye” as given in 1 Corinthians 15:52. That will be too fast to call out to be saved while it’s happening. The absolute best alternative is to call on the Savior today – right now. If you truly believe He paid the price for your sins, and are ready to confess that you are a sinner who cannot save yourself, then ask Him for His forgiveness and to save you. He will gladly do so. (Acts 2:21; Roman 10:9-13)
To put it off is to fall into the category of being consciously hardened to the idea of repentance, and your reservation is spoken of in Revelation 20:11-15.
No other options are available. If you would invest a short time, and read the book of John followed by Romans, you will learn of the love our Father has for us, and the mechanics of being saved. The only difficult part of our Salvation is believing it is so, and there is no other way to the Father except through Jesus. (again John 14:6)
For all believers, we see all the signs and realize our “wait” is nearly over. Though we don’t like what we are seeing, we can rejoice that we are nearly at the point of going to our “forever home”. We will receive our forever bodies, and a completely new mindset that will be free of committing any sin ever again.
We gladly say Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus!