Page 20 - Maranatha (1976)

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Hastening Our Lord’s Return, January 11
He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a
short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Romans 9:28
.
In the prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction Christ said, “Because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the
end come.” This prophecy will again be fulfilled. The abounding iniquity
of that day finds its counterpart in this generation. So with the prediction in
regard to the preaching of the gospel. Before the fall of Jerusalem, Paul,
writing by the Holy Spirit, declared that the gospel was preached to “every
creature which is under heaven.”
Colossians 1:23
. So now, before the
coming of the Son of man, the everlasting gospel is to be preached “to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”
Revelation 14:6, 14
. God
“hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world.”
Acts 17:31
.
Christ tells us when that day shall be ushered in. He does not say that all
the world will be converted, but that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the
end come.” By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten
our Lord’s return. We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming
of the day of God.
2 Peter 3:12
, margin. Had the church of Christ done
her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before
this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in
power and great glory.
It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the
Lord’s professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so
many years....
We may have to remain here in this world because of insubordination
many more years, as did the children of Israel; but for Christ’s sake, His
people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the consequence of
their own wrong course of action.
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