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None of us are perfect in our efforts no matter how hard we try. We all fail far more than we would like. Our lack of faithfulness is humbling. Yet in spite of our frailty, our goal is to please the Lord in what we do, what we say, and what we think. The hope of Christ’s coming is a powerful yet often neglected incentive to live as a pure vessel. You might be surprised what a close connection exists between prophecy and practical living in the New Testament. Here are four texts that underscore the purifying power of prophecy. Please read them thoughtfully.

We are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

TITUS 2:12-14

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

1 JOHN 3:2-3

Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

2 PETER 3:11-14

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

ROMANS 13:11-14

The close connection in these passages between anticipating the coming of the Lord and holy living is striking. What this means is that any believer who gets up in the morning thinking Jesus could come today will strive to please the Lord. It’s a fail-safe formula. Yet the opposite is also true. Failure to live expectantly makes us far more vulnerable to temptation and sin.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the eminent English pastor, cites the any-moment expectancy of Christ’s coming as an energizing force:

I feel rebuked, myself, sometimes, for not watching for my Master when I know that, at this very time, my dogs are sitting against the door, waiting for me—and long before I reach home, there they will be and, at the first sound of the carriage wheels, they will lift up their voices with delight because their master is coming home! Oh, if we loved our Lord as dogs love their masters, how we should catch the first sound of His Coming—and be waiting, always waiting—and never happy until at last we should see Him! Pardon me for using a dog as a picture of what you ought to be, but when you have attained to a state above that, I will find another illustration to explain my meaning.[6]

Spurgeon puts us in our place, but he also gives this impassioned plea:

Oh, Beloved, let us try, every morning, to get up as if that were the morning in which Christ would come! And when we go up to bed at night, may we lie down with this thought, “Perhaps I shall be awakened by the ringing out of the silver trumpets heralding His Coming. Before the sun arises, I may be startled from my dreams by the greatest of all cries, ‘The Lord is come! The Lord is come!’” What a check, what an incentive, what a bridle, what a spur such thoughts as these would be to us! Take this for the guide of your whole life—act as if Jesus would come during the act in which you are engaged—and if you would not wish to be caught in that act by the Coming of the Lord, let it not be your act.[7]

Jesus is coming. Only the time is uncertain. As J. Dwight Pentecost encourages us, “May the joy of looking for Him produce in us a holy life so that we will not be ashamed when we see Him.”[8]

LIVE LOOKING

In his excellent book Is This the End? David Jeremiah issues this challenge from the past to the current generation:

I have heard it said that when first-century Christians traveled from city to city, they would stop at every crossroads and look in all directions, always anticipating the possibility that they might see Christ returning. The ensuing centuries seem to have dulled that imminent expectation, but they should not. We must ever be aware that the Rapture could occur at any moment.[9]

The current rumblings in Russia and the Middle East can spark terror, but they can also spark a hunger for Christ’s return. We know that God is in control, and we know that Jesus is coming back for his church. He tells us, “Yes, I am coming soon!” (Revelation 22:20).

Remember: with Jesus, it’s always soon!

May he find us focused and faithful when he comes.

APPENDIX 1

EZEKIEL 38–39

The following text is chapters 38 and 39 of the biblical book Ezekiel. What follows is the New Living Translation, the translation I’ve used in most of the book. In a few places where my interpretation differs from the New Living Translation, I’ve left notes to this effect. I hope this passage of Scripture will help you to understand what I’ve written in this book about Russia’s rise in the end times.

CHAPTER 38
A Message for Gog

1 This is another message that came to me from the LORD: 2 “Son of man, turn and face Gog of the land of Magog, the prince who rules over[1] the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. 3 Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: Gog, I am your enemy! 4 I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws to lead you out with your whole army—your horses and charioteers in full armor and a great horde armed with shields and swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya will join you, too, with all their weapons. 6 Gomer and all its armies will also join you, along with the armies of Beth-togarmah from the distant north, and many others.

7 “Get ready; be prepared! Keep all the armies around you mobilized, and take command of them. 8 A long time from now you will be called into action. In the distant future you will swoop down on the land of Israel, which will be enjoying peace after recovering from war and after its people have returned from many lands to the mountains of Israel. 9 You and all your allies—a vast and awesome army—will roll down on them like a storm and cover the land like a cloud.

10 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: At that time evil thoughts will come to your mind, and you will devise a wicked scheme. 11 You will say, ‘Israel is an unprotected land filled with unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people who live in such confidence! 12 I will go to those formerly desolate cities that are now filled with people who have returned from exile in many nations. I will capture vast amounts of plunder, for the people are rich with livestock and other possessions now. They think the whole world revolves around them!’ 13 But Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish will ask, ‘Do you really think the armies you have gathered can rob them of silver and gold? Do you think you can drive away their livestock and seize their goods and carry off plunder?’

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6

Charles Spurgeon, “Watch for Christ’s Coming” (sermon #2302), https://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons39.xiv.html.

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8

J. Dwight Pentecost, Prophecy for Today: God’s Purpose and Plan for Our Future, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 1989), 22.

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9

David Jeremiah, Is This the End? Signs of God’s Providence in a Disturbing New World (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2016), 265.

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1

See chapter 3, where I discuss the term rosh. The NLT translates the Hebrew word rosh as “who rules over.” NASB has “of Rosh,” which, as I discuss in chapter 3, is the name of a place currently occupied by Russia. The word rosh also occurs in 38:3 and 39:1.