Excerpted from Life on the Highest Plane – Ruth Paxson (1928):
2 Peter 3:12 “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”
“Look.”Who could ever be apprehensive of our Lord’s return who understands what that coming will mean to this dark, sin-cursed world? In times of exceptional calamity the hearts of ignorant ones are terrified by the thought that it is “the end of the world.” Others, equally ignorant of the great prophetic truths, charge those who hold this blessed hope with being pessimistic and with looking upon world conditions in too somber and gloomy a way. Such men shudder at the very thought of what they call the “catastrophic cataclysm” of the pre-millennial view.
But the Christian who looks expectantly for our Lords return is the only true optimist because he alone sees things both as they are and as they will be. To shut one’s eyes to the actual conditions and to deny the self-evident trend of affairs and their logical, inevitable outcome as revealed in the Word of God is not optimism but folly. The man who believes the sure word of prophecy and takes it as his compass knows that perilous times are ahead; he sees the way the world’s ship of life is taking; he sights the rocks ahead and he knows that a frightful disaster is unavoidable.
… The existing world-system has a faulty compass. The wintry drifts of enmity toward God have settled in upon it and made it wholly inaccurate. The world is steering straight for the rocks upon which it will sooner or later be wrecked.
But back of the “catastrophic cataclysm” that ends the rule of “the prince of this world” and overthrows this world-system the spiritual man sees the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ to rule the world, and beyond “the dissolving of the heavens” and “the melting of the elements” he sees “the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” So with almost impatient longing he “looks” for the coming of the Lord.
Words of Grace for Strength
We need look to the future with the clearness of sight that comes only from a relationship in Christ, built on our trust in Him as our only means of salvation. We cannot predict the future, we cannot time the occurrence of future events with any sense of certitude nor accuracy. But we can see clearly through the Word of God what is to transpire according to His Will, and based solely on the fulfilling of His purposes in the measure of His time.
This is not a crystal ball to peer into to discern our fates out of the depths of a fog shrouded future. This is the crystal clear vision of faith in Jesus, sharpened by obedience to His teaching and commands, strengthened by seeking His presence in our lives.
The world is blind to the things of God, which are the only things which truly matter; so blind it cannot see how lost it truly is. Adrift and rudderless inasea of confusion and doubt, the worlddrifts aimlessly, unable to get a fix upon that bright Morning Starwhich would lead itto eternal salvation. In the darkness of its lost state, the world turns to the master of darkness, the ruler of the present world, thinking him to be the light of knowledge and truth, not realizing that this false god of darkness will one day bow and acknowledge the true Lord of Light.
Having been made to blind to see, the world mocks those of us who live in the light and try to share with them the soon coming of the Lord, so that His Spirit may draw them to Him now in salvation. For if they have not turned to Him before His return, they will be deemed unworthy and without hope, in His divine judgment.
We who know Jesus Christ as Savior, look expectantly, perhaps even anxiously, and yet we look confidently. And because of our relationship in Christ to the Father, we have confidence that our sight cannot be blinded by the light because we are of the light. No amount of ridicule, persecution or suffering can change our position in Christ, nor will it affect the truth of the Rapture, the Tribulation or His Second Coming. Look! He is coming again, and it may be very soon.
Even So Come.
Dr. Tuck Whitaker and Andy Coticchio
Rafter Cross Ministries