Darkness covers the Earth, and a deep and profound darkness covers the people. Chaos, confusion and the dark forces of Satan, sin and death have engulfed humanity. These destructive forces are too powerful, and we are too weak, to overcome them on our own.
What can remove the darkness? What can bring us light? What can bring us victory over these very real and deadly forces? It is not our own efforts, works or deeds. It is nothing that we can do. It is simply our response to God and His Word. The Bible calls that faith.
Faith is knowing who the Supreme Being is and then trusting this great and good and faithful Three-In-One God. Faith is also knowing what God has said and having confidence in what He has said, and then doing what He has said.
Faith enables us to experience many good and valuable things that are otherwise impossible for us to experience. Faith, belief, confidence, trust, faithfulness to God and to His Word are essential for reconciliation with God, for getting into a right relationship with the Creator, for atonement, for salvation, for successful living that honors the Lord, for eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem. Faith is a necessary and extremely beneficial thing. Unbelief, unfaith, is terribly, terribly destructive. We want to increase in faith!
We more we learn about God and the Scriptures, and the more we are faithful to God and the Scriptures and put into practice the things that we learn, the more we will increase in faith.
Last week the Holy Spirit, communicating to us through Luke, was teaching us that it takes faith to be saved. It takes faith to forgive the way we need to. It takes faith to have the humble attitude that God wants us to have. It takes faith to show proper gratitude. It takes faith to experience miraculous healing, especially the ultimate and eternal spiritual healing of body, soul and spirit.
Now the Spirit of truth wants us to know that it takes faith to understand the kingdom of God.
Because of the Fall, we are very very confused about the most important things. We don’t understand the Creator the way we need to. We don’t understand the kingdom of God – how the Creator is ruling over the universe now, and how He is expanding His rule over more and human beings, and where He is bringing the creation to – the way we need to. It takes faith to understand the kingdom of God.
The Pharisees knew some things about the kingdom of God. They asked Rabbi Yeshua about the timing of its arrival.
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming…
The Pharisees knew that God is real; that He has a real kingdom over which He rules; that God the Father is the High King; that the High King has a heavenly court; Living Beings surround the throne on which God sits; archangels and angels, cherubeem and serafeem are among those who serve the King. They also understood that part of the universe is in rebellion against God, and that rebellion must come to an end, so that the entire universe will be completely restored to God’s authority; that a time was coming when the Lord would extend His rule over all of humanity and rule over us in a much more visible and powerful way; that in some way, God Himself would be the King who would be among us. Some of the Pharisees wanted to know if Rabbi Yeshua knew when that tremendous event would happen.
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst”.
The young Rabbi from Nazareth had a much better understanding about the kingdom of God than these Pharisees. Yeshua knew that His God and Father was the High King, and that a day was coming when God would completely rule over the Heavens and the Earth and over all of humanity in a more visible and powerful way. But, Israel’s greatest Rabbi also knew that He was the Son of the High King and that He Himself would be the King over all the Earth. He also knew that wherever the King is, even if it is a humble and mostly unrecognized way, there the kingdom of God is centered.
The King of the Jews must have gotten a chuckle from the lack of faith of these Pharisees. The Son of the High King had actually come into this world that He had made, and was talking to these religious leaders of the Special Nation, and yet they couldn’t recognize Him. Only those few with real faith could understand that the King had come and therefore the kingdom of God was uniquely present on Earth.
King Messiah also knew that He would be rejected by the majority of Israel, including the leaders, and that He would return to Heaven, and only then would He would return with honor and signs and wonders and establish the Kingdom of God on Earth. Messiah knew that between His two comings, only a faithful remnant would know and trust Him. That faithful minority should be grateful for His time among them, and patiently and faithfully wait for Him to return to this planet with power and glory.
And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
Strongly desiring something, really wanting something, longing for something can cause some people to take inappropriate action to get what they want. Until the King returns, those with faith, who want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, even though they long for the Messiah to return, will not be deceived by false messiahs and by false reports of Messiah’s return.
They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them.
Those with faith should understand that the King’s return will not be quiet or done in secret or in a hidden way, or seen by just a few. When King Yeshua returns from Heaven to Earth, it will be sudden and dramatic and will make a tremendous impact on the whole world, and every human being on this planet will know.
For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day.
Think of a powerful lighting and thunderstorm that takes place at night – like one of the ones we get here in the Midwest in Spring or Summer; picture a huge display of lighting that covers the sky, and the tremendous booms of thunder that accompanies it, so that everything lights up and shakes – it is with that kind of jarring impact that King Immanuel is going to return with.
Yeshua knew who He was. He also knew that the majority of Israel would not recognize that He was the King of Israel or the King of the kingdom of God. They would not place their faith in Him. But the unbelief of the majority wouldn’t deter Him, and must not deter His faithful disciples, from doing what God wanted. Suffering and rejection by an anti-God world is part of the price that those who have faith are willing to pay.
But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
While King Messiah is in Heaven, waiting for the right time to return with great honor and power to establish the kingdom of God on Earth, those who have genuine faith will stay focused on God and Messiah, and on building up and expanding the kingdom of God. They will not be deterred by rejection and persecution.
Like Messiah, a time is coming when faithful disciples will enjoy power and honor. But, until that time comes, the faithful will not get caught up with all the worldly affairs of a corrupt world that won’t last.
History is a good teacher – especially the trustworthy history recorded in the Bible. Messiah tells us that we can learn about what it will be like right before He returns by considering the divinely inspired history of Noah and the Flood. Knowing what things will be like will help us to remain faithful to the very end.
And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
In the time of Noah, the faithless majority ignored God and ignored the warnings of Noah. They were focused on worldly pursuits. The Lord judged them, and they were destroyed by the Flood, while the faithful minority who focused on God and being faithful to fulfill His word, were saved. That is what it be like for the generation who are alive when King Yeshua returns.
Therefore we need to ask ourselves: Am I focused on serving God and Messiah and building up the Community of the Faithful, or am I caught up in the things of the world? In worldly pursuit – money and materialism and accumulating more and more things? Am I concentrating on building my life in this world, or my real and eternal life in the eternal kingdom of God?
The sudden and dramatic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the rescue of Lot and his daughters, is another example that faith can look to to better understand the circumstances surrounding the return of King Messiah, and help us be faithful now and to the very end.
It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.
The people of Sodom were not faithful to the Creator. They were sexually corrupt and materialistic. And, they tried to harm righteous Lot. That’s what it will be like right before Yeshua’s return. The faithless majority will ignore God, be materialistic, sexually perverse, make fun of righteousness, and persecute the faithful. It will be a very dangerous time. The faithful must remain faithful and be prepared to act decisively and quickly to avoid all of those dangers. They will need to leave all behind to save their lives. Those who don’t have the faith to understand what is happening, and take the appropriate action, may not survive.
On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back.
Those who have faith will be like Lot and his family fleeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But even after the initial flight to safety, Lot’s wife, after being warned not to look back, did look back – probably with longing in her heart for the pleasures and comforts of Sodom, and she was destroyed. She is a warning for the faithful to remember. And so Messiah warns us:
Remember Lot’s wife.
Those who have faith will make sure that they are not like her – seemingly safe because they have confessed Yeshua as the Messiah and have started to serve God, and have turned away sexual immorality and worldly values, but after their initial repentance, in their hearts they have started looking back with longing to worldliness and sinful pleasures.
Those who have faith will understand that the way to have a meaningful life that genuinely pleases God; and the way to experience eternal life in the New Heavens and New Earth is to deny the world, to deny the pursuit of wealth, and to deny self. Denying self means rejecting one’s own goals, one’s own agenda for one’s life. Those who have faith will wholeheartedly serve God by adopting the Lord’s goals and agenda and priorities.
Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Those who have faith will understand that when Messiah returns, there will be a judgment and a separation of the faithful and faithless. Close family relations, friendships, work relationships won’t matter. Only genuine faith in the living God who judges the God-ignorers and rewards the righteous, will.
I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.
The disciples wanted to know where those who will be taken to judgment will go.
And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord”?
It is not so important to know where they will be taken. What is important for the disciples to know is that faithlessness, which is like spiritual corruption and decay, will inevitably result in judgment and spiritual death – just as physical decay results in physical death and destruction.
And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered”.
Unbelief, unfaith, is terribly, terribly destructive. Faith is very very important and beneficial! Faith enables us to understand the kingdom of God the way we need to. It enables us to do the right things and have the right goals. It helps us avoid the temptations of the world and the flesh. It helps us endure persecution. We want to increase in faith!
It also takes faith to persevere through rejection, opposition and persecution.
Messiah wants us to know that the faithful will suffer between the two comings, especially close to the Second Coming. That is to be expected. And, the persecution will intensify right before the King returns. It will be an especially difficult time for Christians and Messianic Jews. It is important that we react the right way to the persecution of the faithless majority.
When we experience rejection and persecution, we are not to get discouraged, and stop trusting God. We must not become angry and bitter people. We are not to respond with hatred and unforgiveness. We are not to take vengeance on those who persecute us.
Instead, we are to endure rejection and persecution by maintaining faith in God, and by praying that God will bring justice to the oppressed, and vindicate and reward us, and punish the wicked in His time and His way.
Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. And because He didn’t fear God or man, he couldn’t be pressured to do anything that he didn’t want to do. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent’. For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out’”. The persistent requests of the widow affected the judge, where the fear of God and man didn’t.
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.
This is not so much a lesson on persistent prayer, but an encouragement to continue trusting the Lord to bring justice to the oppressed remnant; to know that in spite of the persecution we may be suffering, God still loves us. He is aware of us and our suffering, and eventually He will make things right. He will give us justice. He will end our suffering. He will punish the wicked. He will amazingly reward those who love and serve Him. And, until that happens, we are to remain faithful to Him, faithful to speaking the truth. That is not easy now, and it will be even more difficult right when the King returns.
However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the Earth?”
The answer is – no, not much. Most of the world will reject faith in God and Messiah and the Bible and righteous standards. They will reject the true Messiah and embrace various false messiahs, and finally the anti-Messiah. They will reject the truth. They will embrace a lie. They will persecute the righteous. But a remnant will have some faith.
Faith is very very important! It takes faith to be saved. It takes faith to forgive the way we need to. It takes faith to have the humble attitude that God wants us to have. It takes faith to show proper gratitude. It takes faith to experience miraculous healing, especially ultimate and eternal and spiritual healing of body, soul and spirit.
It takes faith to understand how God operates to extend His kingdom in this world, and establishment of the kingdom of God on Earth when King Messiah returns. It enables us to do the right things and have the right goals. It helps us avoid the temptations of the world and the flesh. It takes faith to persevere through injustice and discouragement and opposition.
Faith is a necessary and extremely beneficial thing. Unbelief, unfaith, lack of trust in the Three-In-One God and His entire divinely inspired revelation is terribly, terribly destructive. We want to increase in faith!
We more we learn about God and the Scriptures, and the more we are faithful to God and the Scriptures and put into practice the things that we learn, the more we will increase in faith.
Lord, enable us to do those things! Lord, increase our faith!