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Preached at the Annual Kilskeery Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony Conference

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light,” Romans 13:11-12.

The concept of ‘TIME’, as set forth in the Bible, is defined as it is comprehended by the Lord.

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” 2 Peter 3:8.

What Peter states here is but an echo of the words of Moses in his Psalm.

“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night,” Psalm 90:4.

These verses set forth the common Christian belief, some 2000 years ago, regarding the coming again of the Saviour.

Sadly, it is not the common view today!

The passing of many years is no basis for thinking or doubting that the promises of God may not be fulfilled. The passage of the years since Christ’s promise to return was given by Him, may be considerable in the eyes of men but NOT SO WITH THE LORD!

* Such is the thinking of this age. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,” 2 Peter 3:3-4. It was in response to such thinking that Peter wrote what he did in verse 8, which I have already quoted.

*The coming of Christ, as far as the world is concerned, is like that of a thief but not so the watching and wakeful child of God.

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief,” 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4.

The ungodly shall be thinking of “peace and safety” as the world plunges downward to eternal perdition!

“Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant,” Isaiah 56:12.

* The Saviour reveals for us clearly the spirit of the last days just before He returns in glory and great power.

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” Matthew 24:37-39.

I. I BELIEVE THAT, WHILE CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN ALL TOO OFTEN CARELESS AND NOT WAKEFUL, THEY WILL AT THE END BE AWAKENED BY THE LORD.

“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,” Matthew 25:6.

The Church will be awakened and made aware of the approaching return of Christ.

I think there will be a parallel of events at Christ’s first advent. “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ,” Luke 2:25-26.

In like manner there will be ‘Simeons’ ready and waiting for the Lord’s second coming!

1. These had been sleeping! “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept,” Matthew 25:5. The word ‘they’ refers to all those who profess to be Christians — both the false and true believers. There will be a general carelessness regarding the return of Christ, settled upon the whole of ‘Christendom’!

Do we not see this developing today? It is fair to say that few church pulpits, even those counted as ‘fundamental’, give due mention of this important doctrine!

Where it is mentioned it is anything but what is revealed in Holy Scripture but rather a ‘sensationalised’ and imaginary account, designed to enhance the status of the pulpiteer! It is ‘Hollywood’, alive and well, in the pulpits of the neo-evangelical ‘excitement mongers’ of today!

But there is little by way of setting forth of what the Bible has to say of this most glorious event!

2. I think that there is a holding back by some who know the truth for fear of a strident response by the ‘A millennialists’ that are abroad. These pick their targets very carefully. If they think that they will meet with stiff opposition, they tend to say nothing. The timid they will mock and deride!

That in itself shows that they have embraced an error. Who will stay silent when what they teach is attacked, if what they teach is TRUE?

Amillennialists

Briefly stated: ‘Amillennialists reject the view that Jesus Christ will physically reign on the Earth for exactly one thousand years. Rather, they interpret the ‘thousand years’ mentioned in Revelation 20 as a symbolic number.’

* In adopting the notion that the Lord Jesus Christ will NOT literally reign on the Earth for exactly one thousand years, they reject the six-fold repeating that He will just do that BY THE HOLY GHOST!

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,” Revelation 20:1-7.

Now why would the Lord state this period six times, without ever indicating that He is speaking ‘figuratively’? After all, every other time He spoke parabolically, we are told He was doing so! (Matthew 13:18, 24, 31, 33. etc!).

I believe that the term, thousand years, is repeated six times in order to emphasis the reality of it!

3. I suppose too, the preaching of a doctrine of Christ literally reigning for 1000 years on this earth, will arouse the world’s derision. That is a daunting prospect to some who wish to ever stay of the right side of public opinion! To really stay on the right side of the world’s opinion, nothing of the Gospel message would be preached since it has all been denied at one time or another and today it is generally denied and mocked in its entirety!

Paul did not stop preaching the doctrine of the resurrection because of the sneers of the Athenians! “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them,” Acts 17:32-33.

In our text there are five terms employed by Paul, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, which indicate a sense of the ‘NEARNESS’ of the Saviour’s return.

II. OUR SALVATION IS NEARER THAN WHEN WE BELIEVED.

1. From the moment of our conversion we have been moving closer every day to Christ’s return! That is one of the matters that become alive to the Gospel convert. They suddenly become aware of the approach of the ‘Day of the Lord’! Such matters were never pondered or thought upon. Now, grace causes these matters to rise above all else in life! Suddenly, seeking “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” Matthew 6:33, becomes the singular most important matter in life!

1. Early believers lived with this day ever before them. “ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven,” 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10.

From the earliest times there was a looking forward to that day. “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,” Philippians 3:20-21.

2. Its importance is seen in that it is the day of ‘our salvation’! That is the day of our glorification and deliverance from all the confines, tortures and afflictions of our sinful nature. On the day of Christ’s return we will be wonderfully and eternally changed! “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is,” 1 John 3:2.

How could the believer live from day to day and not think of such a thing?

It surely must be possible only for those asleep!

3. However, sleep often does overtakes the believers! “It is high time to awake out of sleep.” How often you find God’s people asleep in times of crises! The apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane is a prime example! “And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy,” Matthew 26:43. See verse 40.

III THE DAWN IS NEAR.

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” We often refer to the ‘day of apostasy’ when it very much ought to be the ’night’ of apostasy!

1. The long, long night began with the fall of Adam. Thus, every soul born of him is in darkness. “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness,”John 12:46. Note the words — “abide in darkness.”

2. During this time of ‘night’, we are to shine. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,” Philippians 2:15.

“Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon?” Song of Solomon 6:10. The moon shines in a world of night and provides but a dim light.

3. It is always darkest before the dawn. This is an old saying and it is most certainly true regarding the dawn that will come at Christ’s return. The world will never have been in greater darkness than that which will prevail in the last days of this age! 1 Timothy 3:1-5.

4. Soon will come the day of our shining as the sun! “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” Matthew 13:43.

There is little though given to these truth otherwise there would be fewer sleeping saints!

Let us live from day to day with a consciousness of the near approach of that glorious day and seek to live in accordance with Peter’s exhortation.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night . . . Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God . . . ?” 2 Peter 3:10-12.

The word ‘hasting’ is the word that is applied to the the response of the shepherds to te angelic announcement.

“And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger,” Luke 2:16.

Let us likewise leave off all earthly matters and dwell upon the truth that the return of Christ is near!