"How To Be Ready For Jesus' Return"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know, it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's Word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now, let's get to the Word of God. Luke chapter 21, Jesus said, when these things begin to take place, lift up your heads for your redemption is drawing near. Jesus gave us three major signs of His return that in fact are converging today in our day and in our time. Three things that have never happened in the 2,000 years since the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and went back to heaven. And Jesus said, when you see these things happening, you know that My return is near. Now, I want to share these three things with you this morning and see if you agree with me that our redemption as followers of Christ is drawing near. And once we've done that, then I want us to ask a very important question.

It's not, so what today? The question today is, if Jesus Christ's return is near, how can you and I as followers of Christ be sure that we're ready for it? So that's our plan as we look forward to a new year. And let's begin by talking about those three signs that Jesus mentioned.

Here they are, number one. Sign number one that indicates the return of Christ is approaching is the return of the Jewish people to their land. In Luke 21, Jesus said, Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Now, the key word there is the word until. Jesus says that Gentile kingdoms will trample on Jerusalem until it's time for Him to return, until it's time for the Jewish people to be back in the center of God's plan for the ages. And you know, this all started in 70 AD when the Romans conquered and sacked the city of Jerusalem, burning the temple to the ground. In 132 AD, they once again sacked the city of Jerusalem. They spread salt over the entire city and they made it a capital offense, punishable by death, for any Jewish person to be found inside the city limits. Thus began the time of Gentile domination of Jerusalem. But God promised here in the Bible that Jerusalem would belong to the Jewish people once again someday and that when this happened, the return of Jesus Christ would be near. Well, in May of 1948, the modern state of Israel was created by the United Nations. Friends, this was an absolute miracle. It is unprecedented in world history what happened.

Think about it now. No other people in the history of the world has ever been separated from their homeland for 1900 years and survived as a people. No other people has ever been separated from their homeland for 1900 years and ever gotten their homeland back. No other language has ever died out as a living spoken language as Hebrew did and then been revived as a living spoken language as is spoken in Jerusalem today except for Hebrew. And how do we explain all of this?

Well, there's more even. Remember after the Six-Day War in June 1967, for the first time in 1900 years, the city of Jerusalem was back in the hands of the Jewish people. Why did this happen? Well, the answer friends is that God is not finished with the Jewish people yet. His plan for the ages calls for the Jewish people to be smack dab in the middle of that plan. And this explains why the Jewish people are still around today and back in their land again. Friends, the Philistines, the Phoenicians, the Pharaohs, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, they're all gone.

The Hittites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Amorites, the Edomites, the Canaanites, and the Termites, they're all gone. But the Jewish people are still here. And Jesus tells us in the Bible as his return approaches at the end of the age, we should expect to see the Jewish people back in their land. We should expect to see the Jewish people back in control of Jerusalem.

And this has happened right in our lifetime. Sign number two is the rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Matthew 24, Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, they said, tell us Lord, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And in response, Jesus said, verse 15, when you see the abomination that causes desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, now if you know anything about the temple in Jerusalem, you know that the holy place that Jesus is referring to here was the central building, the main building of the temple. He says, when you see that abomination that causes desolation standing there, verse 30, then all nations will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. Now what is this crazy abomination that causes desolation thing that we're talking about?

Well, Jesus told us, go back to Daniel the prophet and he'll tell you what it is. So when we go back there, Daniel chapter nine, we read this, the Antichrist will put an end to sacrifices and offerings where? In the temple and will set up an abominable image in a wing of the temple in Jerusalem. Paul echoes this in the New Testament, 2 Thessalonians 2, he, the Antichrist, will set himself up in God's temple, Paul writes, proclaiming himself to be God. This abomination that Jesus is referring to is obviously an image, a statue, an idol of the Antichrist himself that he sets up in the Jerusalem temple and demands that people worship it. And Jesus said, when you see this happen, you know, my coming is imminent. You say, but law, there is no temple in Jerusalem.

Well, that's true right now. But friend, there's gonna be, you know, I got this article out of the newspaper, it says, move to build third Jewish temple in Jerusalem stirs resistance. Now this did not come out of the National Enquirer.

This came out of the Washington Post. The article starts off by saying a group of Israelis and Jews abroad are quietly planning the construction of the third Jewish temple. The article goes on to tell about how in Jerusalem, they're rebuilding the implements, the furniture, everything that's needed to reestablish sacrifice at this temple. If you ever go with me to Israel, we go to the Temple Institute where you see these recreated implements and pieces of furniture.

And they tell you there that they didn't make these things for tourists to come look at. They made them to be actively used in the temple worship of a new temple that they're planning to build. And the article ends by saying this with the leader of the Temple Institute saying, we believe that all of our hopes and all of our attempts will cause some activity in the heavens. And with God's help, the day will come soon when we will build the temple.

Friends, this is happening over there. And when that temple starts to go up, just remember you heard it here first, okay, that we told you this is going to happen. Third sign and finally, is the Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus Christ at a rate that has never been seen in history. Romans chapter 11, Paul writes and says, Israel has experienced a partial spiritual hardening until there's our key word, the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. The Bible says that because the Jewish people rejected their Messiah 2000 years ago, God put, what does this verse say, a spiritual hardening. Literally the Greek word means a callousing on their hearts.

This explains why. So few Jewish people have come to faith in Jesus in the last 1900 years. It's because of this spiritual hardening. Now notice, the verse said it was a partial hardening, not a complete hardening. If it was a complete hardening, not a single Jewish person would have ever come to Christ in the last 1900 years.

A few of us have, so it was a partial hardening. But again, notice our word until. The Bible says that one day is the time of the Gentiles comes to an end, as the return of Christ draws near, the Bible says God is going to lift this spiritual hardening. And when God does this, we should expect to see Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus Christ in numbers like we have never seen in the last 2000 years.

Well, I'm here to tell you that this is actually happening today. I went to a conference a number of years ago with Dr. Daniel Fuchs. He was at the time the past president of the American Board of Missions to the Jews. And he began at this, it was a little conference, he began talking about the history of Jewish missions here in the United States of America. He went all the way back to the pilgrims and the Puritans.

And then he concluded by saying this. He said, when I began with the American Board of Missions to the Jews in 1937, notice that wasn't even 70 years ago, I believe that I knew every Jewish Christian in the United States and Canada. Now friends, how many could there be if this man knew them all?

50, 100, 150 maybe? It seemed we were so few, he said. The Jewish leaders mostly ignored or scorned us. To most of them, Jewish missions were either non-existent or a joke.

But, he goes on to say, what a difference it is today. Wherever I go, there are Jewish Christians. The rabbis no longer ignore us, they attend our meetings.

They read everything we publish. They hold seminars on how to answer the missionaries. He went on to say more Jews are being won to the Lord Jesus today than at any time since the days of the apostles. Do you realize we estimate today that there are between 60 and 80,000 Jewish people who believe in Jesus around the world? Friends, there have never been that many Jewish people who believed in Jesus since the time Jesus himself walked on the earth. I doubt very seriously if there were 60 or 80,000 Jewish people in the days of the apostles who believed in Jesus and yet they're alive today. There are over 6,000 Jewish people, Israelis, native Israelis in Israel who believe in Jesus and they have over 40 congregations that meet every single week and worship Jesus as the Messiah.

This is unbelievable what's happening. Dr. Fuchs went on to say, first he stopped, he got tears in his eyes and then he said this, I'm 76 years old, I've been in Jewish work for more than 50 years. I wondered if I would ever see these things but now I can lie down and close my eyes with joy. Well Dr. Fuchs died two weeks to the day after I heard him speak of a sudden heart attack but you know he was right. I came to Christ as a Jewish person in 1971. When I gave my life to Christ in 1971 I honestly thought I was the only Jewish person in the whole world that believed in Jesus. I thought it went Peter, Paul, James, John, and 1900 years and me.

I really thought that. I didn't know a single Jewish person in the whole world that believed in Jesus. I never even heard of a Jewish person that believed in Jesus. Now the truth is in 1971 there were not a lot of Jewish people that believed in Jesus but you know everywhere I go today I run into Jewish believers just like Dr. Fuchs. In fact we have 100 to 200 Jewish believers in this one church alone.

When I came to Washington in 1971 there weren't 200 Jewish believers in the entire city of Washington. What is happening is amazing. And why is it happening?

I'll tell you why. Because the callousing, the hardening is being lifted from the Jewish people. And why is that happening? Because the times of the Gentiles are coming to an end.

And why is that happening? Because the return of Jesus Christ is drawing near. Let's summarize. What are these three signposts that the Lord Jesus left us and said when you see them converging at some point in history you better lift up your head and look because your redemption is getting nigh? Well number one, the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and to Jerusalem.

That's already done. Number two, the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. Well that's imminent.

And number three, the Jewish people coming to faith in Christ in unprecedented numbers. Well that's happening too. You say, well Lon, does this mean that Jesus is definitely returning? Because if he is, I'm going out this next week.

I'm going to empty my IRA and I'm buying that red Porsche that I've always wanted for my life. Just tell me, is he coming for sure? Now that brings us to the real issue. The real issue is if Jesus is indeed coming back and he is, how do you and I get ready to meet him when he comes?

And I've got three suggestions to give you and then we're done today. The prophet Amos said, Amos chapter 4, prepare to meet your God. And Amos was calling us to a very wise thing. He was saying smart people make deliberate preparations to meet Jesus Christ. Smart people do deliberate planning of their life so that they're ready to meet him and not be ashamed when he comes.

And I want to talk to you about the three things you and I need to do in order to make that reality in our lives. Number one, the first way is to make sure that you and I have a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 7, Jesus said, many people will say to me on that day, on what day? Well on the day when he comes back, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And in your name, did we not drive out demons? And in your name, perform many miracles.

Look at all this religious activity. Then I will say to them, Jesus said, depart from me for I never knew you. You know, friends, the issue when Jesus comes back, what does he say here, is not religious activity. The issue is not church membership or good works. The issue is, did we know, do we know Jesus Christ in a real and personal way? Now if you're here today and you're not sure you do, let me tell you how this happens in a person's life. We come into a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ when we renounce our own righteousness, when we renounce our own good works and our own religious activity as our strategy for getting into heaven, and when we instead embrace his death on the cross as our only payment for sin, when we give our heart and our whole life to him as our personal Lord and Savior, that's when we get a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I had a man in my office a while back and we were talking and as we talked, it became obvious to me that he had a huge amount of head knowledge about Christ, but he had never given his heart to him. And I said to him, I said, you know, you're 18 inches away from being ready to meet Jesus Christ.

He said, what? I said, you're 18 inches away. You got all this stuff in your head, but the issues down here in your heart, you're 18 inches away from being ready. If you could move everything in your head down and do something with your heart, you'd be ready. And friends, I'll bet you in a crowd like this, we've got some of you here who are 18 inches away from being ready to meet Jesus Christ. Well, I'm here to call on you to fix that. You need to fix that. Paul says 2 Corinthians chapter 6, I tell you now is the day of salvation because one day Jesus is going to suddenly unexpectedly and beyond remedy return.

And if you haven't already fixed this, it's going to be too late. Once we've done that, once we've got a personal relationship for Christ, we're ready for the last two things. Way number two to be ready for the return of Christ is to be serious about living a God-honoring lifestyle. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul writes, for we as followers of Christ must all stand before the judgment bar of Christ, that each one of us may receive what is due us for the things done while we were in our bodies, whether good or bad. As followers of Christ, the Bible says that when you and I arrive in heaven, our earthly lives are going to be evaluated by Jesus Christ.

Now look here, listen carefully. This evaluation has nothing to do with whether or not we go to heaven or hell. That was settled the day we trusted Jesus Christ. Everybody who goes through this evaluation is already in heaven and they're for good.

This is basically a performance review. This is an opportunity for us to work through how we performed as followers of Christ down here on earth. Once we came to Christ, remember the stuff before you came to Christ is under the blood. You're not going to be evaluated for that, but for what you and I did as followers of Christ. And on this basis, God is going to hand out rewards in heaven or lack thereof. Now I don't know about you, but I just got to tell you for me, this is a terrifying thought, that when I get to heaven, I'm going to stand in front of the Lord Jesus and we're going to put my life on rewind and we're going to go back to the beginning of my Christian walk and he and I together are going to look at every word I said, every action I took, every deed I made, every value I had, and we're going to evaluate it together. Maybe that doesn't scare you, but that scares me because friends when you stand there in front of the Lord, there's not going to be any concealing of things. There's not going to be any secrets.

There's not going to be any spin doctrine like here in Washington. You know, it's going to all be out in the open. And in light of that fact, God advises us here in the Bible how we should live down here. Paul writes to Titus and says, while we await the blessed hope, that is the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, while we're waiting for it, Paul says we should say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and instead we should seek to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. Now, can any of us do that perfectly?

No. But I'll tell you what, we may not be able to be perfect, but we ought to be determined and zealous and anxious to do the very best we can because we're not getting away with anything. You know, I'm always amazed at people who feel like they covered it up and got away with something down here. What are you kidding? Are you kidding? You really believe God didn't see all that?

You really believe it's not coming around again? We live in the town of Washington where people do all kinds of stuff and think as long as it doesn't get discovered, they pulled it off. What are they, kidding?

What are they? Do they not believe that God sees and is who He is? Well, friend, I'm just telling you, He sees, He knows and for you as a follower of Christ and for me, everything we do is coming back around again. Now, if that's true, we should do our best to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives so as James says, we will not be ashamed at His coming.

Last way that we can get ready for the return of Christ is to have a do it now attitude when it comes to serving God. You say, see there Lon, I knew it all the time, you're a fanatic. See, I knew you were a fanatic. Well, you know what, I'll accept that label.

I will. I would much rather meet Jesus coming back and have Him say to me, you know Lon, you were maybe just a little fanatical about serving me. I'll take that any day versus having Him come back and say to me, what were you doing? You're relaxing? This world's not for relaxing, Lon. This world's for serving me.

Heaven's for relaxing. What's wrong with you? I don't want to hear that. So call me a fanatic. I'll accept that label and I'll meet the Lord with it gladly. And I would suggest to you that wouldn't be a bad label for every one of us here to have on when it comes to serving the Lord Jesus. Well, let's summarize. The question is not, is He coming?

He is. We just don't know when. The question really is whether you and I will be ready when He gets here.

And so here's my challenge for the new year for you. Making preparations to meet the Lord Jesus. And how do we do that? Number one, by making sure we have a personal relationship with Him by personal faith in Him. Number two, by having a seriousness about living a God honoring lifestyle. Remember, everything you do, you're going to see again.

And number three, by having a do-it-now attitude when it comes to serving Jesus Christ. Hey, if you're going to go out one way or the other, why not burn out, friends? Don't rust out for Christ.

Burn out for Him. That's the way you want to do it. Well, I pray that these three things will be a conspicuous part of your life and that it will be a wonderful year for you in your service for Christ. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about, well, real life.

Write down where we live. And as we face the beginning of a new year, my prayer is that this would be an opportunity for us to really start a year that from the beginning is doing what Amos the prophet said. From the beginning is making preparations to meet you when you return. Father, help us take these three things we talked about, a personal relationship with Christ, living a godly life, and having a do-it-now attitude for Christ, and help us make these conspicuous parts of our life this coming year as followers of Christ here in Washington, so that as John said, we will not be ashamed to meet you. Lord, help us live in such a way that when you do come and we present our lives to you, that we will hear you say instead, well done, good and faithful servant.

I'm proud of you. Lord, that's our goal, and this is how we can live to get there. So change our lives because we were here today.

In Jesus' name we pray, and God's people said, amen. You've been listening to So What with Dr. Lon Solomon. So What is an Outreach of Lon Solomon Ministries? To listen to today's message or for more information, visit our website, lonsolomonministries.org. Thank you for your support. If you would like to contact us, please visit our website or call us at 866-788-7770. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions, So What.