The Clampett household was all abuzz, as Uncle Jed’s nephew Jethro was
graduating from the sixth grade. They were exceptionally proud of him, so his
Uncle went out and let him pick out a watch for his graduation present. After
picking out his prize, he could hardly wait to get home and show it off. “Look
Granny,” he excitedly said, “checkout the hands on the little mouse.” But one
look at Mickey, and she replied “you dern fool, one hand is smaller than the
other...” never underestimate the value of a sixth grade education. Or on who
it is wasted. Or whom? Today with digital watches replacing hands on a watch,
and even more recent i-phones replacing watches, how we tell time has changed.
It used to be “quarter after,” or “half past,” now it is “6:29 or 7:14.” We’ll
leave it up to you to guess if it is PM or AM. The clues are there....I’ll bet
Jethro knows.
The cable box in our room stands on its side due to space considerations.
And depending how you look at it, the time can be 5:16 or 9:15, 9:01 or 1:06, or
5:51 or 2:21. Which can be disconcerting waking up and thinking time has past,
only to find an hour or two is missing. Or finding out you wanted to be up at 6
o’clock to watch a show, and the clock says 6:08, or is it 8:09? We no longer
have to ask where Mickey’s big hand is pointing, and today kids couldn’t tell
time by a clock that isn’t digital, or anything other than their cell phone.
Watches are stylish, they just happen to be able to tell time.
In 1969 Hal Lindsay wrote “The Late, Great Planet Earth,” about the end
times prophesied in the Bible. A best seller, when I read it I couldn’t put it
down, reading it all in one afternoon. It definitely was instrumental in
pointing me to Jesus, although I didn’t understand much of it. But we are in
the last days, and have been ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and
just watching the news emphasizes that fact. But these things are nothing new
the skeptics say, and they may be right. Perhaps it is the intensity, different
locations, and how everything is escalating that points to the rapture getting
closer. We are in fact one day closer than we were yesterday. And the Bible
tells us that even Jesus doesn’t know, only his father. Yet many try to predict
it, I even have some friends, they are not enemies, trying to predict it. So
embraced in Bible study, they think there is maybe a hidden verse somewhere in
the Bible to tell them. I avoid them, and last time they confronted me, I asked
“does it matter? Everyone will be in heaven who cares, and it won’t matter to
them either. Do you really think someone will brag in heaven about guessing the
date?” And yet they go on....
The fact is we don’t know, and Jesus doesn’t even know either. God
compares the rapture to a wedding, a Jewish wedding where a man and woman are
betrothed. But the wedding not consummated until the groom’s father feels he
can support his wife, until he is ready. Then with the sound of a trumpet, the
party begins, he calls for his wife, and the wedding night follows. We are the
bride, Jesus is the groom, and is making a place for us in heaven. With a
heavenly trumpet sound we will be called home, in he twinkling of an eye, some
1/240,000 of a second. Faster than a Hayabusa, we will be before Jesus in
heaven. But you must be saved, you must be the bride to go. Which is more
important, the time we are called or the fact we are called? So we are to live
in expectation of his return for us, as if it could happen today, which it may.
But he is also patient so that none should perish, if only he had returned a day
or year before you were saved, can you see the importance of his patience? And
why we aren’t old the time? Too many party like there is no tomorrow, they
danced in Noah’s day too. The party was hearty in Sodom and Gomarrah, now no
trace of them remains. Don’t think you have tomorrow, waiting is a tool of the
devil, and waiting and delaying are two different things. We are waiting for his
return, you may be delaying the day of your salvation thinking the party isn’t
over yet. Don’t be left behind!
So the signs are there, as many refer to the signs of the times. Crime is
rampant, prisons are on overload. Schools are a mess since God has been denied
access in 1963. We now have fire, earthquake, hurricane, and other strange
weather seasons. Lies are acceptable, cheating permitted, and no one has
respect for the gospel. Good news. But the good news is Jesus is coming back
soon, and soon is sooner than we expect. And on that day those left behind will
be wondering what happened, UFO’s from outer space? A Russian secret bomb? But
it won’t matter to us, we won’t be here. And here is your chance to avoid the
desolation that is to follow, know Jesus now, be saved. And it doesn’t take
more than a sixth grade education, remember the song from Sunday School, “Jesus
loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...” that’s the gospel, the word
that saves. I’ll bet even Jethro can remember that one!
Now about Mickey’s hands, one is for minutes and one for hours. But how do
you explain the third hand, which we call the second hand? And you’re worried
you don’t know the day or date? Let’s just hope for your sake it isn’t June
31st, or February 30th. Think about it....you dern fool.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com