TO PREACH THE LORD’S SOON RETURN

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18–19).

There is a need to preach the gospel today especially when we see signs of the soon return. World events are developing towards a war that will end all wars. According to Dr John Walvoord, former President of Dallas Seminary, this war will lead to WWIII, even Armageddon.

We are told in Revelation 9:13–16, “And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.” The threats from Iran, and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the terrorism of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) in the land of the “great river Euphrates” are ominous. The size of this army is enormous—“two hundred thousand thousand” (ie 200 million). The East must include the Far East. After the recent American pull-out, China has stepped in to befriend Afghanistan.

Revelation 16:12–16 says, “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon thegreat river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” The “kings of the east” are the nations east of Israel—Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and not least China.

Jesus says, “Behold, I come as a thief” (Rev 16:15). We do well to be watchful and godly in such perilous times. 1 Thessalonians 5:2–6 says, “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. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” Jesus is coming, are we ready?

I want to be ready and I want you to be ready. And that is why I have this burden to study with you the Book of Revelation. There are some of us who have studied the book of Revelation before. It is always good to study it again. We should study it again with a fresh mind and heart because there is surely more to be learned. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the acceptable year of the Lord’s soon return. And I pray you will learn to face the days head not by material might or political power, but by the Spirit of the Lord—“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech 4:6).

I thank God for my pastoral colleagues—Rev Dr Jose Lagapa and Rev Zhu Jianwei—who together with me will do the work God has assigned us. What is the work of pastors? It is “to preach the gospel to the poor.” The gospel is not just John 3:16 but the whole Bible—the divinely inspired and preserved, and totally inerrant and infallible Word of God. It is not easy to find sound doctrinal preaching of God’s Word today. Amos 8:11 says, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD”. Pray for your pastors that we might be diligent to study God’s Word in order to feed the flock.

Who are the poor? First they are True Lifers, you who attend church week after week. Our Lord says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3). Blessed are the humble, who “hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt 5:6). You will surely find yourselves spiritually satiated with God’s infinite and infallible Word when you study it humbly and faithfully. There are many who are spiritually hungry, but there are also many who are spiritually sick. What medicine is there for the spiritually sick? There is no other medicine but the Word of God. God’s Word is good medicine. The weekly Lord’s Day feeding is most necessary, but not enough. There is a need to study God’s Word further and more intensively. The FEBC courses are helpful. I know of one who was addicted to TV, but after signing up for FEBC classes and studying God’s Word for herself, she found it so good that her addiction to TV was broken and her relationship with her husband restored. That is healing! To heal the broken hearted and to set the captives free.

As pastors, we seek to dispense the medicine of God’s Word from the pulpit. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” (Rev 2:7). We also try to dispense the tonic of God’s Word through the Weekly. Do you just read the back page and not the other three pages of heavier reading? Do you keep your daily devotions? The RPG is there to help and guide you. (God willing, the next issue of RPG will feature my devotional commentary on the Gospel of Mark.) We also have our Adults Sunday School. I thank God for Pr Samuel Joseph and Elder Mern Yee (with Rev Jianwei) who teach the English and the Chinese classes respectively. We also have to thank God that our children are well taught in the Sunday School by well qualified teachers, many of whom have their Bible certificates from FEBC.

Let us gather together to study God’s Word as a church, in our church worship services, Sunday Schools, fellowship meetings, prayer meetings, and hopefully soon, church camps, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb 10:25). JK