“…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

– Jesus Christ, Luke 18:8b, NIV

It’s never been more critical that we be in a right relationship with Jesus Christ!

I’ve been blessed with a full and productive life, but it’s clearly a different world confronting our children and grandchildren today.  Absent the hope that only Jesus gives, it’s unimaginable how they can pursue life’s hopes and dreams while the world crumbles and implodes around them at an astounding rate!

And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that truth is taking a brutal beating these days.  Nobody knows what to believe anymore.  Even so, we are confronted with significant life decisions in the context of information we have – even if found to be false, flawed, faked or fabricated.  Praise God for His word and the counsel of the Holy Spirit to guide us!

Jesus has identified Himself as the Truth –

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can

we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me’”

– John 14:5-6, NIV

In other words, you can take what Jesus says to the bank – no need to doubt or fact-check Him on Snopes.  God’s prophecies in Scripture are not predictions – there’s no guesswork, no errors, no Las Vegas betting lines, no hunches, no speculation behind them.  Unconstrained by time and space, Jesus Christ sees mankind’s past, present and future – all at once!   Prophecies recorded in His word simply share history with us in advance – and they are 100% accurate!  Jesus knows the future because He already sees it!

Just before He declared that He is the Truth, Jesus told His followers –

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also”      

– John 14:2-3, NKJV

That’s more than a promise — It’s a fact from the One who IS the Truth.  His return to take true believers home to be with Him for eternity is imminent – an unprecedented event with massive significance to the world.

What do I mean by “true believers”?  I doubt you will find the term in any version of Scripture, per se, so let me explain.  Jesus revealed that some people are deluded — thinking they are in a right relationship with Him, typically based on some good or noble things they have done.  They thus convince themselves they have earned their way into a right relationship with God.  Sadly, when they stand before Him in judgment, they will be utterly shocked to learn Jesus Christ never considered them His followers based simply on deeds they deemed noble or worthy.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”

– Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:21-23, NIV

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing;  it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV

“Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent’”

– Jesus Christ, John 6:29, ESV

So, how do you become a “true believer?  Recognize your sinful condition, and believe that Jesus Christ –

• Came into the world as God in the flesh                    (Colossians 2:9)
• Died to pay the penalty for your sin                            (1 Corinthians 15:3)
• Was buried and rose to life again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15: 4)

Those who thus believe this “Good News” – i.e., the gospel of our salvation —

• Receive eternal life as a gift from God (Romans 6:23)
• Receive the Holy Spirit in them (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• Are sealed until the Day of Redemption (Ephesians 4:30)

Are you in a right relationship with Jesus?  Are you ready to meet Him?

– By Gary M. “Mick” Wells –