PREPARING FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST

“So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come” (Luke 19:13 NKJV).

The theme of this verse speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we want to note two things: the promise of His coming and the precept for His coming.

Promise of His coming – “Till I come.” There is no question that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back! The promise relates to both the rapture and the revelation. The rapture is when the Lord Jesus returns in the air to take believers with Him (cf. 1 Thess. 4:17). The revelation occurs later when He literally returns to earth to rule over all the world (cf. Zech. 14:4, 9). The return of our Lord is a tremendous promise that believers have looked forward to since His resurrection and ascension. His return is called the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). What a glorious experience the coming of our Lord will be for His people.

Precept for His coming – “Do business till I come.” Many folks are all excited about the promise of the Lord’s coming but have little interest in the precept for His coming. But our Lord put a great emphasis on this part of the parable. The precept “Do business till I come” tells us two important things to do till Jesus returns. First, do our calling. In the parable, the Master gave his servants a certain sum of money. This was their calling. They were to “do business (occupy)” until the Master returned. We are all given Divine endowments for this life. And God expects us to take care of what He has given us so as to fulfill our calling. Second, do our calling faithfully. We are to stay busy with our calling till the Lord returns. Some folks in their zeal for the coming of Christ have quit their jobs and gone up on some hill to wait for His coming. This action is disobedience to the Lord’s command to “Do business till I come.” We are to keep busy doing our duty till the Lord returns.

(Adapted from Butler’s Daily Reading 3)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Christ hath told us He will come, but not when, that we might never put off our clothes, or put out the candle!”

William Gurnall (1616 - 1679

English Author and Anglican Clergyman

Word Study

Faint (lose heart)

In Heb. 12:3 we read, “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (NASB).

“Faint (lose heart)” is the Greek word ekluō (ἐκλύω = ek-loo'-o). It is made up of two words: “ek” which means out, and “luō” which means to loose. Thus, the word literally means to loosen out, to untie, to dissolve, to release, to relax effort. Figuratively, ekluō means to give up. In the passive voice ekluō means to become slack or tired and weary. In classical Greek, ekluō denotes to be set free and to be faint. In the Septuagint, ekluō was used of being freed from yokes and of weary or feeble hands. In the New Testament, ekluō carried the idea becoming weary and about to faint. Here in Hebrews, the writer uses ekluō to encourage his readers not to “loose heart” when they undergo trials. We all need to remember that whatever trials we are going through, God allows (or sometimes sends). Thus, we are ultimately in our Father’s hands.

“Fear Nots” Found in the Bible

“Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt” (John 12:15 KJV).

Did You Know…

According to 2 Cor. 11:24, the apostle was lashed (whipped) 5 times by the Jews.

Bible Quiz

Why would the Lord Jesus not answer the Pharisees who questioned His authority?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: What was the name of Adam’s third son? Seth (Gen. 4:25).

Names For the Lord Jesus in the Bible

“STAR OUT OF JACOB”

"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult” (Num. 24:17 NJKV).

1. Meaning – STAR OUT OF JACOB refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and Savior.

2. Insights – In context, Balaam was a false prophet hired by king Balak of Moab to curse Israel. However, God met Balaam and gave him a message for king Balak (cf. Num. 23:16). A star is a common metaphor for kings in the ancient Near East. Thus, “A Star out of Jacob” means that a powerful king will arise. In this “Star” we have a reference to the Messiah whose birth would be marked by the appearance of a star out of the east (cf. Matt. 2:2). Balaam caught a vision of “a Star out of Jacob,” the King who would smite the Moabites, but will rule Israel in the future.

Did You Know – Christian History

Hugh McKail was born about 1640 at Liberton, near Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a Scottish preacher and martyr.

At an early age, McKail was sent to reside with an uncle who was one of the ministers of Edinburgh. He entered the University of Edinburgh, studying divinity, where he distinguished himself. Ordained at twenty as a Presbyterian preacher, he held his pulpit for only one year. King Charles II, determined to force the Scots into an Episcopal form of worship, threw many Presbyterians out of their pulpits. This led many Scots to signing a covenant vowing not to allow destruction of the Presbyterian Church or to allow the government to control the Scottish church. They were called Covenanters. McKail was one of the Covenanters. He further angered the authorities by preaching a sermon against their persecution in which he said that the Scriptures give abundant “evidence that the people of God have been persecuted, sometimes by Pharaoh upon the throne, sometimes by a Haman in the state, and sometimes by a Judas in the church.”

For these bold words he had to flee to the European continent for three years. Eventually he returned home. Sadly, nothing had changed. There was the torturing of folks who did not have the money to pay their taxes. Men, women, and even worse, the elderly and children suffered the cruelty of the British army. Because of this, McKail joined the rebellion, but illness weakened him on his trek to battle, so he turned back and made his way to Edinburgh, where he was captured. However, McKail refused to tell who the others were or to incriminate them by saying that they had plotted their uprising in advance. To get the information out of him, he was tortured with the boot, a painful device in which a metal wedge was hammered against the leg bone. He passed out from pain when the bone split, but did not give the desired information.

Following a further hearing, he was sentenced to death. As he stood on the top of the scaffold, McKail gave his final speech: “Now I leave off to speak any more with created beings and begin my communion with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell, father and mother, friends and relations! Farewell, the world and all delights! Farewell meat and drink! Farewell, sun, moon and stars! Welcome, God and Father! Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant! Welcome, blessed Spirit of grace, God of all consolation! Welcome glory! Welcome eternal life! Welcome death!” His final speech made such an impression that some think it was the reason that soldiers soon after that began playing their drums loudly whenever a Covenanter tried to say a few last words from the scaffold. Hugh died for his faith.

A Little Humor

A lawyer gets diagnosed with a terminal Illness. On his deathbed, he asks for a Bible. The hospital staff thinks he has become religious now that his end is near. The doctor notices him going through every line carefully with a grave expression, so he asks, “What are you doing?” The lawyer looks up and replies dryly, “Looking for a loophole.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“The gospel is a delicious meal, not a bitter pill!”