Pastor Joseph
Mar 24, 20232 min
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)
Some people are afraid of the end of time because they believe it will be full of trials and tribulations and much suffering. But in the Bible, the second advent of Jesus is a thing to be hoped for, a thing to wait on and anticipate. And while it's true that it will come with hardships of various kinds, it is primarily the coming of salvation for the people of God. That's why the last lines of the entire bible are "Come, Lord Jesus!"
In light of that, Jesus' words in Matthew 24 take on an interesting significance. It seems that one of the prerequisites to the second coming of Christ is that the gospel is proclaimed to all the peoples of the world. Right now there are still many people who have never even heard the name Jesus. You can look them up under the so-called "10/40 Window." And what that means is that we can actively work toward the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. God has his timing and no one knows the day or the hour except the Father alone. But if we know the conditions, then we can certainly work toward those conditions. We can work for the proclamation of the gospel to all the nations. We can work towards the second coming of Jesus.
Some of you might be called to personally take the gospel to the nations. Some of you may be called to work for some parachurch ministry that does that, or to give money to a missionary. But all of us are called to pray that the gospel would reach those who have never heard the good news of salvation in Jesus. And in doing so, to hasten the day when Jesus returns.
Who are you praying for today?