WHEN CHRIST APPEARS

     
   A watchman climbs the ladder to look over the wall and to report impending danger.  But if the people do not believe in the words of the watchman, the enemy will enter the camp and destroy the people without them ever knowing from whence he came.
   
   The Bible enables us to know the future, and writing about the future is not always easy to do, nor is necessarily pleasant or fun.  Nevertheless, the watchman reports the truth.
   We are at a point in history, however, when there is something more important to do than living on wasted time.  So what manner of persons should we be?  We should be redeeming the time, for the days are evil. (Ephesians 5: 16)
   But in order for us to know how to be redeeming the time, we must first come to know the Redeemer, who is Christ the Lord.
   God enables us to know Him, and, by knowing Him, we can know the knowledge of God as His words are written in the Bible.  By knowing this knowledge of God, we can have knowledge of the future, and the future is the knowledge of God.  Christ, however, is the missing link between us and knowing God; and as we accept Christ as our Savior, we have access to God the Father and to His vast storehouse of knowledge.
   If we, on the other hand, try to skip Christ, we will not believe in the knowledge of God, which is contained in the Bible, and neither will we believe in the future that the Bible reveals.
   Salvation in Christ is free, and the knowledge of God is also free.
   Isn't this beautiful to know?
   Now then.  What can we learn from the Bible from the knowledge of God?
   Evil is seductive:  sugar-coated and candy sweet.  When embraced, evil will consume people and then destroy them---for Satan, who is the Destroyer, is the god of evil.
   Religion, therefore, is an evil thing, for religion is seductive:  sugar-coated and candy sweet.  When embraced, religion will consume people, then destroy them---for Satan, who is the Destroyer, is the god of religion.
   Jesus said, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10: 10)
   Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin and to release us from the clutches of religion, to have life more abundantly, and to stop serving make-believe gods of religion, for none of these gods are living.  But Satan, who is behind the images of gods and goddesses, is very much alive.  And Christ is greater than the devil!
   No wonder the Word of the Lord declares,
      How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10: 15)
   Therefore having our faith in Christ sealed by the Holy Spirit, we can believe that Christ is coming again, and when He comes we shall see Him in the clouds!
   This is the future the watchman sees when he looks over the wall:  he sees the danger of evil, but, more than this, he sees the future for Christ.