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2 Peter Chapter 2
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. Revelation 20:7-8 7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to [deceive] the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: (the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.) The nations, thus multitudinous, have been restrained during the millennial reign. Evil and unbelief have been held in check, but they have not been extinguished. The millennial reign is clearly, therefore, not a period in which the rule of CHRIST is universally and sincerely accepted. There are powers at work which compete for human affections and interests; but the general acceptance of Christian principles keeps the evil forces in abeyance, and the gracious strength of GOD limits the power of the arch-enemy. But when the restraints are removed, the long-suppressed evil breaks forth, and the (reluctantly) submissive nations are gathered together to the war—not to battle, as in our version, but to the war—i.e., to the war which has been before spoken of in Revelation 16, 19. All the restraints which CHRIST and Christian teaching had supplied to the world are gradually removed. The Euphrates is dried, the Devil is loosed, the unclean spirits have gone forth, the last phase of the long war between good and evil, between CHRIST and Belial, (the devil) will be entered.
When JESUS returns - Will HE find faith?? Verse 8 of Luke 18 is ( to me ) - a very chilling statement that Our SAVIOR JESUS makes. Will HE ( JESUS ) find faith on earth when HE returns? Luke 18:8 “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, [shall he find faith on the earth]?”
Job 20:5-8 written prior to Lukes gospel, CHRIST'S statement to HIS disciples, seems to be illustrating the conclusion as to the
general condition of mankind.
Job Chapter 20
5 That the triumphing of the wicked [is] short, and the joy of the hypocrite [but] for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
7 [Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where [is] he?
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. A synonym of “providence” would be prudence. Sagacity, wisdom,
advisability.. Something that seems to be lacking in the world at large.
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” If HE ( GOD ) is Omnipotent and Omniscient, ( and HE is ) why would HE ask a question like that? It’s almost like the feeling is that it’s going to get so bad on earth before HIS return, (HE) asks this question of whether or not there’ll even be faith left on the earth at HIS return. It [ is ] of course, ‘rhetorical’ and asked in order to produce an effect or to make a
statement, rather than to elicit information. To say; "as it was in the days of Noe" ( Noah ) Luke 17:26, And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. This too applies in that same parallel, Luke 17 28-29, Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
What is the context of all this? At the beginning of Luke 18, “HE spoke a parable to them that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” HE went on to tell about the woman who kept coming to a judge in her city to get justice for a wrong done to her. JESUS said the judge was unjust and didn’t fear GOD or man. But finally he just wanted the woman to stop bugging him about the matter so he tended to it. Then JESUS asked HIS listeners, “Won’t GOD answer HIS own elect who cry to HIM daily?”
It’s all about prayer and having the faith that GOD will answer. If that unjust judge took action just because that woman kept after him, won’t the GOD of heaven hear and answer the prayers of HIS people? But then JESUS asked, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Here are a few other verses from the Bible that bring light on that time and seem to indicate the dire straits the world will be in then.
*( Luke 17 & 18 are very interesting reads, to say the least..) *( Romans 8:6-8 )As well as: Matthew 24:12-13. Matthew 24:21, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Then in II Thessalonians 2:3 Paul said about the second coming of the Lord, “that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.” A falling away from faith in GOD throughout the earth. Maybe you haven’t fallen away or you live in a community where faith is still vibrant -- But on a national and international scale, faith in GOD has declined dramatically in the last century or so, especially throughout the nations of the Western world.
Matthew 24:6
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
But these are just the beginning of sorrows. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 that I quoted above, the full verse says “That day shall not come except (+) there come a falling away first (+) and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” *Incidentally, these (2) points, "there come a falling away" (and) "the man of sin be revealed," are the {only} (2) points that need to take place before the Harpazo/Rapture event does. This is something that’s not happened yet but it may happen in our lifetimes. Here and elsewhere the Bible predicts that, in the very last days before the return of JESUS, a devil-possessed dictator will try to rule the world in a 'new world order'.
But the bad news is that during that time there is going to be “great tribulation” such as the world has never seen, (Matthew 24:21). It says this Antichrist will “wear out the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:25)
“And he shall speak great words against the MOST HIGH, and shall wear out the saints of the MOST HIGH, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
The way to parse that would be:
{ Time = 1 year. Times = 2 years. Dividing of time = ½ a year. } ( 3 ½ years ).
Other verses indicate that there [ will be ] people of faith on earth who
“will be strong and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32). But by the end of this 3½ year period, the Bible says this Antichrist will have “scattered the power of the holy people” (Daniel 12:7), just before the Triumphant return of JESUS CHRIST.
Maybe this is why JESUS asked that question, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
It is going to be the roughest, toughest time in the history of the world for the people of faith. Matthew 24:21, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” ( Woe... That is a huge statement. ) Hold fast to your crowns !
Revelation 3:11
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Hebrews 3:6-8,
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
7Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
[ Will ] JESUS find faith on earth when HE [ Returns ]??
2 Timothy 1:13
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
Parable of the Persistent Widow
1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2Saying, There was in a city a
judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
Joel 3:11-17
11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Hebrews 1:1-2 ...'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last daysspoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.'
"The beginning of sorrows" started nearly 2000 years ago with the persecution of the early church and the destruction of Jerusalem. We are living right at the end of time.
Will The Son of Man find faith ? I believe that answer will be ------- YES !
Joel 3:10
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Revelation 2:25-26
25 But that which ye have [already] hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: Hold fast, stay in THE WORD of GOD !
