Jesus is Lord: One Year Bible Reading for December 2

 Today we read these verses in the One Year Bible:

Daniel 9:1-11:1
1 John 2:18-3:6
Psalm 121:1-8
Proverbs 28:27-28

Let's look at 1 John. It says something that we, here in 2022, should REALLY pay attention to. It says, "This is the last hour. As you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. Even NOW many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." That was written about 2000 years ago. Was it the end of time? Obviously not. Were there antichrists? Yes, there were. Did the things that John prophesied in these books and in the book of Revelation happen back then, or are they happening today, OR will they happen far in the future? The answer to these questions, as one of my favorite people says, is yes and no.

There were antichrists in John's time. There were antichrists in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are antichrists today. And there will be antichrists in the future. Is Jesus coming back soon? The best answer we Christians can give is "We don't know." We can't know. We need to live our lives, every day, like John did - expecting the end to come any minute, but ready for it to take another 2000 years if Jesus decides to. 

You realize that the reason He waits is for us, right? He's being VERY patient in ending the world, giving all of us time to get right with Him and live holy lives so that we can spend eternity with Him in the heaven He's been preparing for us for thousands of years.

It's going to be great. 

Then John goes on to say that the way we can tell if the Holy Spirit lives in us is if we say "Jesus is Lord", which the Holy Spirit prompts us to say. If we spontaneously say that, the spirit is in us. If we don't say it, or even more frighteningly CAN'T say it, then the spirit of God isn't in us. And we need to fix that. 

God, thanks for holding off the end so we can all get ready. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.