When we first believed, the Lord came into us, and we were brightened, illuminated, energized, and made whole. The Lord appeared Himself to us just as He first came 2000 years ago as a “great light” to “the people sitting in darkness,” (Matt. 4:16), and just as God separated the day from the night in Genesis (Gen. 1:14). Yet as believers of many years, that day might seem long ago. Many of us have become darkened and sleepy in our spiritual condition. The Bible tells us that as the day of His return draws near, many believers are weak, lost, and dizzied by the world (Amos 8:13), and “the love of the many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12). Between His two great comings, His bride, the church, seems to be sleeping (S.S. 2:7-10).
As distant as He may feel to some, the Lord is not distant at all to those who eagerly await Him; He has formed the entire universe to guide us to know Him and watch for His return. Everything has been sovereignly arranged by Him. From the beginning, He established the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky to “be for signs and for seasons and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14) — a divine calendar marking out the appointed times for Him to be with us. Today, we may not follow the physical Jewish calendar of feasts or superstitiously seek out outward signs, but we should have a divine calendar within our spirit to wake up and see that the time is drawing near for His return. Before the coming “trumpet” (1 Thess. 4:16), we all must repent — that is, we all must turn from our darkness to come back to Him.
Brothers and sisters, today we need to turn toward His brightness; this turn brings us into His shining presence (Gk. “parousia”; Matt. 24:3, 27). Just as Solomon called his lover to wake up and let him in, so, too, is the Lord knocking at the door, seeking for us to awaken (S.S. 5:2-5). In the New Testament, we see a similar supplication: Paul calls us to wake up from our sleep and let Christ shine on us (Rom. 13:11; Eph. 5:14). The Lord is showing us His presence at this very moment, but are our eyes open, our gaze directed at Him? Are we clear to see how He is moving and arranging in His own course, according to His own plan? Saints, He is waiting for His bride to awaken. Let us shake off our sleepiness and look up! The Lord will soon appear.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 7/21/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)