Jesus is coming soon!
It is nearer than we think!
It is so near, some even say
“In just another blink!”
This was noised abroad
Way back in the 1st Century
And some of the things Jesus said
Suggested that eventuality.
It was not Jesus alone
But some of the apostles too,
Peter, James and John
Were of a similar view.
Hebrews 1:1-2
Paul was of the same mind
And the writer to the Hebrews,
Not near as in 2000 years
But a lesser distant view.
Jesus said “this generation”
And even some standing still
Would not taste of death
Till all these things be fulfilled.
Were anyone of them
Still in in our company today,
Methuselah could not be the oldest-
Oh no, my friend, no way!
Jesus’ response to his disciples
Indicated radical nearness
And the queries they asked of him
Were of an urgent request.
Hence Jesus responded in kind
And they clearly understood,
It shocked the daylights out of them
Right where the temple stood.
The temple was their life
And Jerusalem was their city
Yet Jesus said when these things occur
From the city they should flee.
Flee to the mountains he said
For these be the days of vengeance,
What is written was fulfilled
It is all in the past tense.
This was counterproductive,
It should be the other way around
But Jesus was warning them
The temple would be torn down.
In a city refuge is found
But surely not at this time,
They must depart their cherished city
If safety was on their mind.
Jerusalem would be breached
It would be judgment time
And not one stone upon another
Of the temple they would find.
Their house would be desolate
As Jesus had foretold,
The end of the old Jewish covenant
Seemed a heavy load.
This was the great tribulation
About which the apostle John had warned,
As chronicled in Revelation,
This was the impending storm.
He used words like near
At the door and also at hand,
Jesus would be coming quickly
According to the Divine plan.
But this radical nearness
Does not apply to us
Two thousand years hence
Since the advent of Jesus.
In James chapter 5 and verse 8
There is more,
The coming of the Lord drew near!
The judge stood at the door!
1 Peter 4:7
Peter said to watch and pray
The end of all things was at hand
The apostle Paul in Romans 13:12
Saw it as God’s unfolding plan.
Little children, it is the last time
This according to 1st John 2:18,
The “many antichrists” was the sign
And were already on the scene.
The things spoken of in Revelation
Were to shortly come to pass,
Not the future in the 21st Century
But the 1st Century that is passed.
Revelation 1:3
Blessed is he that readeth,
and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand.
Paul presented a history lesson
In 1st Corinthians 10
Showing that idolatrous fornication
Was Israel’s problem.
After all of God’s mercies
And all His benefits to them,
They made and worshipped a golden calf
Despite being His children.
Twenty-three thousand fell
In one single day,
So, in chapter 10 and verse 11
Here is what Paul had to say.
Now all these things
happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The ends of their world had come
As they soon came to recognize,
Certainly, to John and the apostles
It would come as no surprise.
It was radically near
As all the prophecies declared
And the fact they all came to pass
To me is biblically clear.
Stewart Russell © November 12, 2021
