These are the days Daniel 7:13-14

A favorite song of my favorite preacher ever says, “These are days of Elijah,” meaning that the same power available to men like Elijah is there for the taking for those who follow the Lord Jesus. We can look for His return at any moment in time and expect Him to come riding on the clouds to our rescue and to judge the world. Those who live with this truth in front of them will live differently than those who do not believe that Christ not only empowers their daily walk but will judge all those who do not walk with Him. Bro. Jim McDaniel, was a man of God who held firmly to his commitment to Christ, because He truly believed(s) the words that we read in
Daniel 7:13-14 this morning. The Lord Jesus will return to rescue His people, and everyone who has rejected the free offer of grace will experience the judgment of the One who died to give them that offer.
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While the study of end times is not something that I find as interesting as previous generations, I realize that a lack of urgency on the part of the church today is a direct result of our neglect of this precious doctrine. It is almost as if we do not believe that our Lord could return at any moment, or that we do not have the same power available to us that prophets like Elijah were able to wield. The truth is, the same life transforming power is in us, if we have given our hearts to the Judge of the earth. Jesus applies this passage to Himself, without qualification, throughout the gospels, but two instances stuck out to me in my reading this morning.
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Both the passages I mention have to do with His return, and subsequent judgement of the world. I encourage you to spend time this morning considering all ways you would live your life differently today, if you really believe them. I am going to end with these two passages in context without much comment.
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Mark 13:22-37
details the end of all things, Jesus tells us that people will attempt to deceive us and make us believe they are the true messiah in order to get us to do things that go contrary to Scripture. We need to see past our small idea that this can happen only if we believe a specific person who claims to be the Christ, and realize that our world is full of people who claim to have found the secret to life, happiness, and eternal joy, apart from Christ (not discounting there is an actual antichrist) this could be any number of deceptions that lead us from the Lord. Jesus’ main point here is that when He shows up everyone is going to know and there will be no doubt that He is the Lord so listen to Him and follow Him until He does!
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Matthew 24:29-31
talks about how the Lord is going to return and there is no one will be safe from His wrath. Only His people will be rescued from the flood of judgment that will cover the World when He returns. Read the whole chapter if you need to see more of what is going to happen but the point is the same. Jesus is coming and when He does the whole world of people that has rejected Him is going to be sorry, only those who truly love and follow Him will be safe.
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These are not happy thoughts so close to Christmas, but they are necessary thoughts for those who love Jesus, and they should be urgent thoughts for those who do not.
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I pray that those who claim the name of Jesus will like these are the days of Elijah and that will choose to follow the Lord and Him alone and those who do not know Jesus will admit they are sinners, believe in Christ and His free gift of salvation and Confess Him as Lord of their lives as they repent of their sins and ask for His forgiveness.