THE OUT-POURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
“In
My Father's House are many mansions: If it were not so I wold have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and make a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself that
where I am, there ye may be also.”
(John 14: 2-3)
The
return of Jesus Christ at a specific predetermined time in the future
is a given! It
is destined to happen because Jesus said so. We would not expect
anything less than the TRUTH
from our Master, Lord and Saviour, because He is the Way, the Truth
and the Life. (John 14: 6)
His
return will be in real time - sudden, actual and visible - because
God's Word declares it. The exact time of His coming is known only to
Almighty God and will not be revealed to anyone either through
revelation or intuition.
Jesus said: “But of
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven , but
My Father only”. (Matt. 24: 36). While we cannot KNOW
the day nor the hour when Christ shall return, we can, however, know
by observation when it is near!
“Now
learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye KNOW
that summer is nigh.
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, KNOW
that it is near, even at the doors.” (Matt.24: 32,33)
There are two Greek words for KNOW:
One meaning that you can KNOW by
intuition or revelation, the other that you can KNOW
by observation!
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE
LAST DAYS!
The Bible
says: “And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these
things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and the end of
the (age) world?” (Matt.24:
2).
The
Master outlined many things that would precede His Return, including
the destruction of the temple, severe
persecution, false prophets, wars and rumours of wars, famines,
pestilences, earthquakes, deception, backsliding, gross sinfulness
and finally, the declaration of the Gospel as a Testimony to all the
nations of the world!
Jesus Christ promised
that He would return, and all the signs point
to the nearness of His Coming! Hundreds of ancient prophecies have
been fulfilled and we are presently living in the very shadows of
His Return! It is our belief and hope that He will return
SOONER than later.
Christ's promise to return was made nearly 2,000 years ago and it
still holds true, secure and more precious than ever!
He
said: “In My Father's House are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I
WILL COME AGAIN,
and receive you unto Myself.” (John 14: 2,3)
There
is a close correlation in the Holy Scriptures, tying the Return
of Christ with the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His Church in the Last days! When
the Holy Spirit fell on about 120 believers in Jerusalem on the Day
of Pentecost, A.D. 33, St. Peter stated:
“But
this is that spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in
the LAST DAYS,
saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit ... And on My servants and on
My handmaidens, I will pour our in those days of My Spirit; and they
shall prophecy.” (Acts 2:
16-18)
After the great miracle of the healing upon the
crippled man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, the Apostle Peter
preached a powerful message that brought the multitudes to their
knees. Again he tied the Return of Christ to the Holy Spirit Revivals
which would continue even until His coming:
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out, when the TIMES
OF REFRESHING shall come
from the presence of the Lord. And He shall send Jesus
Christ,
which was before preached unto you Whom the Heaven must receive until
the Times of Restitution
of all Things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3: 19-21)
According to this
prophecy, God would pour out His Holy Spirit upon spiritually hungry
souls in great Revivals which will continue until 'the
restitution of all things' and
then Jesus will return for His Church! He will return when we have
fulfilled our duty of preaching the Gospel in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the END
COME.” (Matt 4:14)
SINNERS,
MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME!
One
of the signs of the 'Last
Days' is
the smug, irreverent and mocking attitude of the “Enemies
of the Cross”
who love to ridicule and seek to discredit the Word of God and the
Promises of Jesus Christ! We see it in immoral books defaming Jesus
Christ, blasphemous movies that denigrate our Saviour and perverted
Rock and Roll music that glorify Satan, drugs, sexual perversion and
violence!
The Bible says:
“And Enoch the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold the LORD
COMETH
with ten thousands of His saints,
to execute judgment upon all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them all of all their ungodly
deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
“But beloved,
remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How that
they told you there should be MOCKERS
in the LAST
TIME, who
should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These
be they that separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But
ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING
IN THE HOLY GHOST.”
(Jude 14-20)
Here again we see the
connection between the long awaited Return of Jesus to JUDGE sinners
and the MOCKERS who separate themselves from the believers, as well
as the recipe for readiness to prepare for His coming by spending
quality time PRAYING in the Holy Spirit!
This proves that the Blessed
HOLY SPIRIT will be very active strengthening, inspiring and blessing
God's people in the midst of a wicked, corrupt and godless world, as
we wait patiently for our Lord and Saviour to arrive.
St. Peter gives a
similar warning about those who would mock
the
holy things of God in these last days: “Knowing this first that
there shall come in the Last
Days
SCOFFERS, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where
is the promise of His Coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation.
“But, beloved, be
not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is
long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish but that
all should come to repentance.” (2
Peter 3: 3,4, 8,9)
St. Peter said
there were two reasons why the Lord had not returned at that time.
No.1:
The Lord does not reckon time as we do. One thousand years with us is
like one day to Him and No.2:
He isn't willing that any should be lost, so He is waiting and
waiting for more souls to be saved, by His grace and through His
precious Blood.
BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY!
Speaking
to St. John on the Isle of Patmos, our Lord Jesus stated: “Behold,
I come quickly: blessed is He that keepeth the sayings of the
prophecy of this book.”(Rev. 22:7); “And behold, I come quickly:
and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work
shall be.” (Rev. 22:12); “He which testifieth these things saith,
Surely I come quickly.” (Rev. 22:20)
The word,
'quickly'
is an old English word, meaning a 'lively
coming'.
There are three better translations, namely, “Soon,
at Once
and without Delay”.
According to the way He reckons time, since He is God and not
subject to time, He has been gone less than two days! And that isn't
long, is it?
Those two reasons
are valid today, as well. I have one more reason: I believe that He
will return when He is ready. It is His prerogative to come whenever
He wishes to come and not a second sooner!
Here
is another reason: Just maybe, He wanted you and me to be included.
I'm glad He waited, aren't you? Amen.
Note:
To be continued shortly! m.s.
