WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT WE TO BE? (PART 1)
2Pe 3:11-12 NKJV 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
As the world goes through birth pangs, we must understand and recalibrate for the times to thrive in the unprecedented challenges ahead. In the above verse, Peter after talking about the end of all things, demanded that his readers adjust their lives to that knowledge. However, before we can become what is needed, we need to see and understand the times we are in. This will be our focus in this series.
IMPORTANCE OF SEEING
As a little poison dropped in good delicious food is much more effective than raw poison, so are half-truths which received as gospel truths concerning the end times. They are deadly. No one will eat pure poison, but when mixed with good food, it will be eaten with relish. It is important to examine what we believe about end times thoroughly so that we are not shipwrecked Luke 11:35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. This foundational issue is where we will start.
SURPRISING RAPTURE
Many teachings and movies on the rapture revolve around people going about regular activities, and then suddenly disappearing. This idea is deeply entrenched in us, and it is one of the great deceptions of the end times. The basis of the rapture-as-a-surprise for all are scriptures like this:
Mar 13:32-37 NKJV 32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— 36 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mat. 24:42, 25:13, Luke 12:40, 21:36)
Please, go through those scriptures carefully and see if you can see that there is more. Before we conclude, let’s examine the thoughts of Apostle Paul who was the only Apostle with detailed rapture revelations.
1Th 5:1-6 NKJV 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
Just as Jesus said, there are two categories of people.
1. Those who were living life without watching and praying. Working hard to make a good life to preserve themselves and their loved ones etc. In another place He explained further Luke 21:34-35 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. If you are enmeshed enjoying life, seeking success, taking care of your needs, it will shock you and the turbulence prior to His return will make your heart fail.
2. Paul says in 1Thess. 5:4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. Category two are not surprised by His coming. The rapture will not come suddenly to them because of three things. (a) They were born again and were well educated on the return of Jesus (how many churches teach on His return today?), (b) because they were watching (c) and praying. The Apostle’s initial phrase “as a thief in the night” was concerning those who were not watchful and prayerful believers. If we are not born again, watchful and prayerful, we will not know when He is going to show up. We should and must know when He is about to return.
Let’s go back to what Jesus also said in the gospels. He is saying the same thing as Paul. For those who are not His, don’t watch and don’t pray, the rapture will be a shocker! For those who watch, pray and are believers, they will know. Otherwise, what are they watching for?! Why watch if it will be as a shock.
Hour and Day vs Times and Seasons
To clarify, we will not know the hour of which day it will happen, however, He emphatically expects us to know the season. Paul implies in 1Thess 5:1 & 2, that they had complete information on “Times and Seasons”. What they lacked was day and hour. Jesus also gave us prophecies, some of which are time bound to estimate His return. Some of the prophecies sound so generic that we have become cynical towards them. For example, the sign of wars and rumors of wars feels generic because wars and rumors have been going on for centuries without His return, but there are more detailed time bound prophecies that show that the end has come upon us. Equally important is that His Spirit is bearing witness to many prayerful saints that we shall see His return.
A corn farmer does not know the day he will harvest, but he knows the season of harvest. In that season, he gets his tools ready, hires extra hands and begins to check the corn until all the signs of a mature corn are fulfilled. When the signs are complete, he harvests. We don’t know the day of which month, but as we count down specific prophecies and listen to what the Spirit of Truth is saying, we know that He is about to harvest. Jesus gave us time marks of the season, and said we should be in spiritual watchful prayer.
If you are paying attention, the next sacred cow of “no one can know when the rapture will happen” school of thought is that even Jesus does not know the day and hour. This was true, but no longer is. Jesus, while He was the Son of Man on earth did not know because He emptied Himself of His “Godness” to become human before being born. Phi 2:6-7 NKJV 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Now, as the resurrected Son of God, He is fully merged with the Father and again knows all things as He took up His “Godness” again. When He was going to the cross, He said: Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. He was going back into His “Godness”.
Similarly, His body, His bride and His temple, which we are, will also be enlightened and transformed into Him to the degree we know Him. Joh 16:14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. Also, Paul said: 1Co 2:15 LOGOS But he that is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no man. This includes the rapture even if the month and hour is excluded.
If we have not started seeing in scriptures, having dreams/visions, getting instructions on how to prepare, hearing in prayer or worse, if we think we should just go on living life until He snatches us away, we are undiscerning, uneducated in spiritual things and/or deceived (sorry, no other polite way to put it). Thankfully, we can change that state, even if we have such little time.
The Lord has been talking to multiple communities of believers who are praying and watching, and giving them signs. In my podcast, which was first publicly published before the COVID lockdown, we began to share what the Lord has been saying about these things. We need to know the times, check to see that what is known is true, and to act on it by becoming “the Manner of Person We Ought to Be.”
There is nothing more important than these things because we are in the period of the harvest. What we have seen recently are only appetizers, ahead of us are great turmoil and glories to be unleashed on the world because…the King is Coming!!!
Femi O-O
There is a podcast titled “Time IQ by the Issachars” that goes into more about understanding this season.