The skepticism continues to grow. The scoffers are getting louder. But still the moment of Jesus Christ's return is closer with every tick of the clock. At no other time in the last two thousand years has the probability of the rapture of believers in Jesus Christ been as likely as it is today.

In the face of mounting statistics and continual increase in signs of the time, even some "Christians" have joined the ranks of the scoffers and thereby added to the signs that Jesus will soon arrive (2 Peter 3:3). For one not to be cognizant of Jesus' promised return, places their relationship with Him on dubious ground.

It is an explicit command of the Bible for believers to see the day of the Lord approaching (Heb 10:25). Jesus is returning for those believers who are looking for His return (Heb 9:28). Believers today should be imitators of the prophets of old who "searched diligently" for the "manner of time" the Messiah would come (1 Peter 1:10, 11). First Peter 1:12 tells us that God answered and revealed to them when the Messiah would come!

Paul warns "that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:2). A few sentences later, he tells the same people that they "are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief" (1 Thess 5:4). He is telling them that people with sin in their lives will not comprehend the nearness of Jesus' return, but those with clean hearts will in fact see the day coming in advance.

What a bold statement! How could Paul say that people with unrepentant sin will not anticipate the Lord's return? Simply because he knew the people who didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah the first time. Although they were the most religious people with an appearance of complete holiness, their hearts were far from God.

While the religious "insiders" sat at their tables pouring over their scrolls and discussing doctrine, the Messiah walked by their door to be accepted by the religious "outsiders." Their form of religion was allowed to replace the function of a true relationship with Jehovah. Just as in the days of Jesus, the inability today to "discern this time" reveals those who would have otherwise successfully hidden the hypocrisy in their hearts (Luke 12:56).

God told Daniel that at "the time of the end... none of the wicked will understand; but the wise will understand" (Dan 12:10). God's words make it very clear. If one doesn't understand Daniel vision of the coming tribulation being fulfilled, it's because of wickedness. Daniel himself had to "set his heart to understand" the vision God gave him. The outward proof of his heart was that he "chastened" himself and humbly repented before God (Dan 10:12). It was Daniel's humble repentance before God that brought him understanding of the vision of the "latter days" (Dan 10:14). This is still true of people today.

With sin comes the delusion that God will not judge those actions. Sin tells people the same words Eve heard, "You shall not surely die." Today the words of sin are, "Jesus isn't returning soon," and then in a much quieter tone, "for that would bring judgment." As the wisest man said, evil men don't perceive judgment; but those who seek the Lord understand all things (Proverbs 28:5). Both Solomon and Daniel understood that it takes seeking the Lord to understand -- seeking with repentance.

Sin contains the delusional quality of blindness to God's judgment. It is part of the wages of sin and never goes unpaid. Sin induces the intoxicating effect of seeing without seeing and hearing without hearing (Mat 13:13). It was true in Jesus' day and it is still true today. People with unrepentant sin do not really believe that God will hold them accountable (Psa 91:7). If they did, they would repent. It is their action of unrepentance that speaks louder than their words to the contrary.

The signs of the time are blatantly revealing the soon return of Jesus Christ and His judgment for sin. How long will it take for sinful man to understand? When "the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate" (Isa 6:11).

God pointed out to Jeremiah that the animals know the times He appointed to them. God then lamented to Jeremiah people's in-perception that there is an appointed time for their judgment (Jer 8:7). Rather than willingly recognizing that there was a "time of their visitation" (Jer 8:11) for their "perpetual backsliding" (Jer 8:5), they predicted a time of peace. But the wages of sin will never be denied. The same people who predicted peace then said, "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!" (Jer 8:15).

Who then is "the wise man that may understand" God's approaching judgment for sin? Those who don't live in "the imagination of their own heart" and obey God from their hearts (Jer 9:12, 14). These are the people who understand the days in which we live.

While there were multitudes that recognized Jesus as the arrival of the Messiah, the same principle applied in Jesus' day. People with unrepentant sin, or "perpetual backsliding," didn't perceive "the time of their visitation" (Luke 19:44). As in the days of Jesus, as in the days of Jeremiah, so it is in the days we live. None of the wicked understand.

There are those who understand the days in which we live. They see the signs of the time as clearly as the hand writing on the wall and continue to warn others to "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Many people of understanding are fulfilling God's command to warn of the approaching time of their visitation. Although "they that understand... will instruct many, yet they will fall by the sword" (Dan 11:33).

Copyright © 1999 Eternal Hope Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 466, Ellerslie, MD 21529. www.ehope.com. Not-for-profit use and/or reproduction of this material is encouraged, providing attribution is given and all copies are in its entirety.