In his efforts to stay the tide of increasing floundering
amongst the early Church members who had converted from Judaism to
Christianity, Paul wrote the famous sermon that we now call the book of
Hebrews. Throughout the entire sermon, his goal was to reinforce the members’
conversion by denouncing the law of Moses and emphasizing that the only way to
salvation was through Christ. He reminded these converted Jews of the time they
were illuminated, had accepted the truth and had endured afflictions because of
it (Hebrews 10:32). He admonished them not to let all that growth and endurance
go to waste by casting away their confidence in the truth they once accepted (v
35). In other words, if it was right when you prayed about it and received a
witness of it, and trusted it, and lived for it, it is still right. It is right
when the pressure mounts, when doubts set in, when fears rear their ugly heads,
when the adversary steps in to destroy your reward if you remain faithful.
Following his admonition to confidence, Paul said
something highly significant to us, the saints of this last dispensation who
await the Second Coming of the Saviour: “For yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37). In other words, don’t
give up especially now when the Lord is at the door….
It has been 2023 years since the Lord’s first advent.
Many, like Nephites of old who awaited His first coming, are becoming
incredulous about His return. Those who still believe are asking how much more
wicked the world has to get before He appears. Elder Christofferson who was in
Melbourne, Australia, conducting a leadership meeting was asked this very same
question of a sister during a question and answer segment to which he replied: “The
world is already wicked enough for His coming, the Father is waiting for more
covenant keeping saints to welcome Him.” In his talk, “Preparing for the Lord’s
Return” given in April 2019, Elder Christofferson elaborated: “First, and
crucial for the Lord’s return, is the presence on the earth of a people prepared
to receive Him at His coming.”
Nephi saw us in our day and testified that the ‘power
of the Lamb of God descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon
the covenant people of the Lord…and we were armed with righteousness and with
the power of God in great glory’ (1 Nephi 14:14). It is time for us, the
covenant people, to rise to that privilege. We are the chosen for this time and
this place to usher in the greatest event of the history of mankind. The
winding up scenes will not be easy, they will not be pleasant, but they will be
worth the sacrifice, the perseverance, the wait…..and when He comes, the tears
of the faithful….
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: His Return by Dan Wilson)
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