IV. Can We Discern The Signs of The Times?

IV. Can We Discern The Signs of The Times?
“...now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation (deliverance from “the wrath to come,” i.e. the Rapture) nearer than when we believed. (V. 11) The night is far spent, the day is at hand:”(Romans 13:11-12)
These words, which the Apostle Paul penned by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, let us know that we Christians do not have much time to serve the Lord. As composer, Esther Smith, wrote in the verses of this chorus,

“The next event is the Great Advent,
The Messiah comes again.
So, with one accord
Let us serve the Lord;
For the night is far spent.
Let the word be sent
O’er the land’s extent;
Only faith in Christ will save.
Soon the Lord will come.
Will He say, “Well done!”
“The night is far spent.” As a Christian looks around him at the downward moral spiral of our country and the evil in the world today, one feels the Rapture must be close. Many atheists scoff at the truth of the Bible, and ridicule Christians for believing that we will one day be “caught up” to Heaven to be with our Savior and loved ones who have gone before. The Apostle Peter, speaking by inspiration in 2 Peter 3:3-4 said,
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (2 Peter 3:3)
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.” (2 Peter 3:4)
Rightly dividing the Word of Truth allows the Christian to know what signs to apply to the Church Age, and what signs to apply to the Tribulation Period.