Looking Forward to the Messiah’s Return
By
Gary Primo
Aug. 14, 2014
This study is based on two questions:
1 – Are you a Believer?
And;
2 – Are you looking forward to the future return of the Messiah?
You may consider these to be rather stupid questions; however, if you can bear with me a couple of minutes, I will explain how they are not stupid at all.
The fact is that if you are a Believer, you should know that Yahushua never left in the first place.
What do I mean by that?
Did Yahushua not say that he would dwell in all those who believed in Him? Then is He not already here, living in our hearts and minds, guiding us on our path to salvation? So why are so many who claim to be in “Christ” looking forward – to a future manifestation of HaMashiyack, when he is already here and supposedly already living within each of us?
Matt.24:48 - But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming;
49 - And shall begin to smite his fellow.servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 - The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 - And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Looking forward to the Messiah’s second coming to save us all is akin to saying “the lord delays his coming”. The Messiah is already here, and has been since His ascension. He lived in all of his disciples and proved that fact through the marvelous works that they did.
Someone once told me that Yahuwah simply does not work that way anymore. However, I still feel strongly that if we indeed have Yahushua fully indwelling us that we should be able to perform all the wonderful deeds that the Apostles did.
John 14:16 - And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
17 - Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
18 - I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 - Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 - At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Yahushua made it quite clear that He was going to return, along with the spirit of truth (on the day of Pentecost) to indwell each of his servants. And, He did exactly as He promised. Why is this situation so different today? Why is that powerful spirit that revealed itself so marvellously through the original Believers, does not seem so powerful today? I blame it on three things – lack of total belief, trust and works.
Do we remember how the apostles shed all of their worldly cares to follow after Yahushua? Do we remember how they went out into the world with no purse, no change of clothing and no food, to preach the gospel of the coming Kingdom? They were full of belief, trust and works. There can be no doubt that these men were filled with the spirit, because Yahushua verified that fact through the miraculous works that they did. So should He verify the full indwelling of the spirit in us through wondrous works. If He is not, then perhaps we need to do some introspection to determine why not.
Luke 12:47 - And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 - But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Humans are, for the most part, basically lazy – especially when it comes to doing the will of the Father. Also, their foremost concerns are for the things that are presently affecting them, not in either the past or the future. We have mortgage/rent, food, clothing, child rearing, bills and credit card payments to keep us all busy and pre-occupied. We “don’t have time” to fully pursue the Way of Yahuwah. We are afraid to trust Him (unconditionally) to take care of all those needs for us. We are too busy trusting in ourselves as the only one that can manage our daily responsibilities and barely give a thought to Yahuwah during our busy day.
I am as guilty of this as anyone else, so do not think that I am talking down to you or setting myself up on some kind of pedestal. I am a sinner who is struggling to change as badly as everyone else. I am a student, like everyone else. My focus is on “iron sharpening iron” and helping both myself and others gain the reward we seek – eternal salvation.
If you were like me on the day of our baptism, we may have expected some miraculous transformation where we would right off begin to perform the mighty works of Yahuwah. And certainly most of us did experience some miracles in the form of healings and answered prayers. But these were still a long way from the miracles that the apostles performed. This was, in fact, only the beginning – to substantiate our belief and confirm our trust.
What happened after that? Did that seed fall on unfertile ground? Did it wither and die? Did we again harden our hearts like the ancient Israelites? Have we gone whoring after other gods (cares of this world)? Why has Yahushua not verified His presence in us, as He did with the apostles? That is a question we must all answer individually.
Can we afford to assume that our salvation is guaranteed simply because we profess aloud belief in the Messiah.
James 2:17 - Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 - Yea, a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without thy works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
The works James is talking about expands well beyond supporting some ministry to do all the work for you. This is hands-on, getting the good news out there kind of work. This is letting our lights shine in every aspect of our lives so that others can see Yahushua in us. We are called witnesses, so let’s get out there and witness.
The witness of the apostles drew thousands of converts in a single day. Do we need more than one hand to count how many our witnessing has converted? The difference, of course, is that the people saw Yahushua in the apostles because they preached the same message and performed much the same works as Yahushua. They divested themselves of all worldly cares to do the work. They placed all their trust in Yahushua to provide their every need. They didn’t need four thousand dollar suits and a grand auditorium a multimillion dollar home and a fancy car. Nor did they demand a tithe to be paid to them. The only collections recorded were for the poorest of Believers, whose property was likely confiscated by the Roman authorities because of their belief.
The apostles proved their faith by their works. Therefore, it is natural to assume that a lack of works demonstrates a lack of faith. Is Yahuwah going to reward any demonstrating such a lack of faith? Are we any better than the Laodiceans who were chastised for being neither hot nor cold, but luke warm concerning their faith.
Yahuwah expects all Believers to be actively pursuing the spreading of the good news. He who does the least will be called least in the Kingdom. He who does the most, will be called greatest in the Kingdom. Which title do we prefer?
This is one of the deceptions of the “pay and pray” attitude. Many in mainstream Christianity believe that as long as they pay their tithes and pray for their ministry that they have accomplished all that Yahuwah expects of them. The ministries, themselves, teach this deception.
One day Yahuwah is going to judge each of us individually and demanding to know what we did with our talent. What are we going to say – that “I was waiting for Yahushua to return”? Yahuwah will respond, “He was always with you.”
We need to meditate seriously on what that day is going to be like. I am sure that most of us have been to court for something whether for a traffic ticket of a criminal matter. We are all nervous when having to appear before a human judge. Imagine how terrified we will be when standing before the Almighty Creator of the universe. Imagine all the thoughts that will be running through our heads. “Were our efforts enough?” “Could we have done better?” “Are we going to qualify for entrance into the Kingdom and eternal life?”
The Judgment Day will be much less stressful if we can appear before Yahuwah with a clear conscience. On one side we will have HaSatan (the prosecutor) and on the other Yahushua (the defense attorney). HaSatan will be doing his best to prove to Yahuwah that we are unworthy and Yahushua will be defending us against his accusations. The twenty-four elders may be the jury. Will the excuse that “we paid and prayed for the ministry to do the work for us” be enough to get us into the Kingdom? How about “I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth: so, there you have that is yours.” We should all know the answer to that one:
Matt. 25:26 - His lord answered and said unto him, You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 - You ought therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 - Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 - For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 - And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This servant’s mistake was in believing that the master’s return was yet afar off. He was too lazy to even invest the talent so it could at least collect interest. Sometimes we have jobs where we are trusted to work on our own and expected to do just as good a job as if our employer was standing right there looking over our shoulder. This should be our spiritual attitude as well – conducting ourselves as if Yahushua were right there watching our every move – because He is. If we have the attitude that “the master delays his coming” we will be called lazy and slothful. If we turn that one talent into ten, it will be said of us, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” Which of these statements do we wish to hear?
We must think of ourselves as being in the Kingdom at this very moment. We must recognize that Yahushua is with us now, in the present – inside our minds and hearts, desiring above all else that we succeed in our journey. However, if we do not do our part, I can assure you that Yahushua will withdraw His spirit from us and we most certainly will be cast into outer darkness, weeping and gnashing our teeth.
By all appearances, it certainly seems like we are living in the last days; even though I do not believe that the Tribulation has actually begun yet. However, for each of us individually, we only have till the end of our natural (physical) lives to get it right. None of us know when that end will come; therefore, we need to be focussed on the Kingdom each and every day of our lives; growing in the spirit and making good use of the talents given us.
We are not going to get a second chance. Once our physical lives end that is it. We will be standing in the Judgment in our next waking (conscious) moment. Will we have a list of excuses to present to Yahuwah? I certainly hope not, because there will be no acceptable excuse.
We all tend to prioritize everything in our lives from most urgent to least urgent. Those looking to the future return of Yahushua may well think that spiritual goals are less important to them in their daily lives than those immediate physical needs. They may think they have plenty of time to complete their spiritual perfecting and do something with the talent given them.
What if we did know the exact day and hour that our physical lives would end? Would that be of any advantage to anyone? Perhaps! However, how many people do we know that wait till the last minute to do anything. Procrastination is perhaps the most serious fault we have. And, it will not work with Yahuwah. We cannot excuse our actions by saying, “I was going to get around to that, but didn’t have time.” Some may even try to turn the blame around on Yahuwah saying, “You took me too soon”.
It does not matter if we are “taken too soon”. It is all about attitude. If a person is converted and baptized and dies the following day, his/her faith will be attributed to him/her in place of spiritual perfection. Yahuwah does not expect everyone to grow into the same stature of perfection before they die. He is looking to the 100%ers, who gave their all in pursuit of spiritual perfecting no matter what level of achievement they reached before they died.
Neither can we use the excuse that things were different in those days. It does not matter that our lives are much too busy and chaotic. It was much the same in the apostles’ time.
Putting Yahuwah first and foremost in our lives is the only way forward in advancing our spiritual perfection. Trusting in Yahuwah to take care of all our needs is essential. As we all age, the time grows shorter and shorter. We do not come to all knowledge and all faith merely through baptism. That is only the beginning of the journey. After that we must study, learn and grow in the spirit. We must be like the noble Bereans, believing no man, church nor earthly religion and trusting no one else with our salvation.
There is no need to look anywhere outside of ourselves to find Yahushua. He is there. He is waiting for us to perform His works. He is watching over our shoulders. He is hoping above all hope that He will one day be able to say to us, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.
May Yahuwah bless us all and cause His light to shine upon us; and inspire us to cause our lights to shine on the rest of humanity and bring many sons to glory.
Yahuwah Bless
G.P.