Since we love the Lord, we should earnestly wait for His coming; we need to be those loving the Lord’s appearing, those not fashioned according to this age but rather, having our hope and future in the Lord, and living to Him by living a normal Christian life on earth according to His standard to hasten His return.
The Lord’s appearing, His coming back, is both a warning, an encouragement, and an incentive to us; to those who love the present evil age it is a warning, but to the Lord’s loving seekers it is an encouragement and an incentive.
May we be those who do not love the present evil age but love the Lord and earnestly expect His return, loving His appearing.
May we be those who have a living that loves the Lord’s appearing, not being discouraged but remaining faithful to Him to the end.
We may be a young adult or a student, and we may think that we still want to enjoy and experience so many things in life like a good career, a family, a house, a good car, etc; however, we need to simply open to the Lord and enjoy Him, and allow Him to work in us a love for His appearing.
In ourselves, we only love what relates to us and what benefits us, but when we’re in spirit, when we contact the Lord and exercise our heart of love toward Him, we love the Lord and love His appearing.
All the apostles and the disciples in the early church loved the Lord and eagerly expected His return, for He said that He will come back quickly.
Similarly today, as we live at the consummation of this age, we need to love the Lord, love His appearing, and live such a life that hastens His return.
At His return, the Lord will come not only as the Bridegroom to rapture His bride and bring in the kingdom of God; He will also come as a righteous Judge to bring in judgment to all His believers, His servants, according to their living and work on earth.
In light of this, we need to not love the present evil age but rather love the Lord and be those loving the Lord’s appearing.
Whatever we love, that is what we focus on, that is what we spend time and energy on, and that is what eventually becomes our future.
If we invest our money, time, and energy in our house, our car, our family, then these things become our focus, our life, and our future; these eventually will all go away, and we will be found wanting in the Lord’s eyes.
May we not be like Lot’s wife who, even though she was rescued from that evil age, still took a lingering look back at what was happening, for she still had some feelings for the things she left behind. Oh, Lord!
May we be those who love the Lord and treasure Him, and may we love His appearing!
And if we don’t love the Lord’s appearing, or at least we don’t feel we do, we should just come to the Lord and spend time with Him, even in a specific way, so that He may infuse us with His love, His yearning, and His desire; in this way, we will be so joined to the Spirit that we will echo what the Spirit says, Come, Lord Jesus!
Actually, our yearning for the Lord’s return doesn’t originate with us; in ourselves, we don’t have a believing or loving bone, but the Lord who saved us, who is infusing us, and who desires to return, He is the One in us who takes us on, makes us one with Him, and fills us with the yearning for the Lord to return.
It is the Lord in us who is the One loving His appearing, and because we are organically joined to Him and live in this organic union, we cannot but love Him and eagerly await His second and imminent return.
Not being Fashioned according to this Age but being Transformed and Loving the Lord’s Appearing
In 2 Tim. 4:10 we see how the present age is the world that surrounds us, attracts us, and tempts us; we cannot contact the world unless we contact the present age of the world.
We are all born into the world, but when we receive the Lord Jesus, we no longer belong to the world but to the Lord; therefore, the Lord Jesus prayed that we would be kept from the world, for we belong to the Lord.
We are not of the world; we do live in the world, but we should not be fashioned according to it.
The world is a great system designed by Satan to usurp man from serving God and enjoying God, and each age has a present aspect of the world; we should not be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2), and we should be those loving the Lord’s appearing.
A co-worker of Paul, Demas, left him because he was attracted by the present age, so he forsook Paul and left the ministry (2 Tim. 4:10).
This shows that we may serve the Lord, we may be under the ministry of the age and closely work with the minister of the age, but the present evil age can draw us away from this.
Satan is clever: he has an understanding of our interest, our inclination, and our natural make-up, so he designs a particular aspect of the world – the present evil age – to attract us; we are drawn to it, and we even love it, and that becomes the present evil age to us. Oh, Lord!
May we not be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of the mind; may we not be shaped according to this age but rather, be conformed to the Lord’s image by being renewed in our mind.
How much we need to be renewed!
We shouldn’t think that, if we remain in a prayerful attitude over the word of God, we will not achieve anything in life; rather, we have so many patterns of saints who serve the Lord for decades, and they are very capable, highly educated, and advanced in their professions, yet their testimony is that they do not love the present evil age.
Many well-educated professionals, doctors, lawyers, business advisors, and other highly paid professionals, they have an honorable living, have high-paying jobs, yet they don’t live for it but rather, they live for God’s interest.
The present, practical part of the world stands in opposition to the Body life and replaces the Body life (Rom. 12:4-5).
For us to be fashioned according to this age means that we adopt the modern fashions of the present age; we may dress like the others, we behave like them, we pursue the same things like them, we enjoy the same things they do, and we do not differ from them.
For us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may be those loving the Lord’s appearing means that we allow the organic element of Christ to be wrought into our being, thus having an inward, metabolic change (2 Cor. 3:18).
The result is that, instead of being fashioned according to this age, we are conformed to the image of Christ to express God corporately from glory to glory!
May we remain as open vessels actively praying that the Lord would work Himself into us, strengthen us with power into the inner man so that we may allow Him to transform us.
Our desire is to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, allowing the Lord to work His divine and holy element into every part of our being.
Because the present age opposes the church, which is God’s will, we must not be fashioned according to it; rather, we should live in the Body of Christ, allowing the Lord to advance in us and work in us day by day. We may tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, work Yourself into us. Strengthen us with power into the inner man so that we may allow You to make Your home in our heart. Grow in us, Lord, and be formed in us; transform us by the renewing of our mind. Oh Lord, we simply allow You to work Yourself into every part of our inner being. May every day be a day of growth in life, a day of being renewed in the spirit of our mind. We do not want to be fashioned according to this age but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so that we may live in the Body life loving the Lord’s appearing. Save us from loving the present evil age; save us from being attracted or tempted by the aspects of the world which Satan designs to attract our flesh and our natural man. Oh Lord, we give ourselves to love You and to love Your appearing!
Earnestly Awaiting the Lord’s Return and Living a Normal Christian Life Loving the Lord’s Appearing Today
When the apostles wrote the New Testament, to them it was very clear that the Lord is coming soon; so their living and writing was in preparation for the Lord’s return.
Since then it has been many centuries, and such a sense of the Lord’s return, such a sensation, has been lost throughout the ages.
Each chapter in 1 Thessalonians concludes with the Lord’s coming back; his writing to these dear young believers was with the Lord’s return in view.
The more we love the Lord, the more we will love the Lord’s appearing. Since we love the Lord’s appearing, we should earnestly wait for His coming (Phil. 3:20; 1 Thes. 1:10).
Our future is not here on earth – our future is with the Lord. Our living should indicate that our hope is not here on earth but in the coming Lord, for He is our eternal destiny.
This is why Paul said in 1 Cor. 7:29-31 that those married should live as not being married, those who weep as though not weeping, those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use the world as though they didn’t abuse it, for this world and its fashion is passing away, and Christ is our real hope and future.
The entire Bible concludes with our yearning and call in oneness with the Spirit, Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).
May the Lord draw us to Himself more and more, and may we spend time with Him in His word and in fellowship to realize that, as believers in Christ, we are here earnestly waiting for the Lord’s return, for He is coming very soon.
Sister M. E. Barber was a pattern in this respect; she expected to see the Lord even as she turned the corner, and she yearned for the Lord to come as soon as possible.
If we don’t have such a yearning and expectation, however, we may be like the rich man in Luke 12 who laid up a lot of wealth for himself so that his soul might enjoy itself and be merry; however, that very night his soul was required from him (vv. 16-20).
May we not love the present evil age but rather, realize that each today that we have is truly the Lord’s grace; as long as we have today, as long as we have breath, we should love the Lord and His appearing, earnestly awaiting the Lord’s coming (Phil. 3:20).
If we are those loving the Lord’s appearing, we will not be discouraged, we will not backslide, and we will not become weak but rather, we will remain faithful to the end.
However, loving the Lord’s appearing doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t live a normal life but give up everything and just wait for the Lord to come.
Rather, the more we love the Lord’s appearing, the more we need to live a normal life today (Matt. 24:40-42; 2 Thes. 1:10; 3:6-12; 1 Tim. 5:8).
We should work with our own hands, earn our own living, take care of all the practical things, and do all these things by loving the Lord’s appearing.
We want to be the men working in the field and the women grinding at the mill, yet at the same time, we want to be inwardly in a different realm – not in the realm of the present evil age but in the realm of loving the Lord’s appearing.
Inwardly we love the Lord, we live to Him, we love His appearing, and we long for Him to come; we pray for Him to come, and we look forward to His coming.
We may be doing the dishes, doing the laundry, or we may be stuck in traffic on the way to work or to the shopping, taking care of responsibilities at work or at home, but inwardly we love the Lord and are attuned to Him, yearning for Him to return! Amen!
As those who love the Lord Jesus, take Him as our life, live Him, and magnify Him, we should await His coming and love His appearing! Amen!
This should be our heart’s desire and our living as those who hope to enter into His joy, be saved into the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, and receive the crown of righteousness! Amen!
And the Lord Himself will deliver us from every evil work, and He will save us into His heavenly kingdom! Amen!
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to love You and love Your appearing. We are not of this world: we belong to You, we earnestly expect Your imminent return, and we hope to enter into Your joy at Your return. Deliver us from every evil work. Save us into Your heavenly kingdom. We pray for one another, Lord, for all the saints whether young or old, and for all the churches: deliver us from every evil work and cause us to love You and love Your appearing! May our love for You and for Your appearing increase until we are ready to be raptured by You at Your imminent return! Dear Lord Jesus, we love You, we take You as our life, we live You, and we magnify You; we await Your coming and we love Your appearing! Our whole being is set on You, dear Lord, on Your heart’s desire, on Your Body, Your bride, Your kingdom, and the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord Jesus, come soon!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 3, “The Up-to-date Presentation of the God-ordained Way and the Signs concerning the Coming of Christ,” pp. 587-588, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 7, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Henceforth there is laid up for me / The crown of righteousness, / Which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, / Will recompense me in that day, / And not only me / But also all those who have loved His appearing. (Scripture song)
– Savior, hasten Thine appearing: / Bring, oh, bring the glorious day, / When, the awful summons hearing, / Heav’n and earth shall pass away. / Then with raptured hearts we’ll sing, / “Glory, glory to our King!” (Hymns #149)
– Lord, I recall the many years I’ve waited / For Thy return-yet, Lord, not I alone, / But Thy dear saints through many generations- / Beseeching Thee to come back for Thine own. / To countless tears and countless fervent pleadings, / By Thine appearing haste to make reply. / Oh, may Thou come, the echo of the ages, / Come, come and answer now this mighty corp’rate cry! (Hymns #958)
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