Regarding the Times
and Seasons
By
Gene Lawley
It is interesting to
think about the very
last question the
disciples asked
Jesus just before He
ascended into the
heavens to reign at
the right hand of
God the Father, as
intercessory Savior
on behalf of all
true believers on
earth.
Acts 1:6-8 tells the
story:
“Therefore,
when they had come
together, they asked
Him, saying, ‘Lord,
will you at this
time restore the
nation to
Israel’?
And He said
to them, ‘It is not
for you to know
times or seasons
which the Father has
put in His own
authority.
But you shall
receive power when
the Holy Spirit has
come upon you, and
you shall be
witnesses to Me in
Jerusalem and in all
Judea and in
Samaria, , and to
the end of the
earth.’”
He had told them
earlier, as John
14:17 reports it,
speaking of the Holy
Spirit, “…for He
dwells with you
[now] but will be in
you”.
With that
incident at
Pentecost, the Lord
then launched His
new plan wherein
blindness,
in part, came
upon Israel (Romans
11:25) and God set
about “taking out of
the Gentiles “a
people for His name”
(Acts 15:14).
And here we
see the beginning of
the dispensation of
grace, in which a
special category of
believers will come
into the family of
God.
These will be
all the believers
who will experience
the rapture, for it
will include, first,
the dead
in Christ, and
then we who are
alive and remain, to
be taken into the
clouds to meet the
Lord in the air (I
Thessalonians
4:16-17).
This is the
church, the Bride of
Christ.
Those disciples,
Jews for the most
part, were very
nation-conscious,
for they had been
under the rule of
the Romans for quite
some time, and were
looking for a way
out, yet the Lord
had other plans.
We have
seen, now, the times
and seasons to which
Jesus referred, in
the restoration of
nation status to
Israel
and restored them to
their
land…somewhat…in
1948, just as the
prophets have told
us, over and over
again.
Fast-Forward to
Current Events
Do we see a parallel
to that picture in
the current struggle
here in America, in
which a strong
element of national
patriotic spirit has
been developing, in
the face of rapidly
degenerating
national sovereignty
and economic
stamina, that vows
to “return the
nation to the
principles of its
founding fathers”?
But, does God
actually have
another plan, as He
did in that
situation so long
ago?
Is the age of
grace coming to an
end?
The next era,
according to the
projections of the
Bible, will be the
final, 70th
week of Daniel’s
vision, which starts
when those “people
for his name” from
the Gentiles are
“taken out” in the
rapture.
The era of
judgment begins.
Is this the
time and season for
that to fall into
place in the
sequence of events?
The picture is not
pretty, for the
signs of the times
are no longer
isolated flares of
meaningful end-time
prophecy
fulfillments, but
they are coming in a
rapid-fire,
machine-gun-staccato
manner.
Jesus said,
in Luke 21:28, “Now
when you see these
things begin
to happen, look up
and lift up your
heads, because your
redemption draws
near”.
Paul writes
in I Thessalonians
5:1-2, “But
concerning the times
and the seasons,
brethren, you have
no need that I
should write to you,
for you, yourselves,
know perfectly that
the day of the Lord
so comes as a thief
in the night”.
Looking at
the inter-related
events and
prophecies, I am not
so sure that we do
“know perfectly”
when the day of the
Lord will commence,
but it is certain to
be close on the
horizon.
What Is the Game
Plan Now?
Are America’s
patriots wasting
their time, then?
From a
Christian
standpoint, no, of
course not.
Believers are
commanded to “occupy
until He comes”
(Luke 19:13), and
they are identified
as those who
“restrain” the
forces of evil (II
Thessalonians
2:6-7).
The Great
Commission is still
in place, and II
Chronicles 7:14 is
still a viable,
conditional promise,
too:
“If My
people, who are
called by My name,
will humble
themselves, and
pray, and seek My
face, and turn from
their wicked ways,
then I will hear
from heaven and
forgive their sin
and heal their
land”.
As it was in
the hearts of those
early disciples,
however, it does
appear that the
longing for a
restoration of our
nation to that of
the “good old days”
likely will not be
fulfilled.