Is 2011 the Year?

By Justin Edwards

Well 2010 is just about behind us! It has been an incredible year on many fronts, both personally and for the Church. Just as midnight will take us into the new year, the midnight hour of God's prophetic time clock is about to strike. While the world continues to carry on as if it always has, events continue to line up in preparation for the Last Things of Scripture to come to pass. Israel has been further isolated and is facing the greatest threats to her survival since 1948; the world is on the brink of major war on multiple fronts; the threat of terrorism looms in most Western countries; the economy is in dire straights; Russia and China are on the rise; religions continue to consciously merge and unify for the sake of peace, hunger, and poverty; nations are losing their sovereignty as global governance becomes more of a reality; and the visible church continues to sink into apostasy. This all sounds like doom and gloom doesn't it? Unless of course, you are called, redeemed, and sealed by the One True God of the universe!

As born again believers, we have so much to look forward to in 2011. This could very well be the year the dominoes of biblical prophecy take their final bow. So what does that mean for you? The Apostle Paul tells us exactly how we should be living in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11,

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

The Lord Jesus Christ is coming, brothers and sisters, whether it is in 2011 or the soon coming years. We cannot escape the obvious signs around us, the very ones Jesus Himself told us to look for and for which to lift our heads because our Redemption is drawing near. We are on the final stretch, so let us strive for the finish line with everything we have and finish the race well, and may we all share in these words from Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7-8,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

If you have yet to submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, have doubts about your salvation, or are living a lifestyle that is contrary to the Word of God (if you don't know the answer to that, this should be telling for you), then please, by all means, make today and the days to come earth-shattering for your life. We are called to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5) and to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 2:10). We do this by examining our lives in light of Scripture, using it as a mirror to see whether we see our reflection in it. In other words, is the lifestyle we are living one that is conforming to the Lord Jesus Christ and His written Word, or is our lifestyle conformed to the world and the things of the world?

There are numerous resources here on airō to challenge and help you examine yourself in the Word of God, so please take some time in the coming days and weeks to do this. Your very soul may be hanging in the balance, as if you're swinging on a string of silk over the flames of hell ready to be singed and cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. It would be so tragic if you died, fully expecting to enter heaven with your fire insurance policy, only to find out you believed in vain all of these years because you refused to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He is calling you now, no matter where you've been or what you've done. Through repentance and faith, you can become a child of God today. For "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17).

Whether you are in Christ now or have yet to fall at His feet in surrender, I pray 2011 is the year you fall more in love with the One who sacrificed everything for you, or you fall in love with Him for the very first time.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. - Revelation 22:17

Maranatha!