We refer to nine different letters in the New Testament where we are
reminded of the times in which we live. We need to be diligently aware
and constantly reminded of God’s viewpoint of time in the days in which
we live.
1. It’s time to wake up (by William Kelly)
Romans 13:11 – And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time
to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we
first believed.
Man slumbers heedless of danger, spite of solemn
and reiterated warning. His evil conscience forbids his crediting the
grace which is in God; his self-complacency blinds him to the moral
beauty of the dependent and obedient Man, as well as to his own need of
such a Savior and such a salvation as God urges on him; and so he
sleeps on till he perishes, waking up too late to the truth he has
rejected and the grace he has slighted irreparably then. The believer
with his soul saved already looks for a salvation worthy of Christ and
of His redemption at His coming; and though the interval may seem long
sometimes, he knows that it is ever growing nearer.
2. The time is short (by J. R. Caldwell)
1 Corinthians 7:29 – But this I say, brethren, the time is
short......
I do not believe that the apostle refers to the
period of a man’s natural life. It is in prospect of the return of our
Lord that the apostle says that the time is short. In the New Testament
we find that the thing in prospect before the minds of the writers is
invariably the near approach of the Lord Jesus Christ. In connection
with our Feast—the Lord’s Supper—we are to keep it till He come
(1 Cor. 11:26). We are continually exhorted to be waiting, looking, and
hastening to that hour when the Lord will come and take us to be with
Himself. Many have said about this subject that it is not practical. I
do not know any subject more practical. Suppose it was known that the
Lord was coming tomorrow, what an influence this would have upon our
minds and ways.
3. God’s time is now or never (by James Denney)
2 Corinthians 6:2 – Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is
the day of salvation.
What is striking in the passage, and
characteristic both of the writer and of the New Testament, is the
union of urgency and triumph in the tone. “Now” does certainly mean
“now or never”; but more prominently still it means “in a time so
graced with opportunity.” The best illustration of it is the saying of
Jesus to the Apostles: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your
ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and
righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have
not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not
heard them.” (Matt. 13:16,17) Now, that we live under the reign of
grace; now, when God’s redeeming love, omnipotent to save, shines on us
from the Cross; now, that the last days have come, and the Judge is at
the door.
4. Time can be redeemed (by Matthew Henry)
Ephesians 5:16 – Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Redeeming the time is literally, buying the opportunity. It is a
metaphor taken from merchants and traders who diligently observe and
improve the seasons for merchandise and trade. It is a great part of
Christian wisdom to redeem the time. Good Christians must be good
husbands of their time, and take care to improve it to the best of
purposes, by watching against temptations, by doing good while it is in
the power of their hands, and by filling it up with proper
employment—one special preservative from sin. They should make the best
use they can of the present seasons of grace. Our time is a talent
given us by God for some good end, and it is misspent and lost when it
is not employed according to His design.
5. Time is an opportunity to reach the lost (by Harry Ironside)
Colossians 4:5 – Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming
the time.
We need the grace of decision that will enable us to
seize the opportune moment and act upon it in the fear of God. In our
intercourse with men of the world how we need to remember that
opportunities to warn of judgment to come and to point them to Christ,
once given may never come again. Therefore the tremendous importance of
buying up such privileges of service in the light of the judgment seat
of Christ. The day of grace is fast passing away. We meet men once,
perhaps, never to see them again, and while it is perfectly true that
we cannot be forever pestering people about what they would call our
religious notions, yet it is the part of wisdom to be on the lookout
for every opening to minister Christ.
6. This present time of the church age is a time of apostasy (by W.E. Vine)
1 Timothy 4:1 – Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some
will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and
doctrines of demons.
In later times, strictly, in times future to
that in which the Epistle was written. The phrase, however, seems to
cover the whole period of this age. Some shall fall away from the
faith, corresponding to our English word apostasy. This is defined in
Joshua 22:23 as a turning away from following Jehovah, and in Hebrews
3:12 as falling away from the living God, as Israel did in the
wilderness, Acts 7:39-41. The faith is the sum, or body, of Christian
doctrine. Departure from it had already begun in the Apostle’s time.
7. This present time is a difficult time of great stress and trouble (by C.H. Mackintosh)
2 Timothy 3:1 – But know this, that in the last days perilous times
will come.
Perilous times are anticipated. A form of godliness
without the power; the mantle of profession thrown over the grossest
abominations of the human heart; men not able to endure sound doctrine;
heaping to themselves teachers after their own lusts, having itching
ears which must needs be tickled by the fabulous and baseless
absurdities of the human mind. Who can fail to see that our lot is cast
in the very midst of the evils and dangers here contemplated? And is it
not well to have a clear perception of these things? Why deceive
ourselves with vain dreams of increasing light and spiritual
prosperity? Is it not better far to look the true condition of things
straight in the face?
8. The rest of our life may be a short time (by F.B. Meyer)
1 Peter 4:2 – That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the
flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
The rest of
our natural life could be a very short period of time—just a day, a few
weeks, or a year. How are we going to spend whatever time
remains? “On the one side is the broad way, trodden by so many
feet, of indulgence of the flesh. When man fell, appetite broke from
the enfeebled grasp of the will, and began to seek after its own
gratification. Each one of us is therefore born into the world, subject
to the action of appetites which are no longer in the same pure and
holy state in which they came from the Creator’s hand, but are biased
strongly in the direction of lawless and unholy manifestation. What a
glorious contrast to the will of the flesh is the will of God!”
9. Time is ending - the last days have become the last hour (by Griffith Thomas)
1 John 2:18 – Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have
heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have
come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
The last
hour refers “to the period just before the close of the
dispensation. The substance of the warning is that antichrist is
coming, and not only so, but even now have there arisen many
antichrists. This was the proof that it was the last hour. Antichrist
is associated with the denial of Jesus as the Messiah, and thereby the
denial of the Divine Fatherhood and Sonship. The fact that there were
many antichrists shows that there was real danger of false teaching
leading to false practice. Perversions of Christianity become opposing
forces, the spurious develops into the hostile. When a false conception
of religion is in possession, it soon degenerates into undisguised
hostility to the true faith”.
No doubt about it. We need to get our clocks set according to God’s
standards. We are fast running out of time. Let us seek God’s face and
ask Him to awaken us.