Greg Laurie daily devotion - June 16, 2014
Look Up!
“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” - (Luke 21:28)
Over the years people have come up with some crazy theories of who they think the Antichrist is. But according to Scripture, the Antichrist cannot emerge until Christians are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
The Bible says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8).
Who is restraining evil today? It is the Holy Spirit, working through the church, working through Christians who stand up for what is right, who speak out against evil, who function as light and salt in our culture. Jesus said that as believers, we are the light of the world, and we are the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13–14).
Light, obviously, illuminates. And salt was used in the first century to preserve meat, preventing spoilage in the absence of refrigeration. We are here to tell the world about Jesus and shine our light. We are here to stop the spread of evil.
Regarding the signs of the end of the age, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
Notice that Jesus said, “When these things begin to happen, look up. . . .” He didn’t say, “When these things are happening, . . .” We should not be looking for the Antichrist; we should be looking for Jesus Christ. That is the emphasis of Scripture.
So look up. Your redemption is drawing near.
Copyright © 2013 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.
Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.
SPECIAL OFFER
“Do you value the teaching and encouragement you receive from A New Beginning with Greg Laurie?
The word revelation means “unveiling.” It is not God’s desire to conceal but to reveal. What does God have to reveal to us about the end times?
Find out with Pastor Greg’s newest book, Revelation: The Next Dimension.
Revelation: The Next Dimension will be sent to you in thanks for your gift of support to Harvest Ministries this month.
