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WHAT JESUS WILL NOT FIND
Jesus told His hearers what things would be like in the time before His return to the earth to set up His kingdom. He did not speak of the time before His catching away of His bride and her friends for there are no signs given for that event, but rather He spoke of the time of His coming in judgment. Here are the Lord's words: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed,” (Luke 17:26-30). We may sum up Christ's words by saying that when He comes in judgment He will find the majority of people concerned with natural worldly things. That is the way it was in the day of Noah when God judged the world with the flood and in the days of Lot when God judged Sodom and the cities of the plain. But what will Christ not find when He comes in judgment? He told us that also, saying, “...Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). A more literal translation of this phrase is “shall he find the faith on the earth?” The definite article “the” is indicated by the original language. When He comes to judge sinners and set up His thousand-year kingdom will Christ find “the faith” present among men? The question is asked, but not answered indicating that there will be little if any people knowing and believing the truth at that time. Any unprejudiced observer can see that things in the religious realm are almost to that point even now. Most so-called Christian ministers are no longer spokesmen for God. Rather they are motivational speakers promising a feel-good religious experience to people. Neither they nor their members are concerned with regeneration by the Holy Spirit nor do they demand the fruit of the Spirit from the members of their mutual admiration societies which they call churches. When is the last time you heard of a modern church excluding a sinning member as Jesus taught? (See Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:13). Counterfeit Christianity says do this or that – usually something easy – and you will please God by your works and as a result He will be gracious to you and overlook your sins. But the Lord said, “...strait [tight fitting] is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” (Matthew 7:14).
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