As believers in Jesus, we are looking forward to His Second Coming. We see events unfolding like a rosebud in a bouquet – or actually in my case, seeing those events reminds me more of a large field of giant ragweed. The world has been catapulted into chaos, plunged into peril, and ushered into uncertainty.
We have become increasingly aware that the Church Age is drawing to a close, and we know that our long-awaited Bridegroom is dressed and ready to receive His Bride – which consists of both men and women who love Him and trust in Him.
With that in mind, what should we be doing at this time in history? If Jesus were here, standing in my place, what would He do? WWJD?
We’ve all heard this little abbreviation used – at one time it was a craze. It was a great merchandise generator. I have a black scarf riddled with gold “WWJD’s” on its surface. Many of us wore the bracelets.
It is a question people have asked themselves since Charles M Sheldon's book “In His Steps” came out. There are even a couple of movies about it.
For example, if your idea of Christ is only “Baby Jesus Meek and Mild,” then you may decide that people should never mention the word “sin” nor bring up a controversial subject, because Jesus was always loving and wouldn’t want you to hurt anyone’s feelings. Although the Baby in the Manger is definitely Jesus’ backstory, this incomplete theology would lead you in the wrong direction and possibly cost someone the chance to know the Truth that can set them free.
So if we’re going to use WWJD, we have to know Him better than that.
What Did Jesus Do?
Imagine Jesus, only a few days from his pre-planned death on the cross. With this in mind, did He:
Have sweaty palms from panic attacks?
Take a sabbatical and disappear for several months to write His memoirs?
Butter up His enemies so they would like him better?
Keep His teachings low-key so as to not offend important people?
Teach His disciples Tae Quon Do so they could defend Him when push came to shove?
Anyone with a passing acquaintance with the Scriptures would know that Jesus didn’t hold back. In fact, He said and did things that were as likely to draw hostile attention to Himself as operating a weed-eater directly over a nest of yellow jackets.
He spoke of the appropriateness of cement overshoes for those who offended little children who believed in Him. He actually called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs and children of Satan. He taught that it was a sin to look at a woman with lust, so it might be preferable to remove your eyeballs. Shocking stuff! These examples would generate headlines today and the videos would go viral.
But what was He doing during the very last week, just before His death?
“And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.
“Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, … “
~Luke 19:47, 20:1
Jesus, who knew very well that He would be killed at the hands of the Romans by the end of the week, rode into town on a donkey, cleaned up the temple, and then taught the people from there.
He taught them from The Word.
And He preached. He preached The Gospel.
What would have constituted The Gospel? What is it? By definition, it is “good news.”
And “preaching” – what’s that? Dictionary.com says that’s a middle school level word. It’s about proclaiming, as in “good news” or “the gospel,” and it’s pretty much about delivering a sermon. In today’s culture, it also has a subtle negative meaning: “to do this in an obtrusive or tedious way.” This is clearly the opposite of what it originally meant – good news is not something that could ever be tedious.
There are 142 references to preaching in a word search of the New King James Version of the Bible. Solomon called himself “The Preacher,” though he was the King of Israel. There are some references to preaching in some books of the prophets, and then, there are references to preaching in nearly every New Testament book, with a lot of them in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.
Jesus was a preacher, and in this role, He fulfilled prophecy. In fact, that’s how He announced that He was the Messiah in His hometown synagogue – He read from the Isaiah scroll about how the Messiah would preach the gospel to the poor, and looking up, he informed everybody that “That was about me!”
What Did Jesus Preach?
Did He use the Romans Road method? The Four Spiritual Laws? Steps to Peace with God? No to all of the above. These weren’t written till the 20th Century, and the Book of Romans hadn’t even been written yet. Its author hadn’t even met Jesus.
And He couldn’t speak about His death, burial, and resurrection. He hadn’t even died yet.
The good news Jesus preached was about repenting because the Kingdom of God had come to them. He explained sin, never holding back about what it meant or its direct consequences. He warned of hell. But Jesus was able to look into the eyes of a paralytic and tell him his sins were forgiven him. He said He didn’t come to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, could be saved.
Jesus offered Himself as the remedy to sin, and the way to eternity. Jesus' name, Y’shua, means “Salvation.”
To Martha, the sister of Lazarus, who had just died, He gave the best “good news” ever!
“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
“Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’
~John 11:23-26
This is what Jesus would be doing now. In these frightening times, Jesus would find a platform and preach the Gospel, whether it be to a large crowd resembling a Trump rally, or to the man in the seat next to Him on the flight there.
He would tell them openly that He is the Messiah. He would make sure they understood that they could be free from the heavy weight of their sins by trusting in Him for salvation. He would tell them that He came to give them Life.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO in 2021?
So this is the question we must ask ourselves about our own situation. And here is the answer: teach and preach the Word! Never forget the Great Commission that Jesus gave to all His disciples: it has not been rescinded.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ "
~Matthew 28:19-20
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
~The Apostle Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Doesn’t that sound like right now? The main thing is for We, the Church, to bring as many people with us to Heaven as we can. Like Jesus, we mustn’t change our focus when the time is short. We should double down on our efforts and never pull back. And He has promised that He will be with us always, till the end of the age.
There are those who are being martyred for their faith all around the world in 2021. We thought that was a Medieval thing to do, and that the world was a lot more civil now than it used to be. But there are more beheadings, torture, and even crucifixions of our brothers and sisters in Christ in the 21st Century than ever before. There were hundreds of missionaries in Afghanistan before the Taliban took it over last week. Some have likely been rescued, … but probably not all.
What should we do if it happens here?
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
~Jesus to the Church in Smyrna, Revelation 2:10
What Will Jesus Find?
What will Jesus find when He comes back for His Bride? Will He find a faithful Church?
Will you be a part of that?
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