The Coming of the Lord, Holiness and Godly Living

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

2 Peter 3:11–12 (NKJV)

The spiritual state of the body of Christ determines the speed or the delay of the coming of Jesus. The Lord is coming for a glorious, holy and blameless Church, and only those who pursue a life of purity and holiness will be counted among that glorious fold. It is very surprising that this message has not been preached abundantly in Christendom, while a life of sin and worldliness seems to be widely accepted; such is the state of the global body of Christ. But I know there is a remnant who have not departed from the paths of God, who are still striving on the narrow and hard way.

Please remember this: in the antediluvian era only eight were saved from the destruction brought upon the earth, and Jesus said that the last days would be like the days of Noah. God waited until the ark was built before He brought judgement on the earth. The building of the ark set the timeline for judgement: the faster the ark was built, the sooner the judgement.

Noah represents a preservation system of God, a pattern of how, and whom, God will preserve from the coming judgement when it begins. There are criteria for meeting the Lord, and not everyone will meet them. Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation, and he walked with God.

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God.

Ezekiel 14:14 (NKJV)

It is a life of righteousness that will save a man, a church or a nation in the time of judgement, and ultimately make us ready for the coming of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit is telling us that the holy and godly conduct of the Church is not only proof that we are looking and waiting for the coming of Jesus; it also hastens His coming.

On the other hand, if holiness and godliness do not become integral to the life of the Church, the work of the Spirit in the Church will be hindered, and the coming of the Lord will be delayed through judgements and chastening.

When the Church becomes what she should be, she will draw the great day nearer. One point I want to make here: God is not waiting for everyone in the body to attain that stature, but for the number of the remnant to be fulfilled. Only eight were saved in the days of Noah, and the pattern for the coming of the Son of Man is the same: only a few will be saved. When the number of the remnant, as God reckons it, of those who will sanctify themselves to join the fold is complete, we will see a swift rise of the sons of God and of the glorious Church before the Lord comes. Let us therefore pursue a life of holiness and purity, without which no one will see the Lord.