Summary: Ever since Jesus returned to heaven, his believers have been anxiously waiting for him to return in power and glory and the period of time leading up to this event is known as the last days. However, as glorious as this news is, we’ve also been told that the last days will be perilous times. To survive them will take greater spiritual strength. But how do we do that? This article seeks to answer that question.
Forty days after Jesus rose from the grave, he had gather his disciples to give them instruction, “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).
Ever since Jesus ascended to heaven, his believers have been anxiously waiting for him to return in power and glory and the period of time leading up to this event is known as the last days. However, the scriptures tell us that the last days shall be perilous times, when there shall be “wars and rumors of wars… For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (Matthew 24:6,7)
It will also be a time when “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and there will be “scoffers walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3).
It is during these last days when “the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world” (Matthew 24:14) but it will also be a time when there shall be many antichrist (1 John 2:18). “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).
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All of this will be the build up to Christ’s second coming, and when “the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” while those on his left hand “shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:32-34,46).
For over two thousand years Christians have been anticipating Christ’s return in their lifetime because in every age of man there have been wars and rumors of war, and there have always been perilous times. More than that, it is the nature of man to be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, false accusers, and despisers of that which is good. Therefore people of every age have felt they were living in the last days.
For that reason, Christians have had to always live a righteous life since they never knew if Christ would come before they died, but when the actual last days do come it will be even more important to be spiritually prepared.
In a revelation given to Joseph Smith, the Lord instructed him to officially organize his church saying, “ The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh” (D&C 20:1).
In this statement, the Lord himself declares that these are now the last days. Although that was said almost 200 years ago and he still hasn’t come, yet “the last days” is the build up necessary to prepare the world to receive her king, and that process will happen gradually over a period of time.
One of the signs of the last days is that the gospel has to be preached to all the world, and although the message of Jesus as our Savior has been spread to every part of the world over the past thousands of years, yet it wasn’t the same gospel that Jesus taught, nor did it have the authority to administer the saving ordinances. It wasn’t until 1830 when the true gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth, that it could be preached in all the world. This then is one of the indications that we are living in the last days.
The stated purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to prepare the earth for the return of Jesus, but before he comes he has to have people all over the earth who, as citizens of his kingdom, have pledged their allegiance and loyalty to him as their king.
The responsibility every citizen has to its country is to obey its laws, and as members of Christ church, which is the kingdom of God on the earth, we’ve made a commitment at the time of our baptism to obey the laws and commandments God gives us.
As part of preparing for Christ’s return, there has to be houses of God built all over the world because wherever a temple is built, Jesus claims that part of the earth as his own. But those who’ve died before Jesus returns are still living on the earth, only in a different realm known as the spirit world. They too will have the opportunity to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ and have the chance to become members of Chrost’s kingdom through baptism. However, for this ordinance to be completed, mortals must stand in as proxies for them in the temples of the Lord, and the more temples there are, the more work for the salvation of the dead can be done.
When Jesus returns, not only will the citizens of his kingdom be among the living who will rise up to meet him in the air, but the dead in Christ, including all those who’ve accepted Jesus in the spirit world, will rise from the grave to be with him as well (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
However, as glorious as this news is, we’ve also been told that the last days will be perilous times. As Jesus increases his preparations to return and claim his right as king over the entire earth, Satan will likewise increase his efforts to prevent Jesus from taking away his claim to be the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). The way he will do this is through raging in the hearts of men to inspire them to greater wickedness and more violence.
Satan will strive even harder to inspire men to become “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” He will also bring forth many antichrists who will persecute the saints of God. As Christ increases the number of his followers, Satan will strive even harder to keep people from committing themselves to following Jesus, and those who have already made that commitment, Satan will strive to convince them to abandon Christ, whether by persuasion or intimidation.
This is what Jesus was referring to when he said, “[To] him that overcometh [these trials] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out” (Revelations 3:12): It is those who remain faithful to Christ in the face of severe opposition who will be with him when he returns.
We saw this type of intense persecution in the early days of the church, both ancient and modern, but in time the church gained respectability and it became easy and safe to be a member of Christ’s kingdom. However, according to prophecy, as the time draws closer to Christ’s return, the persecution will increase in severity. That means, it will take greater faith and greater spiritual strength to remain faithful to Jesus.
To illustrate this principle, imagine rowing upstream in a river. If the current isn’t very strong, it doesn’t take much effort to move forward, but the stronger the current becomes the more effort it takes to fight against it. And unless greater effort is applied, the boat will not move forward or the current will carry the boat backwards.
In the same way, as Satan increases his efforts to pull believers away from Christ, the more spiritual strength will be needed to resist him. What once was sufficient for people to remain faithful members of God’s kingdom, will not be sufficient to survive Satan’s assaults on our spirituality.
The question then becomes, how do we strengthen ourselves spiritually to be worthy of being with Christ when he returns?
In his book, “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu states that the first principle of war is to know your enemy. When we understand Satan’s tactics, then we know what we can do to protect ourselves, and one of his most insidious tactics is through the use of philosophy.
The word philosophy refers to the study of ideas about what is right and wrong, and Stated differently, Satan mingles his error in with God’s truth. We call this worldly philosophy, or the philosophy of man..
The only way for us to counter this kind of deceit is to correctly understand the doctrines of Christ. The word “doctrine” refers to something we believe to be true, and since truth doesn’t change then doctrine cannot change. It’s when we don’t correctly understand doctrine that we can be fooled by the sophisticated philosophies of men “wherein they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:4).
Therefore, one way we can strengthen ourselves spiritually is to study the words of God as taught by his prophets, both modern and ancient. The more intently we study their words the better we come to understand the true doctrines of Christ.
Another way to prepare ourselves to withstand Satan’s attack is to heed Christ’s invitation to “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). However, the question is, what does it mean to come unto Christ and how do we do that?
There are those who say coming unto Christ simply means acknowledging that he died for our sins. There are others who say that we come unto Christ at the time we are baptized. And there are others who say coming to church each week is how we come unto Christ.
However, it was Jesus who said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Coming unto Jesus doing what he asks. It means relying on him, trusting him, seeking his counsel and direction in all we do,. It mean listening and heeding what he tells us, not just in the scriptures but through his Spirit and striving to become more like him in how we think and behave.
The word “coming” doesn’t mean we’ve arrived. Instead, it indicates we’re moving forward, trying to get closer to where we want to be. It means we’re on a journey whose destination is still ahead of us. If we’re not moving closer to Jesus, then we’re not coming to him.
But if we truly love someone, we not only want to do what they ask, but we want to be with them and near them. Jesus has also said, “Abide in me, and I [will abide] in you” (John 15:3), and the apostle James taught, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8).
The best way to strengthen our spirituality is to draw close to the Lord and the closer we get to him the stronger we become spiritually. To come unto Christ is an invitation to make him our close personal friend, where we love being with him, talking with him, caring about the things he cares about and trying to become like him. There’s a hymn that says “O, what a friend we have in Jesus,” but to come unto Jesus is for us to sing, “O what a friend Jesus has in me.”
No matter what our level of spirituality may be, all of us still fall short of God’s glory, therefore no matter how strong we think we are in the gospel, all of us can become more spiritual. And as the world becomes more perilous, the more spiritual strength we’ll need.
Does that mean we have to be at a certain level of spirituality in order to be worthy of being with Jesus when he comes again? Fortunately, that’s not what God judges us on. What he looks for is the desires of our heart. All of us have weaknesses, shortcomings, and faults, but what God is more interested in is do we delight in the Lord (Psalms 37:4). What he looks for is if we’re trying to come unto him, because in that journey, as long as we are moving forward, we’re drawing closer to him.
In a race, the objective is to cross the finish line and the person who stops running ten feet from the finish line will never win the prize, no matter how far ahead they are of everyone else. Our Father in heaven will give the ultimate prize to everyone who finishes the race, no matter how long that may take.. If we are sincerely trying to come unto Jesus because that is the desire of our heart, God considers us to be his faithful followers.
Related articles can be found at The Nature of Spiritual Growth