Truth Archive

[Notes written by Don Shenton. They are an excerpt from his Study on Prayer] 

Lk 18:8 “Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall He find faith on earth?” What are we going to make of this question? It must be one of the most important questions in the Bible. What thoughts arise? Jesus asked it to strengthen our faith, to awaken us from any spirit of indifference or apathy. There’s nothing in the verse to encourage us to ‘take it easy’. It’s rather a forecast of rough weather, troublous times ahead, and many hard battles to be fought. The question expresses the first condition of salvation, FAITH.

Jesus’ question reveals Jesus’ intense anxiety regarding the condition of His own at His return and what they should be doing with the time granted them before He returns. This verse is found at the end and not the beginning of His teachings concerning His return. He emphasized, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” He gives a wonderful example of perseverance: the account of a dishonest court of justice, an unscrupulous judge and a poor widow who would not ‘give up’, would not take NO for an answer. She didn’t accept a compromise, did not settle for less than right. It shows that even unrighteousness finally yields to a persistent appeal for justice.

This question calls for more than a passing thought. The issues are sobering and eternal. It suggests the kind of persons Jesus expects to find when He returns; the ones He will call “His elect”, who pray without ceasing, crying night and day unto God. Help will come, even be rewarded. Jesus will repay. He’ll heed the wrongs and see them righted.   

NEVERTHELESS, will He find some who have watched and kept their garments unspotted from the world? Who have not lowered their sights? Who have refused to surrender to a world’s system that glories in human attainments, immorality, intelligence, inventions, organizations and leadership. Will He find faithful souls, not deceived by false prophets and false christs with their lying miracles, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear of those things which are coming on the earth? The faithful, will they be lifting up their heads in prayer and for redemption, not overcharged with the cares of this life? Will He find some like the three Hebrew children, not frightened by consequences? Ready to die rather than bow to wrong or survive in dishonour. Will we quit fighting for Truth and Right, and join the crowd?

The Pharisees asked Jesus WHEN the Kingdom should come; the disciples asked WHERE. He answered, touching several points:   

The Kingdom is within you! God looks at the heart. It’s not in the outward show, making headlines or moved by those who say, “Lo He is here! Or Lo He’s there.” It will be a test of patience. “The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and ye shall not see it”. In the long wait, amidst difficulties, sighing for deliverance; many long years He’ll tarry before He comes to repay and reward according to their works. He spoke of His own rejection and sufferings. They could expect the same experiences when the bridegroom shall no longer be with them.   

Regarding the condition of the world as His return nears, Jesus pointed to the days of Noah and Lot. There were people taken up with the material and human, with no thought of an impending doom.

Noah was a man of faith. When warned of God of things not seen as yet, he was the only one to believe and act upon it. He moved. He built an ark to save his house. Faith made Noah different. It governed his conduct. He was getting ready to leave; others were getting ready to stay. What are we Doing? What are we building? The earth was their paradise, the only one they wanted.

Noah accomplished all this in spite of the world where violence and corruption prevailed. Look at those three words: EVERY imagination and purpose of their heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY…” “EVERY”, without exception! ONLY, unmixed, unadulterated evil; rotten to the core and continually, at every moment.

In less than 2000 years, sin reached such proportions that God regretted that He made man. The Bible says the sins of Sodom were, “Pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness”. Sodom majored in eating and drinking, planting and building. It was a place of permissiveness and perversion, a fun-centre of flesh pots, indulgence and base passions. They were ready to treat Lot’s guests with rudeness and that they submit to the infamy that has given Sodom the name. The old man Lot, who lived among them, was jeered. Who was he to suggest a different pattern and dare violate their code. They had no time nor taste for old precepts; no pretence toward propriety. They were a demonstrating mob, wild with devilish demands.

God’s servants came as angels of mercy to lead any away from Sodom and to safety. They left as agents of judgement. There’s a point beyond which divine forbearance can go. The mob would have beaten down Lot in the street, beaten down his door, had it not been for Heaven’s protection. Such times and seasons Jesus suggested would precede His return! Any careful observer can detect the same sodomite spirit infection today.

In the midst of all this corruption, it is important that the condition of our heart and soul be found wisely among His “elect”. “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall save it”.
He’s coming again to find those who have “kept faith”, who have resisted the powers of darkness, the onslaught of demons and seducers, who have overcome temptations to let go, to slacken up, to quit defending the Word and let the weeds grow.   

The thrill of the ages is to be caught up to meet the Lord in the skies. God alone knows how near we are to the end, the final outcome; the one taken and the other left. It is up to us to decide which one of the two we shall be. CHOOSE WISELY!