Last Days of Grace

Pentecost, forty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, marked the fulfillment of Christ’s promise.  He gave the Holy Spirit to the church on earth to witness to the grace and truth of the Word.

The Spirit descended on the believers and each proclaimed the mighty works of God in understandable languages. This was a sign of the last days.  Saint Peter quoted Joel the Prophet (see Acts 2:1-21 ESV).  “ 'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’”

We are in the Last Days.  Jesus Christ, though His cross, fulfilled the conditions for our salvation.  The Gospel is preached throughout the world.  There are plagues, earthquakes, hurricanes, and all manner of potentially destructive forces at

loose in the world.  The world is steeped in immorality and mocks the Word of God.   Jesus said that He would come ‘like a thief in the night’ at a time we do not expect.  He could come today.   

Be ready.  The original version of Amazing Grace contained

this verse: “The world shall soon dissolve like snow, 

The sun refuse to shine; But God, who called me here below, 

Shall be forever mine.”

 Be ready through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His

Word and in His faith, in His arms, washed by His blood.  

This is God’s promise to you in these last days of grace 

(Acts 2:21): “And it shall come to pass that everyone who 

calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Amen.

Raymond Van Buskirk, Pastor, Redeemer Lutheran Church

Baytown, Texas          www.rlcbaytown.org                 5/31/2009