Times Up...{an excerpt}

Time's Up

Time merging into eternity is anchored in the rich theological soil of God finishing the work and cutting it short in righteousness. God’s sovereign and authoritarian execution of His righteous decree “on the earth,” promises a decisive culmination of redemptive history. The “short work” becomes the outpouring of God’s restorative purposes, completing His covenantal promises and inaugurating eternity. A thorough and decisive portrayal of God’s mercy and judgment proceeding from divine prerogative. The “short work” is not capricious wrath but a righteous act that both punishes sin and preserves the people He has called. We are in the countdown of the six-day prophecy of God. God’s corrective acts always serve His larger purpose of restoration, from the flood to the final judgment, now realized in universal reconciliation. The ancient word finds its fulfillment in history’s final act written in the ink of divine righteousness. 

In the very last days, the phenomenon of a “seared conscience” will show non-believers who have become so hardened by sin, deception, and worldliness that their moral sensitivity is dull or altogether destroyed. Scripture portrays this as a process: repeated suppression of truth and persistence in wrongdoing leads the Holy Spirit to withdraw restraint. In tandem, the rise of false teaching, love of self, and spiritual deception in the end times, “deceiving spirits,” “things taught by demons”, further entrenches people in a mindset that actively resists the gospel. Finally, divine justice is revealed in God “giving them over” to a debased or reprobate mind, allowing the full fruit of their rebellion to manifest. The very fact is that none will feel conviction of the truth…until! Seared, literally “cauterized”, means these

scar tissue

people are rendered insensitive. Their minds are but spiritual scar tissue that has dulled the sense of right and wrong. These commit sin with every breath…unrepented sin acts like sandpaper on the soul, grinding away conviction until a person stops feeling the sting of wrongdoing and no longer cares about God’s truth. Prolonged resistance to the Holy Spirit culminates in apostasy. These people chose to remain in sin…no longer influenced by the Holy Spirit… and do not want to hear. Their delusion is so complete until false beliefs feel real even in lieu of overwhelming evidence. This connects searing directly to accepting “an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion” - false teachings that, once embraced, usher in deeper deception and hardness of heart. 

Let’s look to the actuality, the reality, the revelation, the reasoning with the word of God concerning the bible’s time end prophecy. Michael’s “standing up” signals a divine intervention and the decisive moment when God’s faithful - those “written in the book” - are plunged into the unparalleled distress of the greatest dark space ever…even exceeding that darkness that was upon the face of the deep. Similarly, we have the closing of human probation: every person’s moral condition - whether unjust/filthy or righteous/holy - is irrevocably fixed before Christ’s return. The one who does wrong still do wrong. Moral character is confirmed eternally in their character and condition. God ceases to hear prayers for those who have not yielded to Him, marking the end of Divine compassion. God’s answering prayer is rooted in faith. We are approaching the time of the thorns reflected in the crown upon the head. The fading of faith, except in the people of God, is universal. Because we overflow with assured faith our worship, our praise for God is continual. Our

wills strengthened for holy living even amid final turmoil. Our minds will rest in divine sovereignty. Though the struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, blood and flesh will be the result of the endorsement of evil. If we are wise, we understand. During the great time of trouble, when the seven last plagues are poured out on the wicked, God’s people are without an Intercessor in heaven, but they are not forsaken by God. While the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the wicked, He is not withdrawn from God’s people. We will experience a time of Jacob’s trouble. None is like this time of trouble. Though our sins have been confessed, it is our wrestling with God that we will experience a time of anguish and feel a deep sense of our unworthiness. However, our sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out, and we cannot bring them to remembrance. The unjust, in their rebellion, will double down in their wickedness. God’s timing is so perfect in His determination as to have human nature to become totally void of His Spirit. Biblical prophecy repeatedly warns that in the last days wickedness will intensify so dramatically that it will assault our senses - touch, hearing, and sight - and saturate every sphere of life. We are in a world in which moral decay becomes so pervasive that the very atmosphere seems charged with evil intent, where lies and violence blare from our media, and where acts

daily news

of cruelty and deception leap off the page of our daily news. This degradation isn’t merely external; it penetrates hearts, hardening them against truth and love, and challenges believers to cultivate spiritual discernment and resilience. The permanence of their choice, their defiance, confounds any reasoning they might have had. God’s people are in a land of deep darkness. Justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. The people of the world are confused. They are enveloped in darkness and lacking guidance. They have sinned and rebelled against God, causing a distance from His presence and resulting in their own downfall.  They have so rejected the light of truth they will grope for the wall like the blind, and they will grope as if they have no eyes. A scene of utter moral blindness will cause people to stumble in darkness, unable to see the path of justice, much less follow it. Times up! As deceit, malice, and hostility dominate the world today, we feel a weight in the atmosphere - an almost physical sense of foreboding in public spaces, online forums, a room where suspicion lingers, a presence of some people. Continual exposure to violent imagery or vindictive speech numbs the heart, leading to a pervasive sense of unease or dread. Selfdeclared leaders influence an asinine public with harsh rhetoric - creating a cacophony that drowns out voices of reason. The increased normalcy of slander, profanity, and vitriol transforms everyday conversation into a battleground of insults, making evil literally audible. Advances in technology amplify the visibility of violence, exploitation, and moral degradation - news feeds and streaming services expose ever more graphic content. Lawlessness is pervading all areas of life and open immorality has become commonplace sights, signaling that societal norms have collapsed. Human culture endorses sin. Corruption and injustice pervert the legal systems, so that the wicked “surround the righteous” and skew verdicts or simply offer executive clemency to the guilty. 

a darkened world

The prevalence of wickedness in the final days will be so extreme that evil will press upon our bodies, invade our ears, and bombard our eyes. Yet, scripture provides both warning and remedy: while the culture’s moral temperature plummets, the light of Christ and the power of the Spirit remains our refuge. By anchoring ourselves in godly community, scripture, and prayer, God’s people will withstand the assaults on our senses and shine as testimonies of hope in a darkened world. Revealed in the last day is not only divine protection for the remnant but also divine strategy involving flight and seclusion in a time of final crisis. The wilderness is both literal and symbolic - representing isolation, separation from the world system, and a place of divine sustenance…a spiritual covering. This is not merely about escaping danger, it is about being preserved to fulfill a witness and emerge in glory. The wilderness becomes a womb for the birth of a holy nation. We trust in the abiding reality for those whose lives are hidden with Christ in God. Even if visible to enemies, we are spiritually “hidden” in purpose, peace, and divine favor. We will be hidden but not idle. Persecuted but not destroyed. Cut off from the world but sealed into divine intimacy. Our seclusion is not cowardice…it is consecration. In this darkest of time we will be refined and revealed in God’s time. The Lord will shelter His people in prepared places of refuge. God Himself orchestrates the timing and location. We will have a wilderness sanctuary. Our emergence will be the testimony to God’s faithfulness. We pray for wisdom to recognize God’s preparation as our faith is nurtured in solitude. We reflect on the pattern of divine protection God has shown through history. We commit to abiding in Christ…he is our true refuge.