Ready for Christ's Coming - by Jim Tharp

But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away; so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. 

(Matthew 24:36-44, NRSV)

From the very hour in which our Lord Jesus Christ was caught up in His ascension to the Father, Christian believers everywhere have rejoiced in their hope of His Second Coming. The apostles watched Jesus ascend, and then after He was out of sight, angels came and wakened the disciples from their trance, saying Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:11, NRSV).

Surely, Christ’s Second Coming is of the utmost importance for all believers. But we must also give attention to all that Jesus and His apostles said about our preparation for His coming.

We learn from Jesus and His apostles that the Second Coming will have two phases—He will come first to rapture (“catch away”) His Bride. The world and those not ready for His coming will not see Him. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:16-17, NKJV).

The second phase of the Second Coming will be a Revelation—He will return to the very place from which He ascended: to the Mount of Olives in a great earthquake. The prophet Zechariah predicted five centuries before Christ’s coming to earth as a Babe in the manger that He would return: On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south (Zechariah 14:4 NIV). Jesus Himself confirmed Zechariah’s prophecy by saying, For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. . . . Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:27, 30, NIV).

The earth to which Jesus returns in the second phase of His coming will be to one filled with tragedy and sorrow because of rejecting the Savior and believing the lies of the Antichrist. The apostle Paul predicted that those believers on earth living just before the rapture would be affected by the preliminary invasions of the evil spirits of the Antichrist: The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (II Thessalonians 2:9-12, NIV).

Four Components of New Covenant Praying - By Jim Tharp 1998

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." (John 16:23-24, 26-28, NIV)

Having been intrigued by the prayer life of Jesus, the disciples pressed Him to share with them His secrets of prevailing prayer. In His final discourse on prayer, which came within the context of His Paraclete lessons, Jesus told His disciples that things would be different in their prayer life once the Holy Spirit came upon them. Let us see the four components of New Covenant praying as mentioned by Jesus in His last discourse.

Approaching the Father

"In that day," said Jesus, "you will no longer ask Me anything." The phrase "in that day" appears twice in this context, and it refers to the time when the Holy Spirit will come to influence believers, including their praying. When He said, "you will no longer ask Me anything," Jesus was reminding them that He would not be with them literally and visibly. With the Holy Spirit indwelling and guiding them, they would have no need to turn to Him literally as they had in the past. It would be to their advantage that He depart from them in the flesh in order that He might return to them in the Spirit. With the Holy Spirit in them, the Father and the Son would be approachable at all times and in all circumstances. Jesus assured them, "The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God" (v.27). No apologies would be necessary in approaching the Father. As His redeemed children, bought by the precious blood of His only begotten Son, none of us are considered to be interrupting or intruding when we come to the Father in prayer. "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:14-16). The inspired writer argues here for an approach to the Father that is one of confidence because of our standing in Christ. When we pray, we are not approaching the Father as a stranger or an impostor but as a blood-bought child who is in favor because of Christ and what He did for us. Jesus emphasized boldness in prayer by both example and parables.

Pentecostal Power II - by Jim tharp 2015

And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49, RSV).

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8, RSV).

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4, RSV).

Luke the historian pinpoints the exact day on which God fulfills His promise to send the Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus. The 120 believers, including those disciples, had been praying faithfully and waiting in the upper room in Jerusalem for The Promise of the Father. Jesus hadn’t given them the full details concerning the outpouring of the Spirit, but they had been following His instructions.

The Holy Spirit came and poured Himself on these obedient believers on The Day of Pentecost. It is important that we understand how Old Testament patterns were simply shadows of the realities of God’s plans for His New Testament Christian believers. So I want us to understand The Day of Pentecost in light of the Jewish celebrations.

The Feast of the Passover took place on Friday. The blood of the sacrificial lamb on the doorposts was used for the deliverance of the firstborn sons. John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, RSV). Jesus, the Lamb, gave His life on the cross at the exact time the high priest would offer the Paschal Lamb on Good Friday.

The next day was the Sabbath with the celebration of The Feast of Unleavened Bread, commemorating the difficult journey out of Egypt.

Next came The Celebration of Harvest, or The Feast of First Fruits, a shadow or type of the resurrection of our Lord. He is the first fruits of the great harvest to come (I Corinthians 15:12-28).

The harvest continued for a period of 50 days. It climaxed on The Day of Pentecost. Two loaves of bread were presented to the high priest, a symbol of the fulfillment of the harvest. During those 50 days Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. We are given only a brief insight into the activities in the heavenly realms. Jesus serves as the Great High Priest who offers His sacrifice once for all. He receives The Promise of the Father in order to pour out the blessing upon us on The Day of Pentecost.

I would have us consider three dimensions of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit:

It Takes Prayer - by Jim Tharp 1997

So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed (Luke 5:16).

Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him ... (Luke 9:18).

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet ... These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication ... (Acts 1:12, 14).

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).

From the day that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit in the River Jordan (Luke 3:21-22) to the time of His death on the cross, He was a Man of the Spirit and a Man of Prayer. When He was ready to birth the Church, He ordered a prayer meeting (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:12, 14; 2:1-4).

When I returned from a preaching tour of South Korea and the Philippines back in the 70s and reported the mighty movings of the Holy Spirit in those countries, my American friends wanted to know the secret. Why was God moving so powerfully in the Far East when we see so little of His power here? Of course, I said, the answer is prayer. I said that I had never been in a place of prayer like South Korea. The Koreans know how to tarry before the Lord. There they pray in the Spirit on all occasions and in every place. I noticed that they did not place nearly as much emphasis on preaching, theology, music, gifts, finances and organizations and other things, as they did on prayer. I listened to their praying in their early morning meetings, during the family prayers and at the special times of prayer among pastors. If they were not praying in English, I would ask someone to interpret their praying. I learned that for the most part, these Koreans were praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the services to capture the attention and hearts of the people of God.

The Holy Spirit knows that He is welcome because of our prayer meetings and by the way we pray. Jesus knew that once His followers began to pray, they would soon be in readiness to receive the Holy Spirit. And He also knew that once they were filled with the Holy Spirit they would be equipped to pray with power.

The same is true with His modern disciples. We are called to militant, mighty praying -- the kind that frightens and defeats the forces of hell. There is a passage in Matthew 11:12 which needs to be laid hold on by Christians of this generation: "and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." We must no longer ignore this passage as "bizarre and irrelevant," as some have. Not a few scholars believe that Jesus meant here that "the kingdom of God is carried along by forceful means." If so, then it will require men and women who understand the nature of spiritual power to advance the cause of Christ. It so happens that such men and women are people of prayer.

The Urgency of Intercessory Prayer - By Jim Tharp, 2014

For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities:

transgressing and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God,

talking oppression and revolt, conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance;

for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.

Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one,

and was appalled that there was no one to intervene . . . .

(Isaiah 59:12-16, NRSV).


The prophet Isaiah allowed God to stir his heart over the lostness of His chosen nation so that he understood the Creator’s grief over the apostasy that demanded divine judgment. What must have really awakened the prophet was that God was appalled that there was no one to intervene.

A global fire is raging. The times that Jesus foretold are upon us. He said, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you . . . . You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death . . . . When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near . . . . Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:10-12, 16, 20, 34-36, NIV).

Millions of professing evangelicals in America are caught up in shocking fear, wondering what happened to their faith. Too many have ignored Christ’s instruction as to our orders for the last days. Franklin Graham writes, “Before one crisis can be calmed, another rains down. From coast to coast, continent to continent, terror strikes the nations. News anchors and political personalities often shake their heads and ask, ‘What in the world is going on?’”

It must grieve our God that at this critical hour our church’s prayer rooms are nearly empty, family altars are broken down, and no solemn assemblies are being called. Surely the God who wants to save us must be appalled that there is no one to intervene. How can we American believers ignore our responsibility for complying with God’s sure solution to our coming implosion? The call is going out to Christians: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:14, NIV).

One has to wonder just how dead—deaf, disinterested, paralyzed, indifferent—the body of Christ across America has become! Instead of a marching army ready for battle, have we become one of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones?

Then, let us pray for an ear to hear God’s voice telling us to Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones; I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ (Ezekiel 37:4-6, NIV).

Then the Lord told the prophet, Prophesy to the breath—this is tantamount to the New Testament believer praying to the Holy Spirit— . . . and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ (Ezekiel 37:9, NIV)

Such obedience—sacrificial praying, burdensome intercession, groaning in sync with the Spirit’s passion for renewal—had great results: So I prophesied as he commanded, said the prophet, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (Ezekiel 37:10, NIV).

Fighting The Good Fight - by Jim Tharp 1997

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, ... And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
(Eph. 6:10-13, 18)

I still find it shocking that most of our pastors and lay leaders are uncomfortable and unwilling to discuss the subjects of Satan and spiritual warfare. As my friend Jack Taylor says, "Most of the Christian world seems to have taken a vow of silence on these matters." What else can explain the paralysis of spiritual death that grips so many congregations, despite well-educated and well-organized pastors, trained staff, attractive buildings, the latest in technology and a commitment to building a sound spiritual body?

Why is there in so many of our churches a numbness and drowsiness concerning what we are about, where we should go and how we are to get there? And when someone tries to focus, there come a dozen differing responses that send the leaders into confusion and often division. In such a vacuum it is easy for rifts to take place, strong-willed leaders to get into power and church politics to become an offensive odor throughout the whole community. In such discouraging circumstances, the tendency on the part of the leadership is to rally their natural strengths to fight against "flesh and blood." Satan will do almost anything to keep pastors and teachers and evangelists and prophets from discovering the need for true spiritual warfare. One of his most effective strategies is to keep them preoccupied with administration, counseling, meetings, visitation and putting out the fires of opposition so that every day is almost prayerless. Such otherwise intelligent leaders never dream that they are themselves already casualties in a spiritual war.

Someone has got to sound the word that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to enforce the mighty victory that Christ won over Satan and his kingdom of evil at Calvary. Until Jesus returns to actually destroy Satan, the Church is given authority to discern his strategies, disclose his purposes, deny his power, defeat his operations and deliver his captives. Let the followers of Christ realize that since Calvary and the Empty Tomb, Satan does not have unlimited power on planet earth. We who are filled with the Holy Spirit, clad in His armor and given to a ministry of intercessory prayer are called to resist the Evil One, tear down his strongholds and order his retreat. Otherwise, it is the nature of Satan to impose, intrude and usurp until confronted by true representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ who know the power of that Strong Name and will not hesitate to invoke it.

The Early Church received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and took authority to resist and overcome the Evil One. Throughout the book of Acts we see Spirit-filled apostles and deacons and evangelists operating against Satanic forces just as Jesus had done before them, and with the same results.

The Church is called to do battle against the Evil One and his forces today. Because he is invisible, prayerful attention and discernment is required on the part of those who wage spiritual warfare. Otherwise, we will soon be thinking and acting as though our struggle is with flesh and blood (people, institutions, visible entities), and we will then resort to carnal weapons used by the world. When this happens, the Church ceases to be the Church, and becomes as any other natural organization -- and the Evil One wins.

Far too long the Church has cut itself off from its true source of wisdom and power and has been content with its sorry substitutes. This accounts for the spirit of apathy instead of a spirit of authority. This accounts for so many losses and almost no gains in the salvation of the lost, the making of strong disciples, the powerful, drawing, caring fellowship of the saints, and the lack of revival in general.

But hear me, dear people: Any congregation in America can know a Christ-exalting breakthrough of Spirit-anointed worship services, new people and entire families being won to Christ and the church, believers being sanctified holy, the healing of marriages and family relationships, the destruction of Satanic strongholds, vision and direction for the church, the availability of gifted and dedicated leaders, the coming forth of laborers to be trained for need-meeting ministries and the release of needed funds for financing God's Kingdom through ministries and programs inspired by the Spirit -- if only the leaders will lead the way in prayer!

All of the above can be true if pastor and leaders will devote themselves to prayer. Others will follow. It does not require a praying majority; a powerful minority can turn the tide and see revival. Dear ones, the hour is too late and too dark and too dangerous for just more trivial and timid experiments. We must return to the divinely-ordained, time-tested Upper Room means of releasing God's power on His Church for healing her diseases and removing her reproaches. As congregational leaders throw themselves into the ministry of prayer and fasting, God will through a mighty minority begin His outpourings of the Spirit and will not stop until the congregation has experienced a mighty New Testament spiritual awakening and a great increase in the harvest of souls.

Our Holy God of Judgment - by Jim Tharp, 2015

Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.

He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject” (Acts 17:29-32).

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28).

For we (Christian believers) must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (II Corinthians 5:10).

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead (unbelievers), great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).


Our Western mentality is such today that most of our minds immediately throw out red flags against any biblical mention of divine judgment. Even when evangelical messengers include the divine attribute of grace along with our preaching on divine judgment, we are often tuned out, turned off, and rejected. Still, we who are called of God are not excused from our assignment to remind both Christians and unbelievers that we shall all appear before God to give an account of our lives on earth.

Christians—all who have repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord—will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We who have been saved by faith shall be judged by our works. Rewards will be given for faithful service and for hardships suffered for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s—the greater the suffering, the greater the rewards.

Unbelievers—those who have not believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent to atone for their sins by a traumatic death on the cross—will be judged justly for their rejection of their only hope of salvation and punished according to the sins they have committed over a lifetime. Not believing in Jesus Christ will turn out to be the greatest sin. Eternal punishment will be their judgment, and they’ll know it comes from a just God who loved them enough to pay off their debt of sin had they only believed.

The apostle Peter assures us that our God judges each man’s work impartially (I Peter 1:17), meaning that He is absolutely just in every individual’s case and shows, no favoritism. At the great white throne judgment, lost souls will at long last discover within themselves a fear of this absolutely Holy One, an amazement at His Presence, even a respect for this Glorious One who judges them. They’ll have no defense, no argument, only the realization that they’re getting what they deserve for their final unforgivable sin of rejecting the Almighty God’s one and only Son who paid for their sins so that they might believe in him and receive eternal life.

A Word to Believers

In 21st century America’s secular mindset, Christians are being tempted to lose their sense of the holiness of God and begin morphing into the worldly values and styles of a pagan world. But we are called to be light in a dark world and to be salt in a decadent society. God’s Word warns us that when our lights go out the darkness becomes great, and when the salt loses its strength and taste corruption is the result.

As we near the closing out of our year and the approach of 2015, I confess a foreboding that increases as I move deeper into intercession for our beloved America. I do believe that God raised up our nation to be a powerful witness to all the other nations on planet Earth. He brought about the American experiment to prove His great love, power, and grace. We were meant to be a people who would glorify Him by taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, by meeting the needs of suffering humanity at home and abroad, by experiencing the outpourings of the Holy Spirit in periodic spiritual awakenings, and by rekindling revival fires throughout the earth.

But who will deny that we have lost our way, our purpose, our vision, our message, our freedom? So much of our nation is in slavery today—in bondage to debt, having mortgaged our future and that of future generations; and enslaved by drugs, unbridled sexual passions, and materialism. And worse, we seem bent on dismissing God from the public square.

Our gracious and loving God has clearly marked out the only solution, but it has to begin with the millions of us who claim to be followers of His Son. He challenges us:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:14).

A Word to Unbelievers

In love and concern for all who have not trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, I beg you to hear a word from the inspired King Solomon: I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). This wise man is referring to the awesome responsibility the Creator has placed upon mankind as free moral agents to choose their course in life. But when he writes that God has also set eternity in the hearts of men, he is referring to our God-given innate sense of life beyond death. Anthropologists report that in nearly all cultures there exists a haunting belief that death does not end human consciousness. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed they’d go to the moon when they died. Our native Americans believed they’d go to their happy hunting grounds. The sense that death is not the end has shaped nearly every civilization—that is, until recent times among Western civilizations. What the anthropologists have not told us about these civilizations is the various moral guidelines they followed to prepare them for life after death.

 

But thank God for the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ; and thank God for the written Word of God, the Bible. I can write down for you the eternal truth about our need for preparing for the next life, not because I figured it out myself and not because I heard it from a philosopher. But I can assure you of the true way because I’ve tried and tested it, and it works. It comes from the Holy Book, the Bible, and it tells me that a loving God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).