IT’S TIME TO LOOK UP!
Kay Keith Peebles 10/02/2021 21.36
Since God created the heavens and the earth, mankind has been looking up at the stars and the galaxies in search for God and the meaning of life.
I have been intrigued from the conception of NASA and the United States Space program which was initiated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958. Space travel was already on the radar and Russia was sending up rockets preparing for manned spaceships. Germany had been building rockets since 1942 for the purpose of destroying their enemies. The race was on and the whole world was looking up! I remember well, at age 9 lying on a blanket in our backyard in Taylor, Texas when our first U. S. orbiter rocket was sent up to circle the earth. It was in the midnight hour mom and dad woke my brother and I so that we could see the rocket’s light streaming across the sky. It felt exhilarating, amazing, unbelievable and fulfilling. I am far from a knowledgeable student of aeronautics, simply an admirer of the ingenuity and courage of man seeking to find answers in the heavens.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” Psalm 19:1-3. NKJ
President John F. Kennedy pledged to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s. I remember the night, July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the moon. That was one month before Larry and I were married. We watched the live broadcast in awe when Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin – knick-named “Buzz” became the very first human beings to land on the moon. After several hours, Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the moon and declared: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
We are far removed from the first people who looked into the heavens and wondered if God was there. King David lived and reigned around 1,000 BC. He wrote the majority of the Psalms. “O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8:1-9
Abraham (Abram) lived between 2150 BC to 1975 BC, over 1,000 years before David. The Lord appeared to Abraham and told him to look up at the multitude of stars in the heavens and see that his future spiritual off-spring would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens! “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:5-6
Abraham not only believed in God’s promise of a seed that would increase into multitudes, he saw something beyond the personal promise of God. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Hebrews 11:8-10. When Abraham looked up at the stars for the promise, he saw something even greater than his family and land in which to dwell on earth. He peered into the heavens, and by the Spirit of God, he saw the heavenly city which is “descending out of heaven from God.” See Revelation 21:9-11.
The Amplified Bible reads: “For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has fixed and firm foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.” Hebrews 11:10.
Hebrews 13:14 states: “For here we have no permanent city, but we are looking for the one which is to come.”
In the beginning of 2020, rumblings of the pandemic began. No one knew what to expect, and looking back, could not possibly imagine what has now taken place! All believers should know that judgment begins with the house of God, but few realized the true condition of the church until 2020. Jesus warned in Matthew 24 and 25 what the signs of the end would be like. We can see many of them not only have happened and are continuing to happen even as I write.
Scripture has prophesied the “falling away” which has begun in the church. The spirit of division is at work already bringing brother against brother and so on. “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 24:10-13.
Matthew 25 records what Jesus taught the disciples about the end of the age in the parable of the 10 virgins. See Matthew 25:2-13. He ends His discourse with this: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”
Luke gave the warning of signs in the heavens before Jesus returns. “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring: men’s hearts failing them from fear and expectation of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:25-28.
We are truly in the “birth pains” but there is a glorious promise from the Lord which is beginning to happen now and will explode world-wide soon. It is the end time harvest of souls! Mark assures: “And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” Mark 13:10. Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
As the Lord is judging and preparing His true church for the greatest revival and harvest in Biblical history, our eyes are to be looking up with great expectation! We are so near the second coming of Christ there is excitement in the air. As the world gets darker, the remnant church will shine brighter and brighter! Conversely, the churches and individual “believers” that refuse to heed Jesus’ warning in Revelation Chapter 3 will fall deeper into deception. However, the true church will not cower in fear but overcome in faith as they look up to their soon coming King!
His church is not stagnant or dormant. It is not intimidated, hiding and waiting for their deliverance. The true church is seeking God with all their hearts, praying and fasting. Their eyes are fixed on Him. They are completely surrendered to everything the LORD desires for them. They are positioned so that He can flood them with the fire and power of the Holy Spirit to bring in His rightful inheritance, the final harvest of nations. They will shine in the darkness as they are dispersed throughout the earth empowered to do the works that Jesus did and more! The true church will not shrink or cowardly hide in self-protection. Rather, they will shine and do mighty exploits the Lord has prepared for them before the foundation of the earth!
The author of the book of Hebrews admonishes the church and warns them of shrinking back in the last days. “But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering. And to the church (assembly) of the Firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to the God Who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect. And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between. Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance.]” He continues…
“See to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will] how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes [us ] from heaven? Then [at Mount Sinai] His voice shook the earth, but now He has given a promise: Yet once more I will shake and make tremble not only the earth but also the [starry] heavens.” Hebrews 12:22. See also Haggai 2:6. See also Psalms 102:24-28.
“And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.” Mark 13:10.
Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Those who know their GOD and KING cannot be silent. Those who have been redeemed cannot keep quiet! Those who have seen the Lord must tell the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One day, the earth will pass away but before that happens something powerful will take place. Harvest Revival has already begun and will increase “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea!” Habakkuk 2:14.
Lift up your heads, for the KING is coming soon! It’s time to Look Up!
