"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." —2nd Timothy 4:8
Carefully notice that the 2nd Timothy 4:8
doesn't promise a crown to those who watch for Christ's return.
Rather, the crown is promised to those who “love His appearing.” In
other words, to those who were living for the Lord, and were busy
soulwinning preceding the Lord's return. The unsaved world will NOT
see the Lord's return, so they are not the one's mentioned in this
Scripture. Many believers will dread the Lord's return. Those
believers who squandered their time here on earth, who were choked by the
cares and riches of this world (Luke 8:14, King James Bible), who did nothing to win souls to Christ, will
be so very sad and disgusted with themselves.
I think the Lord will return soon. The Pretribulation Rapture of the saints must be oh so near. How do I know it will be Pretrib? Before God could destroy the world by flood, He needed to remove the righteous, i.e., Noah and his family. Likewise, before God could destroy Sodom, he needed to remove the righteous. Lot was a sinful; yet the Bible calls him a “just man” (2nd Peter 2:7). Lot was a born-again believer. God sent angels to deliver Lot and his immediate family from the imminent destruction. Likewise, the Lord will remove His children from this evil world before the Tribulation Period happens. God is a just God.
The most important thing nowadays is that we aggressively share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with lost sinners. I was handing out Gospel tracts yesterday with my kids. Our time is short, even if the Lord doesn't return, because our life is as a vapor. James 4:14 proclaims, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Let's all get busy soulwinning and do everything we can to bring lost sinners to the Precious Savior, Jesus Christ!
