Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on one of the most important realities facing all of humanity: the deep, universal longing for hope, peace, and salvation. Every person—regardless of nationality, religion, or background—carries a yearning in their heart for a better world, for answers to life’s pain and confusion, and for a lasting solution to both physical and spiritual suffering.
This longing is no accident. It was planted in our hearts by God.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV): “He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
1. Humanity’s Search for a Savior
Around the world, people are looking for someone to trust, someone who can bring lasting change. In science, researchers hope for breakthroughs or even contact with alien life, imagining such beings might possess solutions to disease, aging, and death. In politics, societies are constantly searching for the perfect leader—someone who can bring peace, justice, and prosperity. But time and time again, leaders fall short, and people are left disillusioned.
Even religion reflects this longing. Every major world religion has some expectation of a future figure who will bring deliverance. In Islam, they await the Mahdi; in Buddhism, the future Buddha (Maitreya); in Hinduism, the Kalki Avatar. Christians, however, await the return of Jesus Christ, the true and only Messiah, sent by God to reconcile the world to Himself.
John 4:42 (NIV): “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
2. The God-Planted Hunger for Redemption
This universal longing isn’t simply emotional—it’s spiritual. God designed it so that people would seek Him.
Acts 17:26–27 (NIV): “From one man he made all the nations… so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”
Only Jesus Christ was appointed by God as the true solution to the world’s problems—spiritual and physical alike.
John 14:6 (NIV): “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 (NIV): “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
3. The Rise of the False Messiah (Antichrist)
Scripture tells us that before Christ returns, a counterfeit leader will arise—the Antichrist—who will deceive many. He will offer false peace and seem to meet the world’s desires. People will worship him, believing he is divine.
2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 (NIV): “Don’t let anyone deceive you… that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped…”
Revelation 13:8 (NIV): “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.”
This man will perform miracles, signs, and wonders—just like Pharaoh’s magicians in Moses’ time—but they will be counterfeit, empowered by Satan to deceive.
2 Thessalonians 2:9–10 (NIV): “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie…”
Revelation 13:13–14 (NIV): “And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven… Because of the signs it was given power to perform… it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.”
4. The Mark of the Beast and Global Control
The Antichrist will reshape the world’s political, economic, and religious systems. He will establish the infamous “mark of the beast,” without which no one can buy or sell—signifying total control.
Revelation 13:16–17 (NIV): “It also forced all people… to receive a mark… so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark…”
He will even establish peace treaties, fulfilling the prophecy in Daniel:
Daniel 9:27 (NIV): “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.”
5. The Great Tribulation and God’s Judgment
Those who resist the Antichrist will suffer greatly. The Bible describes this as a time of tribulation worse than anything the world has ever seen.
Matthew 24:21 (NIV): “For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.”
Revelation 7:14 (NIV): “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
After the three and a half years of false peace and three and a half years of brutal persecution, Jesus will return in glory to defeat the Antichrist and judge the earth.
Revelation 19:11–16 (NIV): Describes Christ’s return as a conquering King, riding on a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven.
6. The Urgency of the Hour: Are You in Christ?
All biblical signs of the end times are being fulfilled. The final event we now await is the Rapture—the catching up of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). It could happen at any moment.
The question is: Are you in Christ? If He returns tonight, are you confident that you’ll meet Him in the air?
If not, the only future left is the Great Tribulation and, eventually, the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:15 (NIV): “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
7. The Call to Repentance
Friend, you’ve heard the truth. Don’t harden your heart. Don’t delay. Now is the time to repent and turn to your Creator.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV): “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
This is not the season for comfort or complacency—it is the time of the Evening Light, the final call before the darkness falls.
Romans 13:11 (NIV): “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”
Maranatha – Come, Lord Jesus.