Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God's People

By Anne Graham Lotz and Joel Rosenberg

Expecting to See Jesus--the expanded edition of I Saw the Lord--is the result of Anne Graham Lotz's life lived in the hope of Jesus' return.

As you journey with her through the pages of the Bible, you'll come to realize why she lives her life expecting to see Jesus at any minute. And, she wants to make sure you and all other Christians are ready for that moment when your faith becomes sight.

Anne knows from personal experience that it's in the busyness of our days, as we're drifting in comfortable complacency, that we most need a wake-up call--a jolt that pushes us to seek out a revival of our passion for Jesus that began as a blazing fire but somehow has died down to an ineffective glow.

In Expecting to See Jesus, Anne points out the biblical signs she sees in the world all around us and shows how you can experience an authentic, deeper, richer relationship with God in a life-changing, fire-blazing revival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Aug 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9780310333869

Anne Graham Lotz

Anne Graham Lotz, hija de Billy y Ruth Graham, es la presidenta y directora ejecutiva de AnGel Ministries, una organización sin fines de lucro que apoya sus esfuerzos por llevar a las personas a una relación con Dios por medio de su Palabra. Inauguró su ministerio de avivamiento en el año 2000 y ya ha hablado en los siete continentes y en veinte países extranjeros, proclamando la Palabra de Dios en estadios, iglesias, seminarios y prisiones. También es la galardonada autora de trece libros, entre ellos Magnífica obsesión.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

I’m Expecting to See Jesus!

Iam expecting to see Jesus! In the deep place where nobody goes¹

… in the very deepest core of my being …

… the place forty-six years ago where I knew I was to marry Danny Lotz,

… the place forty-two years ago where I knew that God would give me a baby, and that my firstborn would be a son,

… the place thirty-five years ago where I knew I was to teach a Bible class,

… the place where I knew I was to leave that class in my twelfth year of teaching and begin an itinerant ministry,

… the place in the year 2000 where I knew I was to begin Just Give Me Jesus arena revivals,

… in the deep inner place of knowing,

in that same deep place I know that my generation is the one that immediately precedes the return of Jesus Christ to earth. I know it!

How can anyone know such a thing? My knowledge is not based on my hopeful thinking … not on dreams and wishes and feelings … not on hearsay or doomsday soothsayers … not on gloomy economic forecasts … not on the dramatic political, social, cultural, medical, environmental, and moral cataclysmic changes taking place in our world today … not on environmental disasters of biblical proportion like Hurricane Katrina, the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, or the Joplin, Missouri, tornadoes. I base my deep inner conviction on what Jesus said.

And just who is Jesus? I’m sure while you know the answer to that question, you may not have thought through the implications of the answer. If we believe Jesus is who He claimed to be … the Son of God … then it stands to reason that every word He spoke was the truth. And Jesus clearly stated on many occasions that one day He would return to earth to rule the world. When His disciples asked Him when that would be, Jesus gave them signs He said would indicate when the time was near.

The signs that Jesus gave and the headlines in the news are coming together in a dramatically sobering way. I have held the conviction with intense focus since I was in my early twenties that if I live out my natural lifetime, I will live to see the physical return of Jesus to earth! In the material I’ve added to this book, I will give you reasons why I know He’s coming! He is coming!

I’m alarmed because on the time clock of history, it’s five minutes to midnight and so many Christians seem to be sleeping! While I believe we are living in the most strategic and critical generation in all of history, other than the original one and also the one that witnessed the first coming of Jesus Christ to earth, God’s people in general seem to be oblivious of what time it is! We are fanatical about sports, we are consumed with eating and exercise and entertainment, we mob the shopping malls, we are preoccupied with the lifestyles of the rich and famous, we zealously pursue greater heights on the corporate ladder, we fight over church music, we argue over political candidates, we dream of bigger houses and cars and portfolios …

totally unaware that we are all living on the brink of … what? We are living on the brink of radical inside-out, upside-down, never-to-be-the-same-again change! We are teetering on the edge of a giant abyss where time stops and eternity begins, yet we seem to be living our lives as though this life is all there is or ever will be.

The burden on my heart is to wake people up … to wake you up! The burden is so heavy and the vision is so clear that at times life around me seems surreal. I see people sleepwalking when they should be on high alert — their eyes blinded, ears deafened, minds numbed, and hearts hardened to warnings such as 9/11. Warnings so loud they should wake the spiritually dead. Yet many sleep on in lethargy, complacency, apathy … and just plain denial.

The fresh material I have added to this book is my attempt to teach you how to tell time as Jesus taught His disciples, so that the end of your world will not catch you by surprise. The rest of this book has been written to help you make sure you’re ready when the moment comes to stand face-to-face and eye-to-eye with your Maker, and to get the most out of life until that moment comes.

Which brings me to a very pragmatic and honest conclusion: Jesus is coming! I am going to see Him. If I’m mistaken about what time it is in human history — and I readily concede that I may be wrong — if I have lived every day of my life expecting to see Jesus in the next five minutes, and I don’t, what have I lost? Nothing! What have I gained? Everything! Because my faith will become sight in one of two ways: either at His physical return to earth or at the moment of my own death.

Whichever way it unfolds, I am expecting to see Jesus! He’s coming!

He’s Coming!

Matthew 24

You know the time of day,

but do you know what time it is?

Are we living at the end of human history as we know it? This question is routinely asked when natural disasters strike or a series of world crises take place. Recently I read a newspaper article about a group of people who are so convinced that the end of the world will take place on May 21, 2011, they are taking out billboards and driving around towns in cars painted with warnings (if you are reading this, they obviously were wrong). Like the cartoon depicting a prophet with a signboard strapped to his back as he walks up and down the sidewalk proclaiming The End of the World Is Near, we tend to scoff and dismiss the entire idea of history having a decisive conclusion. Especially in our own lifetime. It’s like a bad joke.

However, when the disciples asked Jesus a similar question, He didn’t scoff at their query or dismiss them. He didn’t even enter into a discussion as to whether or not the world would come to an end. Instead, He answered them by giving them signs to look for that would indicate the end of the world was near, strongly underscoring that one day everything would come to a final conclusion.¹ While He emphatically said no one could know the exact day and hour, He did admonish His disciples to watch for these signs, implying that you could know the generation (Matthew 24:36, 42). In fact, He rebuked the religious leaders of His day for not knowing the incredibly strategic and historic generation in which they were living, a generation that experienced the first coming of the Son of God to earth. He underscored their lack of awareness by saying they knew how to interpret the appearance of the sky in order to predict the weather, but they did not know the signs of the times that indicated the significance of their generation (16:2–3).

Like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, could it be that while we can predict the weather by looking at the sky — Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight — we are ignorant of the times in which we live? While we can share the gospel, involve ourselves in missions, tell people about Jesus, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless, are we oblivious to the strategic importance of the generation in which we live? Could this be the generation that will experience the second coming of the Son of God to earth? How can anyone know such a thing?

Years ago, I asked myself this question. It struck me that one day there would come a generation that was the last one. How would that generation know it? To my mind came Jesus’ own words to His disciples and the signs He gave them in answer to their questions. Again and again, He instructed His disciples to not be deceived, to keep watch, to not let His return come like a thief in the night (24:4, 42–44). In other words, He was clearly indicating that the last generation of human history, the generation that would witness His return to earth, could know it IF they were diligent not only to be familiar with the signs He gave but also to watch for them.

So what were the signs Jesus gave to His disciples — and you and me — to watch for? During the week before the Cross, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives with the Twelve, looked out over the city of Jerusalem, and lamented that the city would be destroyed completely, a prophecy that was fulfilled in AD 70. The disciples then asked Him two questions: When will this happen? (referring to the destruction of Jerusalem) and What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus answered their second question by giving them signs that would indicate that human history as we know it is drawing to a climactic close.

Jesus described these signs as birth pains (24:8). I basically had natural childbirth with all three of my children. I will never forget the birth pains! Each time, they began rather subtly as low back pain or pressure. But as labor progressed, so did the pain and the pressure until it wrapped around my midsection and I could feel it squeezing tightly as it bore down on the baby within. Not only did the pains intensify, but they increased in frequency. I had several false starts, but once the real labor began, the pains came steadily, almost like clockwork at intervals of five minutes, then four minutes, then every three minutes, then every two minutes until the intensity and frequency ran together and became unbearable! Just when I thought I could bear the birth pains no more, the baby emerged!

As I remember my own experience with labor, I don’t need anyone to explain to me what birth pains are! They have two primary characteristics: they occur at intervals of increasing frequency and they occur with increasing intensity—each pain is stronger than the last. Jesus used that very description when He gave His disciples the signs that would occur at the end of the world. The signs He described have always been present in our world. For example, there have always been wars. There have always been earthquakes. There has always been persecution of His people.

However, He warned that when you and I see these signs increasing in frequency —when they occur yearly, monthly, weekly, then daily— and when we see them increasing in intensity — one after another as records are shattered; and when they all occur within one generation (24:34), not just scattered throughout human history … then you and I are to lift up [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near.²

I have divided the signs Jesus gave His disciples on that day almost two thousand years ago into five categories: (1) the spiritual or religious realm, (2) the national realm, (3) the environmental or natural realm, (4) the personal or cultural realm, and (5) the global realm.

Signs in the Spiritual Realm

Within the category of spiritual or religious signs, Jesus warned, For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many (24:5). He was predicting that in the last generation there would be many false Messiahs. The Messiah was considered to be someone anointed by God who would solve world problems and usher in world peace and prosperity.

Today, many in the Muslim world are looking for the Shia Islamic messiah, referred to as the Twelfth Imam. Muslims believe he is to appear soon, and that when he does, he will bring justice to their people, world power to their leaders, and annihilation of their enemies.

There are also many people all over the world who may not use the term messiah, but who promise if you give them your vote or your money or your allegiance, if you establish their form of government, if you adopt their religious practices, then they will solve your problems and lead you to prosperity, giving you real hope for the future. They are false messiahs. No human person or government or religion or entitlement will ever bring permanent peace and prosperity. The only one who can do this is the true Messiah. And His name is Jesus.

In the last generation there will also be many false prophets [who] will appear and deceive many people (24:11). A prophet was one who was appointed by God as a messenger — someone who would give out God’s Word to God’s people and to the world around him. A false prophet is someone who says he speaks for God, but what he says doesn’t come from God at all.

While there will always be people around us who mock the Scriptures as well as make fun of those who take God at His Word, this sign speaks to leaders within the church. It is distressing to contemplate, but the pulpits of churches, the lecterns in seminaries, and the desks in classrooms are filled with preachers and teachers and professors who are false prophets. They claim to speak on God’s behalf, but they deny the truth of God’s Word, disregarding its commands, defying its authority, and destroying people’s faith in it instead of boldly believing and declaring it.

I’ll never forget attending a Bible study in a large mainline denominational church led by a visiting seminary professor. He had two doctorates and read directly from a Greek language New Testament. As he introduced the book of the Bible we would be studying, he said that it should never have been placed in the canon of Scripture, that the authorship was uncertain, and that if we couldn’t read Greek, we wouldn’t understand it anyway. By the time he finished introducing the Bible study, no one there wanted to be in it. He was someone who, by his very position, claimed to speak for God, but who actually led people to deny and dispute God’s Word. Instead of strengthening people’s faith in the Bible, he led them to distrust it and turn away from it. I got up and walked out. I knew the professor was a false prophet.

A national conversation has been ignited recently by a popular young evangelical pastor who has stated that since God loves everyone, everyone will go to heaven. National newsmagazines, newspapers, and television talk shows, as well as Internet blogs, have highlighted his statements. His church is attended by seven thousand people weekly—people who seem to be following him even though his words directly contradict what the Bible says, deny the uniqueness of Jesus, and reject the necessity of the Cross for salvation. He is a false prophet.

One of the most sobering signs Jesus gave in the spiritual realm was that Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me (24:9). Persecution of Christians has ratcheted up dramatically in the last decade. The World Evangelical Alliance estimates that more than 200 million Christians in the world today are being persecuted for no other reason than their identity with Jesus Christ.³ This was dramatically illustrated at Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado. Dylan Klebold reportedly confronted seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernall in the library, asking her if she believed in God. When she said she did, he shot and killed her. While some have disputed this account, others have called her America’s first martyr.

As of this writing, Christians are being physically attacked openly in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, as well as many other parts of the world where the stories never reach the front pages of our papers.⁴ Churches are being burned, Christians are being shot and stoned, Christian children are being enslaved, and Christian women are being gang raped … the horrors are increasing until they are becoming commonplace. Verbal assaults are common. I brushed up against this type of persecution when participating in a broad-ranging forum of new ideas in another country. One of the other presenters began her remarks by attacking those dangerous born-agains who are retarded … ⁵ And the audience laughed.

As you thoughtfully consider the signs Jesus gave in the spiritual realm, read and listen to the news … local, national, and world news. What are some examples that you could give of false Christs? False prophets? Persecution of Christians? In light of His words and what you read in the news, while remembering the birth pains, what time do you think it is?

Signs in the National Realm

The second category of signs Jesus described is in the world of nations. Jesus explained that you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come (24:6). Almost daily we read of uprisings and rumors of war in the Middle East, on the African continent, and on the Korean peninsula. We are bombarded by news of actual conflicts and uprisings in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and other parts of our world. We are pouring billions of dollars into broad wars, such as the war against terrorism and the war against drugs. As of this writing, one estimate is that there are 134 wars being fought in our world today.⁶ In fact, there were more wars fought in the twentieth century, including two world wars, than in all the rest of human history combined. And the twentieth century was when the United Nations was established to help keep the peace! World War I and World War II, as well as the worldwide conflict we see taking place today, were predicted by Jesus when He warned,

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Oh, yes! We need to open our eyes and see Jesus! Includes an appendix to teach how to hear God as you study scripture.