Time is fleeting, swiftly moving away from us as we live these increments of life on this judgment-bound planet. Time cannot be recalled; it cannot be re-lived. What’s done is done. What time remains is all we have left to do what we will with our lives on earth.

Time, as my great friend Chuck Missler often said, is linear—it is from one point that begins its movement to the concluding other point, the end.

God, Missler offered, created time for humankind. The Almighty is outside the confines of this linear sphere of existence for the creation. What God has assigned–and each life He gives has a purpose He intends for us—it’s up to each of us to accomplish.

This, of course, can be done only by obeying God’s directives. Here’s how God’s Word puts it:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5–6)

For believers who have an intense interest in Bible prophecy, I believe they’ve been given the assignment of watching, as the Lord Jesus commanded.

Jesus, in a sweeping description of the wrap-up of humanity’s timeline, mentioned the many signs that would be increasingly evident as the finale leading to the Tribulation nears. He then gave clear instructions to believers who would be alive at that time. Despite that many, particularly those of the seminary sort, will argue otherwise, I believe the Lord was alerting us to the future time Paul would later describe in prophesying the Rapture of the Church:

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:28–37) 

One such believer who takes her Lord’s command seriously is Jan Markell, founder and host of Understanding the Times radio program and Olive Tree Ministries. Her most recent article personifies, I think, obedience to Christ’s command and the scriptural exhortation given in Proverbs 3:5–6.

We should follow her lead in taking advantage of the time that’s left to us on earth. Here is a bit of Jan’s “watching” as Jesus commanded.

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I love short lists that folks can peruse and then dig deeper on their own. Today I came up with ten issues that tell me the hour is later than we thought. So, here’s my latest summary. Don’t be discouraged. Look up!

1. Europe is looking for an Antichrist figure.Prophecy News Watch reports a disturbing willingness among citizens to embrace strong, decisive leadership that could bypass democratic processes if it promises stability and results. One in five Europeans say they would prefer a dictatorship in certain circumstances, and a quarter admit they would not mind if a capable leader limited democratic rights and acted without accountability—provided he was effective…
2. Intensifying Lawlessness is everywhere. In Minnesota, not one elected official who participated in the Somali fraud of billions of dollars has been removed from office or arrested. The Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, in part responsible for the mayhem, just made Time Magazine’s top 100 influential people. Thanks for rewarding incompetence!
3. ICE has been demonized repeatedly, particularly in my hometown of Minneapolis. They have been arresting illegal aliens convicted of murder, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and more. In Minnesota alone, nearly 500 illegal aliens have been released back into the communitybecause state and local officials refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
4. Canada is poised to criminalize Christianity with a ban on citing biblical truths, reportsThe Federalist. Let that sink in. Crazed zealots in the leftist elite have turned Canadian Christians into scapegoats. They are considered deplorables…

Added to this outrage, Canada is offering to euthanize seniors. Canada’s free healthcare offers the  director of Dying to Meet You to the elderly who may be struggling. Surely love has grown cold (Matt. 24:12)…

5. The ultimate in calling evil good just transpired when the United Nations handed Iran a seat at the Women’s Rights Table. Iran—the regime whose morality police beat a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini to death for a loose headscarf—has just been elevated to a role within a key United Nations body shaping global policy on women’s rights, disarmament, and terrorism prevention. This is last days’ lunacy and strong delusion (II Thess. 2:11), and it abounds everywhere. (“Ten Reasons to Look Up,” Jan Markell, https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Ten-Reasons-to-Look-Up-.html?soid=1101818841456&aid=VhSKtaNBdew)

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Jan’s article went on to document five more end-times indicators that, indeed, should alert fellow watchmen to be looking up!

Heaven’s purpose for Jesus’ command to watch is to alert us to the shortness of time left to do our assignments. The souls of men, women, and children hang heavily in the balance. Their only hope–like our only hope—is the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s grace gift of salvation He accomplished on that cross at Calvary.

Christ’s purpose in telling us to watch is also to encourage those of us in God’s family, as we must live as did Lot in that ancient time in Sodom.

The wickedness and evil will end. Jesus will return and put it to an end.

Ours is a future wherein time will no longer be a factor. We will be in that eternal region where there is no evil or wickedness to incessantly come against all that is godly.

Our days are numbered, the Psalmist tells us:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:10–12)

My favorite song, as I sense my own days flying away, has become “Teach Us to Number Our Days” by Marty Goetz. I hope it blesses you as it does me.

Let us watch to work during these precious days we’ve been granted to bring as many souls as possible to Christ so they, too, will move from this time of trouble into that glorious timelessness of God’s eternal realm.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 

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