HOLD ON TO THE PROMISES OF GOD

By nature is it is easier to let go than to hold on just by the effort it requires. In the world which says "let it go", God beckons us to "hold On."

Although there are things which we should certainly let go (like our pride and bitterness), Scripture also tells us of things we should hold on to.

When the Bible says "hold on" to something, it implies that it is something you can lose. It is something you already have, and yet potentially, it is something you can lose if you don't hold on to it.

© CreationSwap/Joel Joseph 2012

1. Laying hold of our calling

Philippians 3:12
"Laying hold (katalambano = catch, obtain, seize, overtake) of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold (Katalambano) of me."

2. Holding on to the TRUTH of the Word of God

1 Corinthians 15:1-2
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast (katecho) that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

2 Timothy 1:13
Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Holding on to the gospel and the truth of the Word of God and CONTINUING in them is essential for salvation, and for being kept in the last days:

1 Timothy 4:16
Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

There will come a people who will test the word and spread its contradictions.

2 Peter 3:3-4
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Timothy 4:3-5
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

BECAUSE GOD IS COMING SOON...

1 Thessalonians 5:1 tells us of the “times and seasons” that are at hand. This implies not knowing the exact date of the Lord’s return, but rather, the estimate or approximate of it.

One key that will help us in understanding the times is found in 2 Peter 3:8 which says that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”  Applying it to the creation, when God created everything in 7 days, it prophetically speaks of the 6000 years given to man, and the seventh day being sabbath (rest) which is in the Millennium. There have been some scholars that calculated that it took exactly 4000 years from Adam to the time of Jesus’ anointing at age 30; and the 6000 years will be complete sometime in the years after 2020  (Frank R. Klassen, Chronology of the Bible).

The measurements of the tabernacle of Moses, as well as several Scriptures including Hosea 6:2, Acts 1:10-12, and Joshua 3:3-4 strengthen the view that indeed the return of Christ is imminent, and we ought to ready ourselves for it!

May the Lord indeed give us the grace to hold on to His promises, and to press on in making ourselves ready for His coming!