A Change of Question

Is this the year that Jesus will finally return?

Matthew 24:36 NKJV

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

Matthew 24:42 NKJV

42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:44 NKJV

44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Acts 1:7 NKJV

7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

“Should we advance in spiritual knowledge, we would see the truth developing and expanding in lines of which we have little dreamed, but it will never develop in any line that will lead us to imagine that we may know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. Again and again have I been warned in regard to time setting. There will never again be a message for the people of God that will be based on time. We are not to know the definite time either for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or for the coming of Christ.”

1SM, p 188

“Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”

COL p 69

Is this the year we will be more like Jesus?

1 Peter 2:21 NKJV

21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

1 John 2:5–6 NKJV

5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Ephesians 4:11–13 NKJV

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

“The church became a vitalizing power. Believers, themselves re-converted, were a living power for God and for His kingdom. A new song was put into their mouth, even praise to our God. Every one converted saw in his brethren and sisters the faces of angels. One interest prevailed, one subject of emulation swallowed up all others,—to be like Christ, to do the works of Christ. The earnest zeal felt was expressed in kindly helpfulness, in kindly looks, and brotherly love. All strove to see who could do the most for the enlargement of Christ’s kingdom.”

(AUCR, June 1, 1900)

Revelation 12:17 NKJV

17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:28-29

John 14:9–11 NKJV

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Mark 10:45 NKJV

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 13:12–14 NKJV

12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

“Instead of living in expectation of some special season of excitement, we are wisely to improve present opportunities, doing that which must be done in order that souls may be saved. Instead of exhausting the powers of our mind in speculations in regard to the times and seasons which the Lord has placed in His own power, and withheld from men, we are to yield ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, to do present duties, to give the bread of life, unadulterated with human opinions, to souls who are perishing for the truth.”

The Review and Herald, March 22, 1892

John 17:20–23 NKJV

20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

“Unity with Christ establishes a bond of unity with one another. This unity is the most convincing proof to the world of the majesty and virtue of Christ and of His power to take away sin.”

Unity with Christ establishes a bond of unity with one another. This unity is the most convincing proof to the world of the majesty and virtue of Christ and of His power to take away sin.

White, E. G. (1977). Mind, Character, and Personality (Vol. 1, p. 30). Southern Publishing Association.

“Unity is the strength of the Church.”

“Unity is the sure result of Christian perfection.”

“It is never difficult to do what we love to do, but to take a course directly against our inclinations is lifting a cross. Christ prayed that His disciples might be one as He was one with the Father. This unity is the credentials of Christ to the world that God sent Him.”

5TM, p 94