Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:13-14:
that becomes visible is light.
For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ
will shine on you."
When the light of the impending day of the Lord dawns it is going to make all things visible. One of the key factors to expect and we are already experiencing in these last days is the exposure of things that are hidden. This is from the increasing light that is now shining on the earth from the impending dawn of the day of the Lord. Because of this we can therefore expect a continuing increase of political, business, and religious scandals from exposures. However, as the second verse above declares, this should not discourage us, but rather be a call to wake up because the day is certainly at hand.
It is also true that it gets darkest just before the dawn, and the coldest hour of the day is usually the one in which the sun rises. This is also the time when the love of many will grow cold, but the one thousand year day in which the Lord will rule over this earth is coming as surely as the sun rises each morning. What do you see? Darkness or light? What do you feel? The coldness or the promise of the warmth?
As one friend of mine said, “For seventy years the communists said, ‘There is no God.’ Then the Lord said, ‘There is no communism...’” In a single year the world changed more dramatically than in almost any other previous century. That was from just the smallest ray of light from the impending dawn. What will the full dawn be like? We can be sure that every evil spiritual stronghold that exalts itself against the knowledge of God will crumble regardless of how bold and desperate it may become for a while.
One thing we can also count on in this time is that the devil will be more stirred up than ever, as we are told in Revelation 12:12, "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." Just as some of history’s most cruel despots have done their cruelest deeds in their final hours, we can expect the devil to do the same.
Even so, those who are awake will not be surprised by these things, but will work even more zealously so the Lord will find faith on the earth when He makes His appearance. We are living in the times of the greatest conflict between light and darkness, but the light will surely prevail! So let us stay awake at our post, not letting our guard down, but standing for truth, righteousness, and for the gospel, being encouraged that the time of its ultimate victory is certainly near.