I was young, and now I am old.  I have walked with the LORD for as long as he deemed it wise for him to walk among men in the flesh.  I have lived beyond the time I believed was fixed for my sojourn.  I did not believe that I would die of natural causes; I believed the LORD would come before now.  I have always been looking for Christ’s coming in the future, but I have been looking in the wrong place.  Jesus comes now, in the present.

Just about exactly 1980 years ago Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)  Did Jesus lie when he said this?  Were the apostles mistaken who wrote this down?  Of course not.  That day 1980 years ago was “today” for everyone who heard his voice.  So, what does he tell you and me to do “today?”

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
[8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
[9] where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works
[10] for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
[11] As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
[12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  [14] For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Hebrews 3:7-14 (ESV)

When we consider the church today, what do we see?  We see, just as John did, churches in all manner of situations comparable to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3.  Jesus rebuked most of those churches for one reason or another.  Only Smyrna and Philadelphia fully escaped judgment.  Why?  Because they kept Christ’s word and did not deny his name, even unto death.

How do we deny Christ’s name?  Does this necessarily mean that we say, “I do not believe in Jesus Christ,” or “I do not believe Jesus died for my sins,” or “I do not believe Jesus is the Son of God?”  No, to deny Christ means to contradict him.  Those who “keep” his word cannot contradict him because they speak and do as he did and still does.  And how can we do this?  By hearing his voice today.

Many prophets have gone forth into the world proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, but they lead God’s people astray.  Many focus on the next sign, the next big event which supposedly says something about something related to Christ’s second coming, or some great “outpouring” of his Spirit.  Christ is coming again, but do not forget that he has already come, and that he is come for and in those who believe. Today, if you hear his voice, repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Today, if you hear his voice, begin now or continue to learn his ways.

Many will say to him when he reveals himself to them, “Did I not do this, that, and the other good work and miraculous sign in your Name?”  And, he will say, “Depart from me you worker of lawlessness.  I never knew you.”  Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts and do not rebel against his ways.  Do what he says.  This word is for you, and for me.