In 1990 Aaron Tippin, William Brock and William Calhoun Jr. Brock wrote a song
called You’ve Got To Stand For Something. Aaron Tippin sang the song and some of the words are:
You've got to stand for something
Or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man
Not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right
And uphold your family name
You've got to stand for
something
Or you'll fall for anything
As I was listening to this
song the other day on the radio it got me to thinking about the words.
You got to stand for
something or you’ll fall for anything –
This is a broad statement
since it really depends on what you are standing for. My first thought is
standing up for Christian values given to us by God in a book we call the
Bible. Now that’s something worthwhile to stand for. It is also the reason so
many Christians fall for anything because they don’t faithfully read the Bible.
Therefore, they don’t know what to stand for.
On the other hand one could
stand for abortion … for example. That certainly isn’t anything reputable to
stand for. Stand for butchering babies because having a child might disrupt your
life? I don’t think so!
It’s true that if you don’t
stand for something or you’ll fall for anything, but it would be wise to
closely examine what you stand for.
You’ve got to be your own
man, not a puppet on a string –
Now this makes more sense. Most
people are like a puppet on a string, because they are afraid to be different.
I have witnessed countless people in this mode. They just compromise and go
along with what everyone else says to avoid any confrontation.
Instead of being “our own”
man though, wouldn’t it be wiser to be “God’s” man? For the Bible says,
“The heart is deceitful
above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Hebrews chapter 11 provides
us with a list of people who were God’s men (and women) and definitely not puppets.
The apostles were God’s men
and they definitely were not puppets. Just think if they tried to be their own
man. They would have eventually become puppets to the squeaky wheels of the
religious crowd and Rome.
Take for example, Jesus. Did
He try to be His own man? Even though He was God, He came to do the will of the
Father and He accomplished just that.
“I can of mine own self do
nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine
own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)
So, being our own man really
isn’t the answer, simply because none of us are qualified to be our own man. As
I have already said, Jesus was certainly qualified to be His own man, but He
chose to do the will of the Father.
We could totally eliminate
the puppets if we would just choose to be God’s man or woman.
Never compromise what’s
right and uphold your family name –
Now we’re making more sense.
Every true Christian has the family name of the one true God of Heaven, and
this is the name we need to cherish. Whatever we do, say or think reflects on
that family name.
Since the true Christian is a
child of Almighty God, then it stands to reason that “compromising” God’s Word
is totally out of the question. But here’s the problem … if we aren’t in the
Word (the Bible) how can we know what not to compromise?
Every Christian is a disciple
and this word “disciple” simply means we are a student of His Word. Unfortunately,
far too many Christians are not attending class, and then there are others showing
up for class, but fail to listen.
Now we’re back to:
You’ve got to stand for
something or you’ll fall for anything –
More and more, the world we
live in is becoming anti-God. It hates God and wants nothing to do with Him or
His true followers … you know, those stiff-neck Christians who cause so much
friction.
God sent Daniel a message by
the angel Gabriel about a period of 490 years, which is for Israel by the way,
not the Church. In Daniel 9:24-27 Gabriel explains this to Daniel.
24 “Seventy weeks are
determined
For your people and for
your holy city,
To finish the
transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for
iniquity,
To bring in everlasting
righteousness,
To seal up vision and
prophecy,
And to anoint the Most
Holy.
This verse covers the period
through the end of the 7-year Tribulation we talk so much about. It will be completed
at the Lord’s 2nd Advent (2nd coming).
25 “Know therefore and
understand,
That from the going forth
of the command
To restore and build
Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks
and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built
again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
This verse begins with the
decree of Artaxerxes, in the twentieth year of his reign, to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah
2:1-8), and follows through to Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew
21:1-11).
26 “And after the
sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off,
but not for Himself;
And the people of the
prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and
the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be
with a flood,
And till the end of the
war desolations are determined.
This verse speaks of Christ
being crucified a week after He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, then the Romans
destroying Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
27 Then he shall confirm a
covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the
week
He shall bring an end to
sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of
abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the
consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”
Today we are sitting between verses
26 and 27, in what is called the Church age. It amounts to a long parenthesis
that will close with the Rapture. Beginning with verse 27, the 490-year prophecy
will continue when the Antichrist confirms a covenant with Israel for seven
years. This last seven years will complete the 490-year prophecy.
My point in quickly showing
this prophecy in Daniel is to emphasize that verses 25-26 have been fulfilled (483
years of the 490) and only verse 27 remains (the final 7 years of the 490). The
objectives listed in verse 24 will be accomplished by the end of the seven-year
Tribulation period.
My next point is to emphasize
that we are ever so close to the beginning of the final seven years of Daniel’s
prophecy. Once the Church is removed, events will rapidly happen to start the
Tribulation period.
My final point is that we
need to decide now where we stand with God. Tomorrow may be too late.
Grant Phillips
Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
