My dear readers,

1. "The best is yet to be"!

Last weekend (Saturday 1 March 2014) I was at my old school’s Annual Dinner – my first time since I left ACS in 1946 (the year after Japan surrendered, after losing the "Second World War" ) – a long time ago! My class of ’46 had lost 4 years due to the Japanese Occupation.

It happened to be ACS 128th Anniversary Dinner (commemorating the school’s founding in 1886). Singing the ACS anthem brought back memories of "days of yore"!

It is now 5.30 am, Monday 3 March 2014, another new day. What will this day bring? Who knows? The days are flying by ever so quickly and with each passing day we add another day to our years!

This means another day nearer our Lord’s return! (If that is what you keep in sharp focus.)

2. What is "the best" – to you?

At school, we used to quote from the poem by Robert Browning (1812-89), Rabbi Ben Ezra. To you, fellow "children of light," the best – the day of days – is the day of our Lord’s return. But to the unprepared and unknowing, it will be a time of terror, regret and remorse, as recorded by John the Apostle in Revelation 6:15-17:

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

3. Why don’t we prepare for that day?

Good question! Today, while it is "today," let us prepare for the Lord’s return, that "day of days"! And how better can we prepare than at Sunset Gospel Hour (SGH)!

"SGH"! The best way to get ready for our Lord’s return – every Lord’s Day evening at Sunset Gospel Hour, where God’s people meet on the Lord’s Day evening – in holy worship! No better way and no better place! You are always welcome.

4. What’s in the News today?

Perhaps we might get some lead on the direction in which the world is heading. Perhaps! Yes, two developments, both "pulse quickening." From Europe: "Ukraine mobilizes (against Russia)." And from Asia: "North Korea fires a missile (a warning to South Korea)."

World peace is imperiled when such events happen. Read what our Lord said in Matthew’s Gospel 24:6-7:

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places."

5. God’s Word gives warning

An ominous sign of the Lord’s soon return is the rise of unbelief and skepticism. God’s Word warns in 2 Peter 3:3-6:

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished."

But do not think: "The Lord will come in 100 years’ time!" Read 2 Peter 3:10-11:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be …" ?

Think carefully! How are you living?

"Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." (2 Peter 3:13-14)

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor