What’s with
all the crazy things happening in our world today? What does the future hold, or one could ask, is there a future at all for
mankind? Bad things are happening all
around us and our world often seems to be spinning out of control. Dangerous drugs, murder, rape and terrorist
attacks are becoming more and more common.
Such things used to be done only in secret, but now occur in broad
daylight. Criminals used to try and hide
their evil deeds, but not so much today.
Added to that are outbreaks of new diseases, significant changes in
weather patterns, threats of war and nuclear attack, dramatic increase in
immorality, the structure of the family under attack like never before, etc.,
etc. There appears to be something major brewing in this unstable world we live
in. But all these things are signs that
are telling us something about our society.
The Necessity of Discernment
In the
gospel of Matthew we see Jesus Christ rebuking the spiritual leaders of His
time:
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came
up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from Heaven. But He answered and said to them, “When it is
evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm
today, for the sky is red and threatening.’
Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern
the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:1-3
- NASV)
Jesus held the
people of His day accountable and expected
them to discern the signs of the times and to understand that the Scriptures
pointed to Him as the Messiah. But through
their unbelief and their hard hearts, many missed the signs and missed the
“time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and rejected the Messiah! So, if THEY were expected to recognize the
signs of the times in their own day, why would the same not be expected from US today?
In fact, it is said that there are far more Bible verses pointing to
Jesus’ second coming than His first
coming. So, how much more accountable are we today to recognize the signs of
His return?
Indifference
These signs
of our day should be obvious to Christians.
But there is so much indifference, such a great lack of concern for the gospel,
even in the church today. And because
of this lukewarm attitude, many Christians don’t study the Bible and are spiritually weak and vulnerable. They are in a state of spiritual sleep,
rather than a state of alertness (Mark 13:35-37; 1 Thessalonians 5:6)
and, with no discernment, they are so easily deceived. Being deprived of personal study of Scripture
makes it easier to miss the signs altogether.
Early Warning System
In our
advanced society today, we want, even demand, the security of early warning
systems. We have equipment failure
alarms, smoke alarms, fire alarms, hurricane and tornado warning systems, railroad
crossing warning lights, and even engine warning lights on our vehicles to let
us know when there is a problem coming up.
Many of these things are required by law and are meant to protect us
from great harm or expense.
And God, in
His mercy, has given mankind the ultimate “early warning system.” It is the most important (and dependable) early
warning system of all time – Bible prophecy. And these signs that we are seeing today (that
even unbelievers can hardly miss), do
confirm the truth of God’s promises.
They point to a cataclysmic time period, known as “the Day of the
Lord.” It will be a time on earth of
destruction, chaos, confusion, terror, and trouble such as the world has never
seen. It will be a time of judgment, and
it is on the horizon. For more details
on that topic, see here:
Birth Pangs
Jesus said
that the signs that lead up to the Day of the Lord would be like “birth pangs”
(Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8), i.e., the labor pains a woman has
before giving birth. This means that
they would increase in frequency and intensity as that time approaches. And that’s exactly what’s happening today.
The purpose
of these signs is not just to have something to talk about, but to put the fear
of God in us and to cause us to conform to His will. It should cause every Christian to want to
share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before that
“great and terrible Day of the Lord” arrives (Joel 2:31).
The purpose
of this article is to alert everyone to the signs around us, and to show that
it is by God’s grace that we are allowed to see where the world is headed. Our intention is to offer hope in these
troubling times and to warn the church to wake up. We urge all Christians to pray for
discernment.
Note that it
is not our purpose in this article to list every specific sign. There are many very good articles out there that
detail these signs. Here are just a few
of those articles:
“I Don’t Believe It!”
Many are saying,
“This world is not that bad. We can make it. I have faith in mankind.” Sorry to say, but man is NOT getting better
and better, as “evolution” might try to suggest. There may be great advances in technology,
but the heart of man is still wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). As a
whole, our thoughts and intentions are not getting better, but worse… and the
signs of our time prove it.
And many
will say, “I don’t believe in all that religious hype used by Christians and
their Bible-based scare tactics.” But
why does no one ever call fire alarms and railroad crossing lights “scare
tactics”? Don’t these things also warn
us in case of trouble, just as the Bible does?
Getting caught in a fire is a possibility,
and colliding with a train is a possibility,
but rest assured that the Day of the Lord is not a mere possibility. There is no “in
case it happens.” According to
Scripture, it WILL happen.
The Bible
speaks of those who will mock and say, “Where is the coming of the Lord? They’ve been talking about that day for
centuries; it ain’t happened yet, and it ain’t gonna happen!” (2
Peter 3:4) But whenever it does
happen, some of those very same people will be saying, “But why didn’t anyone tell us this was going to happen?!!!” Well, we’re telling you now… The signs are everywhere. One need only look at the daily headlines. What will YOU do about the signs of our
time?
Will you be
ready? Study the Bible and believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in HIS work on the cross (and that alone) for your
salvation, and let Him change your life. This is the only escape from the Day of the
Lord.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke
21:36)
