There seems to be a huge focus on apocalyptic movies, television shows and books today. There is a fear that is growing that the world is going to come to a horrific end. The reasons vary from nuclear war, alien invasion, asteroids, pandemics, volcanos, earthquakes and whatever is the disaster of the week, that week.
Most people speak of this time with a sense of foreboding. They don’t know why these things are happening more and more often. They look for reasons that are man-made and thus, are under the control of man to correct.
They say, stop doing whatever it is that we are doing that, in truth, they simply disagree with. They are using fear tactics to draw others into agreement with them on whatever issue it is.
Others are simply afraid. Is the end going to be because of nuclear war? Stop using nuclear power! Maybe the end will come because of climate change (a fancy word for weather), so stop using oil-based power and instead use nuclear power. These arguments can go in circular fashion until it makes your mind want to spin out of your head and across the room.
To be honest, fear of a pandemic is merited. We have caused superbugs to grow with our use of antibiotics. I remember when the antibiotic soap craze started. My concern, at that time, was that we would start killing off bacteria indiscriminately and cause more issues in the end. That is certainly one of the things that has contributed to this issue.
People are avoiding vaccinations because of the potential issues that can arise because of the shots. While there may be merit to their argument for a small segment of people, we seem to have forgotten that these diseases were almost uncontrollable killers in the past. When they arise again, they will kill more and more people because of the speed with which the virus can spread today.
I remember when I first read a book by Hal Lindsey. It was called, “The Late Great Planet Earth”. I wasn’t Christian when I read it and I didn’t turn to Christianity because of it. However, it was the first time I had read about what the Bible has to say about the end of our times and the destruction that would be poured out on the earth during a period called The Great Tribulation.
What was interesting to me then and now, is that the chapters in the Bible that deal with this issue made sense. In previous generations, the descriptions would have been unfathomable and would and did cause people to consider them to be allegorical. They would consider them simply a story that meant something else.
For me, reading the prophesy about end times sounded realistic and chilling. Today, it sounds almost like something you would read on the day-to-day internet news.
People have a reason to be concerned about disaster. The Bible tells us that there will be seven years of increasing disasters with the final three and a half years accelerating at an incredible rate. It tells us that this is God’s way of trying to get the attention of those who are stiff-necked and hard of heart.
It will simply take that much to get some individuals to stop and realize that the God of creation is, in fact, who he says he is. Some of them will understand that there is still time to accept the salvation of Jesus. Sadly, many will not turn to the God of the Bible. They will turn to a man who represents himself as a god.
It isn’t that God is allowing this to happen because he hates people. He loves them. He is going to do whatever he has to do to get their attention.
The things that we fear will all come to pass (well, except for the alien invasion, though the forces of Satan that are poured out over the land may feel like an invasion.)
There will be terrible catastrophes. Earthquakes, volcanos, tsunamis, things falling from the sky. These disasters will kill people, animals and vegetation. They will poison the air and water. They will cause men (and women) to die from fear even before the actual events kill them. There will also be pandemics (more than one.)
In the Bible, Jesus talks about this period of time. He tells us that we will know that the end is coming when all of these types of events start happening with increasing frequency and intensity. He compares them to the labor pains of a woman.
Women who have had children will understand what this means. It will start slow as something that can be tolerated and then build to a point of incredible suffering. However, unlike birth pains which result in the birth of a baby, these events will result in the death of our planet.
The good news for Christians is that God has promised a new heaven and a new earth for those who have accepted the gift of salvation that Jesus died to provide to them.
The bad news is for those who don’t accept Jesus. This world is going to end one day and then eternity will begin. For those who are not born-again Christians, eternity will be a place of untold suffering and eternal separation from God.
It doesn’t have to be like that. It takes only the smallest of faith to look to Jesus and accept him as God in flesh. You only have to accept that he lived sinlessly and died in our place to provide us with a covering for our sins. And finally, accept that he arose from the dead by his own power.
That last one is a sticking point for some including some who profess to be Christians. How can anyone rise from the dead? If you believe that Jesus is the Creator of the Universe, how can you question that he can restore life to himself? He created everything because he is the Word of God that spoke and it all came into being instantaneously. It is that same power that caused him to breathe again and for life to pour back into his buried body.
This time, though, his body had changed. It had become eternal and is the promise of what his believers will someday have as well.
So, for me, the stories in the news of the end of the world aren’t ridiculous (again, except for those aliens.) They are something that tells me that Jesus is coming again soon for his believers. It tells me that time is short and I need to tell others about him before it is too late.
Matthew 24:29-35
“Immediately after the distress of those days
‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”