Signs Of The Times || September 9, 2010

I thought it might be kind of interesting to examine Matthew 24, and talk about different parts of interest.


¹ Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.


Regarding the birth pains mentioned. Some of you are already familiar with this comparison. When a woman goes into labor, when it starts out, she feels it a little bit. The more it progresses, the contractions begin to get more intense, and also closer together. They get more and more intense and more frequent until it's almost constant, right up until the birth, which is the main event. The scriptures make this comparison, that it will be very similar. The signs that Jesus told us to look for would be like birth pains, how when it first starts, we'd begin to see these things occurring, but it's more scattered here and there, fewer and far between. Then as we get closer to His return, things become more frequent, stronger and more intense, seeing it more and more to where it gets to the point when it's almost constant, and then the main event. The culmination of the birth pains being when Jesus is finally here. I found that to be a very interesting analogy to use to examine the world around us and the events going on in comparison to what He talks about.

For instance, in these scriptures Jesus tells us of how we would hear of wars and rumors of wars. Needless to say, this is something that's been ongoing for some time. People have always heard of wars and rumors of wars. I do find it interesting the extent that we've been hearing of them though. In the Middle East, for instance, there's been an ongoing thing happening there. But I find it interesting how much intrigue there's been about it at this time. I find it interesting how there's been talk of North Korea, for instance, having anger against the U.S. and talk about a nuclear attack. There are a lot of places that are talking, and not so subtly, about nukes. That's not something that, I don't believe, has been in the news and had the attention of the media as much as it has recently. If you look online in different discussions you'll notice that other people have been noticing this as well. There's been a lot more attention brought to the nuclear possibilities of this.

Also here, I find interesting how it refers to there being earthquakes in various places. Again, there's always been earthquakes. However, many earthquakes have been happening recently, such as 2010 being called 'the year of the earthquakes'. It used to be that we would hear about them all the time on the news when they occurred, but now there's stuff that's not getting the coverage, but if you go and look for it you can find out about fairly significant ones that the news and media aren't talking about. The intensity of the ones that have been occurring is interesting. The New Zealand one, for instance, created a brand new fault in the surface on the earth, moving it however many feet in one direction. The one that was in the Mexio and California area was strong enough to actually tilt the axis of the earth, and very briefly shorten the days. I find it interesting to hear about all of them that have been occurring and the intensity they've been occurring, even in areas that you don't really hear much expection about earthquakes happening in.

We're also told in these scriptures that there will be famines. Just a little while ago I came across an article on yahoo talking about a potential world-wide food crisis. It referred to the fires in Russia, the floods in Pakistan, all the extreme weather we've been having, and how it's all culminating to a potential crisis, with the crops and food sources. There have been riots over the food issue, although not at this very moment, although they are talking about it becoming more serious down the road, especially as we continue with the bizarre and extreme weather that we've been having.


⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.


The first part of this, where Jesus said that about being handed over, persecuted, and killed, and hated by all nations because of His name... We've not seen this as much in America, but you can do the research and see that there are so many areas of the world right now that Christians are mercilessly persecuted, arrested, beaten, and killed. There are videos of this, and if you check out places like the Voice Of The Martyrs, they keep updated news stories about different Christians in the world and the things that are going on with them.

You don't have to look too far to see the kind of reaction that someone may get for talking about Jesus now, for openly professing to be a Christian, or in some instances simply carrying a Bible with you is bound to draw some attention. If you look at some of the comments on places like youtube, it's not unusual to see a lot of anger and malice directed at Christian videos because of the Christian message. I know a lot of videos, regardless of the content, will have a lot of interesting comments, but if you look at the ones with the Christian content, the replies will be geared towards the Christian message. They will make comments and insults towards you specifically for that. One of the things that I think about whenever I see this is that, if you're a good church going Christian, not that going to church necessarily makes a difference, but generally if you were then the community and others would show more respect towards you and consider you trustworthy, you'd be considered a good person. Now, it's getting to the point where that reputation is more likely to draw rolled eyes, or even open insults, in some instances. Here in the west we haven't yet seen the type of persecution as mentioned in these scriptures. We haven't yet seen the level of persecution as in other parts of the world, but we are beginning to see a change in attitude, and in the way we're viewed by others, by many of those who don't share our beliefs.

In these scriptures also we read of how there will be lawlessness that will multiply, and the love of many will grow cold. This is something else we've clearly been seeing. It's not any secret that crime rates have increased. It's also no secret that, where it used to be that if you had a problem, the community or neighborhood would help out. If you had a problem, your family would have your back. This isn't necessarily the case anymore. A lot of times it's your own family that becomes your enemy. Not all the time, but there are a lot of families that have experienced this. Your neighbors are no longer what you'd see for instance if you could go back to the 1950's, when you could potentially be best friends with the people on your street. Now, in some areas, you might be lucky if your neighbor would call the cops for you if someone was robbing your house and they could hear you scream. Not all areas are that bad, but a lot of them are becoming that way.


¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

²² “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.

²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.


I did a message on this a month or two back about someone I came across on youtube. A woman was claiming that her husband (and he was in full agreement with her) was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. I didn't have as much information about them at the time as I do now, but a lot of people apparently are following him, they'll go to his page and even post prayers to him. They have quite a few followers, and this is just one of many examples of this. As strange as it seems, it's not that uncommon. If you search around you'll find people making similar proclamations, whether it be in a Christian sense, or even with other beliefs, there are people claiming to be these great deities or spirits. There are so many different things out there that people are proclaiming, saying they're channeling some entity, etcetera. But, we read in the scriptures that we are not to believe these claims.

The Bible is clear that Jesus is not going to come back into the world the way He did the first time. He can't be 'channeled', neither can other beings from God such as archangels. Now, these people may be channeling 'angels', but they're not God's angels. Jesus said that when He does return, we're not going to be looking around seeing a man here or there who's in any way channeling Him. When He comes, the world will see and will not deny. Like it says in these verses, it will be like the lightning flashing from the east to the west. He will come, and we will see Him coming in the clouds. It's not something that's going to show up on youtube or anything like that, but it will be for everyone to see.


²⁹ “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.’

³⁰ “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. ³¹ 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.


See again, right here it's pointing out that when He comes back, everyone will see it. There will be no denying that it's Him. I also want to point out the verse right before this which says, "immediately after the distress in those days"... Coming down to the next verse, it says that, "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" - remember, it says immediately after the distress ("tribulation" in some translations) - interpret that as you will, I just find that to be one of the very interesting verses that deal with what people view as pinpointing the timing of the rapture. I just wanted to point that out.


³² “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. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.


People try to use this verse to say this is referring to the time that Jesus was living in, and then try to say it's a false prophecy, that if it didn't happen then, it won't happen in the future. Again, if you take this verse out of context, you can see it potentially meaning that. But if you take the verse with what Jesus is already talking about, this isn't saying that He's referring to that generation. This is still when He's referring to the signs of the times, that it would be the generation that watched these signs.

He gave the parable of the fig tree. Pointing out, again, just as you can look and determine from this tree when it's going to start sprouting leaves, that you'll know Summer is near. In the same way, we can look at the signs that He's given, and not just in this Bible chapter but there are so many prophecy verses throughout the Bible. There's a significant chunk of the Bible that's dedicated specifically to prophecy. But if you remember these signs and compare them to what you see in the world, you will know it's getting close. And it's THAT generation that would certainly not pass away until all the things mentioned will take place.


³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.


As far as the days of Noah, I encourage you to go back and read what Noah's generation was like. Likewise, I encourage you to go back and read about what things were like in Sodom and Gomorrah. Consider what was written then about what was going on at that time, and think about how it compares to what's going on in the world today.


⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

~ Matthew 24 (NIV)


I believe this is pretty easy to understand, Jesus saying that if we're always keeping an eye on the way we live our lives, if we're always striving to stay on track and follow His word, then if His return occurs in our lifetime, we'll be ready. But if we become apathetic, and figure we're okay, there's plenty of time to do whatever we want to do and just have fun, and Jesus would return during this time, or if we were to die during this time, we'd be caught off guard. We wouldn't be ready.

There's actually a lot more that can be said about this chapter, a lot more that can be examined, but I won't go into all of that here. Again, though, I encourage you to examine this chapter for yourself, as well as examine the scriptures about Noah and his generation, and also the scriptures about Sodom and Gomorrah. Compare these to what's going on. Keep an eye on what's going on, and if nothing else, just keep these things in mind.


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