I’ve been pondering a lot of things lately. Things the Lord has laid on my heart or opened my understanding to. Things he has revealed to me. One of those things is found in Matthew 24. Something that I believe frightens a lot of us, but at the same time interests and intrigues us. Something we have difficulty in “wrapping our brains around”. Something we don’t like to think about, yet we’re drawn to find clear answers to our questions about it.
The “end times.”
I’ve read many articles regarding prophesies from many sources foretelling future events. I don’t necessarily dispute what they say. I do, however, know that humans are subject to error and God is not. Therefore, I put my money on God’s word. People like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Jesus told us clearly what to expect.
I’ve had times of reading their words and thinking, “What? No. Really?” And I’ve had times of reading their words and the reality has “hit me between the eyes”.
If we’re honest, we’ll admit that many of the things the Old Testament prophets foretold, and many of Jesus’ words, have already happened or are happening. Those times are here. Those prophesies are coming to pass. They are on our doorstep.
For instance, if we look only at verse five of Matthew 24, Jesus said that we would see “many coming in Christ’s name” and that “many will be deceived.” We see this happening all around us. How many people, how many churches do you see that claim to be “Christian” and yet embrace all sorts of sin and perversion?
Isaiah 4:1 says, “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”
Why seven women?
Is it a coincidence that Revelation 1 reveals to God’s people “what must shortly come to pass” and tells them “the time is at hand”? And Jesus addresses “the seven churches.”
It is clearly evident that these “women” (churches) want to be called by his name (Christian), but they want to swallow what they want (eat their own bread), and “wear their own apparel.” (cover themselves with their own robes of righteousness (works) instead of Christ’s righteousness.)
Brethren, we’ve only looked at two bible passages and we’ve already seen this prophecy coming to pass!
If we continue to read in Matthew 24, we see Jesus’ warning of “wars and rumors of wars”. All we have to do is look around us and we see war everywhere! Not only nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, but church against church. (We wonder why we have over 2,000 denominations?) We see white against black, brother against brother, husband against wife, children against parents, and on, and on, and on…
We have already seen famines, pestilences, (fatal epidemics and disease) and earthquakes in unusual places, just as Jesus said we would.
We’ve only reached verse eight when Jesus says, “these are just the beginning of sorrows.”
Matthew 13: 14-16 Jesus said, “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”
We are not like children in a pool of water playing Marco Polo, where one child walks around the pool blind, with his arm reaching out, yelling “Marco?” trying to find the other child, as the other child yells back, “Polo”, and tries to stay hidden.
We have been given eyes to see, brethren! Let us see.
I will write more on this subject in the near future, but for now, let us ponder on these few verses.
We are blessed.
