Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Those graphic images and videos we saw this past week, of persons clinging to that military aircraft as it taxied down the runway, will forever be etched in our minds, just like those vivid images of 9/11 will always haunt the memories of our nation. As people jumped out from the ill-fated twin towers in New York city, and as persons fell from the airplane this week, we got a glimpse of what our first scripture is saying to us.
Those cryptic words, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear” are being literally fulfilled in real time, even as we speak. Even though we are taught in scripture to always cultivate a cheerful outlook on life, yet, no one in their right mind could deny that things have gotten decidedly worse for our planet, over the last two decades.
National debt is skyrocketing, Covid is shaking down millions, healthcare workers are getting weary of a retrogression in virus cases, wildfires are raging out of control in so many places, severe drought takes its toll on man and beast, politicians are threatening economic sanctions against vaccine hesitant people, and suicide rates are climbing substantially higher in young and hold, than in former years.
Added to this we are facing the prospect of national unrest, because of the sharp divide in perspectives as it pertains to the handling of the many variants that are wreaking havoc across the nation. Could it be just a coincidence, that so many distresses are converging at the same time? Or is it a harbinger of something very ominous on the horizon?
Sooner or later persons will have to conclude that the troubles that are coming upon the world are not mere temporary aberrations, but are the fulfillment of that which is written in the Bible. Even though many in the secular realm may hate to admit it, yet it’s a fact that the frequency and intensity of events over the past two decades are very abnormal, even for our world, which has seen its share of wars and calamities.
Like the Philistines, who were at a loss for reasons, why adversities and destructions piled upon them, some experts in our day have unwittingly tried to explain current events along strictly scientific lines, without referencing those apocalyptic prophecies given in the Bible, which plainly state that current events do portend a cataclysmic end to normalcy, as we know it.
Back then the Philistines had set their own personal parameters to verify whether the devastation which had ravaged their country was a capricious blip, that just happened out of the blue by chance or whether it was the God of heaven trying to reach them. They then put the matter to the test to ascertain the real cause of their troubles, and they did receive a clear confirmation, according to their own standard that they had set. Let’s read:
1st Samuel 6:2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them.
8 And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast
to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.
12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.
However, unlike the situation with the Philistines of old, the adversities that are coming upon the world are not of God’s doing, for He has given us grace for grace through the merits of Christ, and as the direct result each member of the human family is become a recipient and beneficiary of God’s love some more some less.
At the same time we should also note that God’s grace would not always reverse the laws of cause and effect, which in many cases, are permitted to run their natural course, and as a result, many of the apocalyptic prophecies written in the Bible are just a concise delineation of what man has done or is doing to himself.
Case in point is the issue of devastating droughts all over the world, from Greece to Russia, and from the Midwest to Africa. All over the world, the same cry for water is being made, because the reservoirs and dams which were formerly fed by snow packs, year- round, have now become so severely depleted that hydropower plants had to shut down, and water is currently being trucked into California as a result.
Question: Is it God that is doing these things to the human family? Or are we just reaping the fruits of our own doing? The correct answer to these two questions will shed great light on why apocalyptic prophecies were written the way they were. Let’s read:
Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
In the above passage the prophet Isaiah, in pointing out the reasons for what comes next in the chapter, says that the reason for the distress is that we have “transgressed the laws”. Question: Which laws is the prophet referring to?
Answer: Not only is the prophet referencing the Ten commandments, written with the finger of God, he is also referring to dietary laws, agricultural laws, environmental laws, social laws and godly principles that were given to make the world run efficiently as possible.
But we have cast out as archaic and irrelevant many of the statutes and instructions given to the human family by God, and as a result the Bible predicts that our chickens will be coming home to roost, sooner or later.
Those soothsayers, and smooth-talking preachers who declare peace and safety, will have a very rude awakening, when they realize too late that every word in the Bible was given to guide our feet in the ways of righteousness and peace. Let’s read:
1st Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
And conversely, any departure from it is written will eventually be visited with the natural consequences if there isn’t a change of direction in persons. Thus, the prophet Isaiah alludes to these consequences in the apocalyptic prophecies, and because there will always be a remnant who choose to serve and obey God, mitigations are included, so that all who will, may find a refuge, while the opportunity still lingers. Let’s read:
Isaiah 4:5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.
6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Thus, the overwhelming majority of the apocalyptic prophecies given in the scriptures do not delineate anything that God is doing to us. In most cases, the prophets are just stating the natural results of our departures from that which is written for our own good.
Now, it is true that in Revelation 16, God will act in a decisive manner in the seven last plagues that are to be poured out upon the earth, but until that time when human probation will be permanently closed, the bulk of troubles will be the inevitable results of what we have done to ourselves, in departing from God’s ideals that are written.
Climate change and global warming are the direct results of a constant violation of the agricultural and environmental laws given us by The God of heaven, which, if they were followed, would have staved off very much of the drought, wildfires, heat, storms, and the resulting devastation we are seeing today.
Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Texas dumped about thirty three trillion gallons of water in just a matter of days, and in the last two decades we have broken records for tornadoes, hurricanes, and rain, in so much that, that some are proposing that we add a category 6 to the Sapphire Simson scale.
The Lord would have us to understand that after He created the earth, He put in place the principles of replenishing, by which man, beast, and the entire environment we live in could be rejuvenated on an ongoing basis. Therefore, any earthly system which does not include the principle of replenishing would certainly be doomed to fail.
Re·plen·ish: To fill something up again. To put back, refill, fill up, recharge, reload, top up, restore a stock or to supply to a former level or condition.
Antonyms: Empty, deplete, drain, eliminate, bleed, exhaust, void.
This overarching principle of replenishing applies to the entire spectrum of human activity, from our physical bodies to farming, from the use of water, to eating, from breathing, to sabbath keeping and it applies to financial resources where putting back or saving for the rainy day are offshoots of the same principle.
The reason why our national debt will continue to skyrocket is not because God is doing something to us, it is because the principles of replenishing have for all intents and purposes been disregarded, and, as a natural result, the well would run dry sooner or later, for we will not be able to print our way out of the disaster that has been in the making for years.
As we read, we’ll observe in the following passages that closely intertwined with the laws of God is the principle of replenishing, for it is an undergirding necessity for continuity to be guaranteed. Without it, resources will be depleted and famines, droughts and distresses of all sorts will ensue. Let’s read:
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Proverbs 11:24 There is that scatters, and yet increases; and there is that withholds more than is meet, but it tends to poverty.
25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that waters, shall be watered also himself.
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work,
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Leviticus 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.
Now, as it pertains to the issue of climate change, and the horrible droughts and the wildfires we are currently witnessing, some of us may be wondering which specific laws are we referring to, which have resulted in the tragedies of nature. We do not have to look very far, for they are written right there in the scriptures. Let’s read:
Leviticus 25:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which grows of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
Allowing the earth to replenish itself via a one-year sabbatical rest, would make way for the trees, earth and vegetation to be rejuvenated, and would put a one year pause on lumbering. This in turn would allow the greenhouse gases trapped in the earth’s upper atmosphere to be removed, because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air, they store it in the soil and in themselves, and then release oxygen back into the air.
But with the insatiable demand for lumber and farm land for cattle, forests the world over have been cut down with little regard for God’s laws and the earth has not been allowed to rest, and the profit coming from many such industries has driven companies to use earth’s resources indiscriminately.
Also, with the onset of the industrial revolution, and our consequent heavy dependence on fossil fuels, greenhouse gases have skyrocketed and as a result, the thinning of earth’s upper shield has been greatly accelerated. Therefore, the apocalyptic prophecies pertaining to our day were written in the context of what man has mostly done to himself, and not what God is doing to man. Let’s read:
Isaiah 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Another of the apocalyptic prophecies pertaining to the last days is the proliferation of false prophets in Christendom and beyond. Back in the days of old, heathenism was at swords points against anything that savored of Christianity. But after the heinous persecution of the dark ages subsided, heathenism dressed itself in sacerdotal garments, walked right into the church, and took a front row seat.
Then, with the diabolical blend of Christianity and heathenism, the way was paved for false prophets to arise as it were from obscurity, armed with many smooth doctrines and teachings that contradict the word of God. Morality was made subservient to the clamors of the flesh, and absolute truth was made a relic of the ancients.
In addition, these false preachers and televangelists discovered that if they told persons what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear, a thriving business which brings in billions annually would be the result, and thus, church has all but become a business enterprise, rather than the Christ centered mission to save souls which God originally intended it should be.
Thus, it’s not because of anything that God does or has done why the multitudes are being led astray in false paths by would-be business men who have embraced theology. God ordains some to preach, and He permits others to preach, but as a general rule of thumb, those who are ordained of God are always in the minority. Always! Let’s read:
Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before.
The fake healers, who for many years were shaking down their congregations across America, using stop and frisk methods, were somehow nowhere to be seen or found as the current pandemic spread its deadly tentacles across the nations of earth.
At this time above all others, Americans could have really used their services, if they were genuine, but we did not hear a single word from them, since they were missing in action, for some strange reason.
As thousands lay dying in hospitals, nursing homes, and in various makeshift medical facilities that had sprung up in various locations because of the sheer volume of patients, the false healers in Christendom should have been present to perform miracles, just as the purported to do in former years.
And if they could blow on persons, and cause them to collapse on the ground, certainly they could blow again and cause Covid to disappear. But ironically, they too were running for cover, and some had to close up shop as Covid and Delta revealed that they are no respecter of persons.
Again, it’s not The Lord that is doing something to us, it’s the apocalyptic prophecies being fulfilled, as the principles of cause and effect take their natural course. Let’s read:
Jeremiah 2:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
Jeremiah 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you …. for they prophesy a lie unto you.
15 For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Another of the apocalyptic prophecies given in the scriptures has to do with the turmoil and unrest that will be gripping the nations of earth. We are in a volatile state, both at home and abroad, and even though efforts are being made to right the ship, it is still taking on lots of water, for the nations are on edge, and the folly of some is being made manifest in decisions that cause much more problems than are solved. Let’s read:
Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in different places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The Taliban is now on the move in Afghanistan, and much adversity, and bloodletting would result, the likes of which will make the most hardened criminal cringe. Obviously, mortal man does not have the solutions to this earth’s problems, and sooner or later persons would have to confront a stark realty, that maybe, just maybe, the end of all things is drawing near.
Therefore, in lieu of what is certainly taking place as it pertains to the fulfillment of apocalyptic prophecy in our day, God desires that a certain mindset will pervade the believer because looking at and hearing all of the bad news could really take a toll on one’s outlook, if there are not promises of hope to bring balance to the equation.
God does not desire that His people should panic, nor is it His will that we should be lumped together with everyone else, some of which do not live with the lively hope of the resurrection and the earth made new. In fact, what may seem to the secular mind as a harbinger of doom, should be to the remnant, heralds of the morning, for both light and gross darkness are on the horizon. Let’s read:
Isaiah 21:11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.
Thus, the outlook for the believer should not ever be centered on a mad rush to survive, because it’s not survival but surrender that is required. Neither should we be consumed with doomsday bunkers in neverland, or hoarding precious goods to last many years into the future.
The focus and the outlook for the remnant should consist of fulfilling the great commission as best we can, living godly and exemplary lives, and seeking to save as many as so desire, while the door of mercy is still open. Loaded with The Holy Ghost and with the health message, the remnant should be leading the charge on several fronts, to let persons know that the gospel offers spiritual and physical well-being.
Seminars and webinars on healthful cooking as well as healthful practices, including a regular exercise regimen should be set in motion since the right arm of the gospel ought to be employed as an entering wedge to reach hearts and minds.
These efforts on our part are not be theoretical in nature; instead, the remnant are to lead by example so that deep a conviction of the facts may rest upon the gainsayers while the Holy Spirit etches the truth deep and indelibly into the conscience. Thus, as we end, instead of us focusing on the fulfillment of the apocalyptic prophecies, let us instead cultivate a positive outlook, for prophecy and promise would soon converge.
We’ll end with several passages of scripture which teach us what our current duty and practice should be, and if we ask God to keep our minds stayed on Him, we would not be sucked into the vacuum of fear that is now gripping persons, the world over. Let’s read:
Luke 21;28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws nigh.
31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
2nd Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
God bless!