On Day 31 of 365, should I dare say “Happy New Year”? What happened to Day 1 of 365?
By waiting until Day 31 of 365, the Year 2021, I hope this message will rise above the normal chatter a new year brings and will engulf those who choose to read it with hope and encouragement. I hope that this message will stand alone on its own merit and be passed on to others without regret. Finally, by waiting until Day 31 of 365, the Year 2021, I pray that the spirit of God speaks to those who are diligently seeking Him.
For almost a year, each morning brought about an increase in the numbers of people who have succumbed to COVID-19, increased global cases and hospitalization rates, and angered protestors. It seems like we are in a never-ending science fiction movie. Unlike a “SY-FY” movie that has a defined ending, our COVID-19 reality, as we have come to know it, is real time, a real situation and with no foreseeable end in sight.
If you have been listening, and I’m sure you have, people are wondering if we are getting closer to the end of times. Are we seeing the beginning of "birth pains" before our Lord Jesus Christ returns? Are we the generation that will usher in Christ’s return?
Since the beginning of man (as we know of him), the world has been riddled with wickedness, diseases, discord, and evilness. Has such increased or elevated in the 21st century? What is the significance difference between then and now? How do we continue to believe and have faith in God when our aspects of life are in disarray? These are hard questions, and I can assure you the answers to these could be just as hard.
My purpose of this writing is not to answer these questions, but to emphasize what God’s word says in regard to our current blight; and what our Lord Jesus Christ instructed us to do when “birth pains” appear in the world in our time (21st century). In the book of Luke Chapter 21, Jesus had a conversation with the disciples concerning what was to take place before his return. The disciples asked him in verse 6, “And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” Jesus answered them with these words, “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified, for these things must take place, but the end does not follow immediately. Nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues, and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven “(ASV). In Matthew 24:8, Jesus called the signs the beginning of birth pains. From these words of Jesus, we can conclude that we are experiencing (seeing) the birth pains.
Is the end near? Although this is a good question, we should pay attention to what Jesus said about his second return. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (ASV). Upon further study of the returning of Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul instructs us to “let no one any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction”. (2nd Thes. 2:3 ASV) In other words, there is much unrest and upheaval in our world – but these are merely birth pains. The apostasy (the falling away from God, abandoning God or rebelling against God) hasn’t come. However, when it comes (apostasy), the human person of wickedness/lawlessness will be revealed, which he is described as a son of destruction. This person, the son of destruction was born to perform evil, wicked and deceitful acts of Satan, before Jesus returns. Again, let me repeat, this person has not been revealed.
So, what are we to do? Jesus Christ our Lord, tells us in Matt. 24:42 to “….be on alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” He instructs us to “be on guard, that your heart may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of lift” and to “keep alert at all times, praying.” (Matthew 24: 36 and 42, respectively).
PRAY AT ALL TIMES!
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