Last night I faced an ordeal that measured my faith against fear. The topic at hand was the prophecies from the Bible. The two individuals leading the class shared a verse of scripture and then factual statistics from the news and internet. One example included charts about earthquakes.
The scripture reveals that the earthquakes will be like the birth pains ushering in the end times. During the birthing process of my first born, I couldn’t help but notice that my wife’s contractions got closer together as she progressed in giving birth to my son. It was also clear last night that earthquakes have increased by 47% in the past 3 years (The above chart gives the number of earthquakes between 1973 and 2006), which leads me to see a parallel or signs of the times that the end is on its way.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Mathew 24:7 & 8
Thinking that earthquakes were only the beginning of the birth pains caused most in the class to join me in feeling new fears grip our hearts. Thankfully the instructors shared the wonderful and glorious things that come directly after the end. The scripture suggests the result is so incredibly good that it causes the birth pains to fade a way, like the joy that comes to a mother after having given birth to her first born.
After listening to several more examples, it was easy to agree that we are in the last days before Christ returns. It was also clear that I needed to make sure I’m prepared so that I might join him. The one verse that popped into my mind that will help prepare me was 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17
I’m convinced that the Bible is definitely relevant for today in building character and helping me to keep watch over the signs of the times for Christ’s return.
Dear CJ,
ReplyDeleteBible prophecy is very powerful. I was first introduced to the earthquake chart in 1994. Now 15 years later the birth pangs are still coming. While on my journey to salvation 15 years ago I read and studied the prophecies of scripture. There are 600 alone dealing with Jesus as Messiah. Prophecy was a key to me seeing and believing that the Lord is alive and that His book is unlike any other.
Here's one, Israel was not a nation for over 2000 years, but in a day it became a nation in 1948, May 14. God needs Israel as a nation for Him to complete the final end times prophetic scriptures and this is why Satan is trying to destroy the Jewsand has been for a long time. The Lord still has 7 years in which He has to deal with the punishment of Israel for their sins. All in all this is 490 years or 70 weeks. Daniel says one week is 7 years =490. But the Temple needs to be in place and all the OT rituals and sacrifices before this can happen. Various Israeli groups have all the pieces in place to do this and the next thing we will see is a Temple being built. The Church is in it's final phase before our Lord turns the worlds and His full attention to Israel. (I'm a Premill/Rapture/dipensational/historical grammatical hermeneutics guy). He makes her a burdensome stone and a cup of trembling. Keep your eye on Israel, she is the focus of the world today as God has planned. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. God Speed, Jimmy Broyden - Stunt Coordinator. www.jimmybroyden.com