Importance
of Bible Prophecy
I never cease to marvel how
that the majority of folk pay so little attention to Bible
prophecy and yet claim to be Christians. One thing is
certain, you cannot believe in the resurrection without
believing in prophecy. You cannot believe in Heaven without
believing in prophecy.
Jesus said to his audience
one day in
Matthew 16:2,3:
"When it is evening, ye say,
It will be fair weather today: for the sky is red. And
in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky
is read and lowring, O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the
sky: but can ye not discern the signs of the times?"
They knew the weather signs
alright, they had no trouble there. But Jesus went on
to say "Oh, you fools, you can forecast the weather but
you cannot discern the signs of the times."
With uncanny accuracy the
heavenly clock of prophecy indicates the very hour in which
we are living today. Jesus said, speaking of His great
prophecies in
Luke 21:28,
"And when these things begin
to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads: for
your redemption draweth nigh."
Prophecy is
not to discourage, but inform us
Some people lose heart when
they read some of the dark forecasts of prophecy and see how
they are being fulfilled. Jesus said we must expect these
conditions to prevail upon the earth in the last days. These
things were not written to discourage us but rather to
inform us in advance that we may know the things that are
yet to come. We should be most thankful that God has given
us this knowledge.
Man has
shattered his world
God gave a beautiful home
to man, but man has spoiled the picture. Man has shattered
his world. Just like a baby rummaging in the cupboard, he
finds a plate and picking it up, dashes it to the floor and
it smashes. He tips up the flour, the sugar and the milk.
Man is like this, he has gone on a rampage and spoiled God’s
order of things.
Jesus and
prophecy
The Bible says of these last days upon the earth, that
things would be bad. But Jesus says,
"If you are a Christian then
it will not worry you, look up for your redemption draweth
nigh."
One time Jesus was talking
with his disciples. They said, "Master, you have talked a great deal about
events that are to transpire down in the last days, tell us,
what will it be like in the end of the world."
Jesus went right back to
the past and borrowed an example from the days of Noah. He
said, "If you want
to know what it is going to be like in the end of the world
look back to Noah’s day. There they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage. All they cared for was
having a good time until the flood came and took them all
away."
All you need to do is just
check to divine records and you will see the prophecy is
being fulfilled alright.
Man out of
touch with God
These days man seems to be
getting smarter and smarter. We think of ourselves as being
highly civilized. We think that great grandfather driving a
horse and buggy was very much out of date. In this
computerized, highly technical world of ours, it does make
great grandfather look as if he belonged to another world.
But there was something about great grandfather that makes a
tremendous difference. He was up-to-date with God and
out-of-date with sin. Today our world is up-to-date with sin
but out-of-date with God.
It is quite obvious that
our family world is going to pieces. Did you know that in
the United States of America, which is supposed to be a
Christian country, for every three marriages there is one
divorce? I understand that Australia statistics reveal a
similar figure. This is a very serious thing. Every time the
wedding bells ring, yes if they rang the bells thrice then
they should toil one bell for a divorce.
In 2 Timothy
Chapter 3,
especially in the first five verses, there is listed some of
the characteristics of people living at the end of the
world. In the limited time that we have available today it
would be very helpful to notice a few of many that are
recorded.
2 Timothy 3:2,
"…disobedient to parents."
Children
will be disobedient to Parents
As a boy I remember that if
I dared to disobey my parents, that disobedience would
receive its due reward. But a great change has come in. In
Germany during the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler, young
people were trained to turn traitor to their parents, trained to turn against their own fathers and mothers, to
betray their own family. The Bible speaks of this very thing
being one of the many signs of the last days.
Men will be
Fierce
It is quite
apparent that the social world has also been shattered. I
want you to take another look at
2 Timothy 3:3 and you
notice it says, "fierce", that means men will be
fierce. You would think that seeing man is supposed to be
becoming more civilized that he would put away any fierce
habits. But today in 1989 the most dangerous, the most
ferocious being in the world is man himself. How many times
do we see on TV the brutality of modern man. Soldiers
kicking a man in the head as he lies on the ground, or
hitting someone with the butt of the rifle. Hideous things
and all manner of tortures. But the Bible says it will get
worse and worse.
Man shall
wax worse and worse
Notice
(2 Timothy 3) verse 13,
"Evil men shall wax worse and
worse."
And in
verse 3 it says they
shall be fierce.
A few years ago Malaya was very much in the
news. Most of us can remember that they had a danger area and
it was a very dangerous area too. Why? Because of the Tigers
of the jungle? No! There is no question that they are
dangerous and their bite is terrible, and there is no
antidote for tiger bites. They have crocodiles in the swamps
and rivers and they are very savage. And there are terrible
snakes. But they do not begin to be as fierce as the men of
the jungle. The men of the jungle are far fiercer than the
beasts of the jungle.
In the United States of America
someone is murdered every forty minutes, and that is in a
so called Christian country. You might say, oh yes one could
expect that of the U.S.A. But Melbourne, right here in
Australia, has held the world record for murders on a
population basis.
Predictions
for the last days
There is another thing that
the Lord predicted about our world that would be evident in
the last days. Turn with me to the great 'signs of the
times' chapter found in
Matthew 24:7,
"For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom…".
Jesus goes on to say, "And there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diver places."
Earthquakes
One encyclopaedia says that
there have been as many destructive earthquakes in the last
forty years as in the last 1,000 proceeding. They have
become so common that people can sleep on through an earthquake
today. All they do is to take an aspirin and go back to
sleep. People can read where a 1,000 people, or 10,000, or
250,000 people have been killed by an earthquake. Such
things do not register anymore.
Famines
Jesus speaks of another
sign. In
(Matthew 24) verse 7 it says,
"There shall be famines."
I used to think that was
just because they could not grow enough food. But it is not
that alone. One situation that has come to our attention
today, and that is man’s ability to wipe out the enemy’s
crops. Today a nation can starve out the enemy. It is so
different from what God said, "If thine enemy hunger"
do what? "Feed
him."
In recent years there has
been some terrible famines, Cambodia, Ethiopia and so on.
There was a famine in India where a 1,000,000 people starved
to death. Do you know that this dreadful tragedy took up
two column inches in the Indian newspapers. Jesus says that
one of the marks of the last days would be famines. But we
also notice that "there will be pestilences."
Pestilences
Diseases, you would think
that with better qualified doctors and more research in the
field of medicine, they would be able to catch up with the
germs, the pests, the bugs and all the rest, wouldn’t you?
Never has our world seen anything comparable to the medical
knowledge and medical science that we have today. It is
truly amazing, there is no doubt about it. But the strange
thing is that while the scientists are becoming wiser and
smarter, the insects and the germs are getting smarter too.
You hear about evolution, people talk a lot about that, but
listen to this. In the Readers Digest there was an article
that spoke of how the pest world has been able to develop
insects that can resist DDT (deadly sprays), and germs that resist
penicillin. Just imagine that! While the doctors in their
laboratories and the scientists working in theirs, the pest and
the germs were working in their laboratories trying to find a
vaccinate themselves and immunise themselves against DDT and
Penicillin. Why it is absolutely amazing. Talk about
evolution that takes millions of years and here we have
insects that have developed resistance specimens in just a
matter of a few years.
They say in some insect families it
takes many more times as much DDT to destroy them as it did
the same species a few years ago. In fact about the only
sure way to get rid of a fly permanently is to drop a heavy
bucket of DDT on its head. It seems as if, while the
scientists were going to college, the insects and all the
rest were going to university. Yes, Christ said that is exactly as it
will be in the last days.
Is
Education the answer?
The educational world used to
promise that they would bring us to a better world. They used
to say, "We will
educate, educate, and we will show the world a better way."
But instead of getting
better, the world is rapidly getting worse. Christian folk so
often send their children to public schools singing,
"I am a child of the King",
but
they come out the other end
chanting, "I am
a son of an ape."
Somewhere along the way
they have lost their God. In many of the textbooks used in
the public schools, they are being taught that there is no
God.
The only text Book that
tells us where we come from, why we are in the world, where
we are going from here, you will not find this in the
schools. It is only man’s ideas and Satan’s. Yes, education
has confused men and taken away his hope for the future.
The Church
should be the great spiritual leader
The spiritual world has let
us down also. Great Cathedrals have been built all over the
world. Prestigious churches can be seen almost everywhere.
As one newspaper put it,
"We have fine structures
and we have built up great social organisations. But where
is the Church to lead us the way out?"
God intended, God ordained,
and God indicated that the church should be the great
spiritual leader. The church should not be dabbling in
politics and all the things that it is today. The church
should be preparing men and women for a better way of living
in preparation for life eternal. And that is the
message we, as the great Advent people, should be giving to
the world today.
I am so thankful that
beyond the troubles, the war clouds, that God has given the
assurance of a new and better day to come.
Revelation 21:1,4
says,
"And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away; and there was no more sea."
Verse 4,
"And God shall wipe away tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away."
I am so glad that one day
soon God is going to take over. Man has failed so miserably.
As we look around the world today, we see nothing but trouble
and distress. But it will be all over, it will be soon be behind us. That is why
Jesus said, "When you see all these things take place
then you are to look up. Why? For your redemption draweth
nigh."
Do not get discouraged. It
is getting too close for that. Be ready and waiting.
It will
not be long now. Not one of Jesus prophecies has failed,
neither will this one. So you can be assured that our
Redemption is very close.
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