Dr. J Dwight Pentecost, a
renowned Christian author, and an
authority on Biblical end time
events, wrote in his book, “Things
to Come” the following:
“God,
the architect of the ages, has seen
fit to take us into His confidence
concerning His plan for the future,
and has revealed His purpose and
programme in detail in His Word, the
Bible. A great body of Scripture is
given to prophesy than on any other
one subject, because approximately
one-fourth of the Bible was
prophetic at the time it was
written.”
When we study biblical prophesy,
we’re investigating the case of
current events with secret
intelligence provided by the God of
time and eternity.
Some of the data is contained for
example, in the words of Jesus in
Matthew’s
Gospel chapter 24. In the
final weeks of Christ’s life, prior
to his crucifixion and resurrection,
Jesus taught His disciples His
premier message concerning His
future return, and in this chapter,
he gave several signposts to watch
for.
-
False Prophets (vv. 4-5):
“Watch out that no one deceives
you. For many will come in My
name, claiming, “I am the
Christ, and will deceive many.”
Perhaps you are aware of the
staggering statistics regarding
the number of sites on the
internet devoted to pornography.
But, did you know there are more
sites devoted to religion than
porn? At the click of a mouse
you can call up any one of
thousands of sects and cults and
religions that can bring up
millions of electronic pages
devoted to an ever growing
number of false Christs. Never
in the history of humanity has
there been such an amount of
religious information.
-
Wars and Rumours of Wars (v. 6):
In the past nine years an
increasing number of areas of
the world have been devastated
by destructive conflicts.
Thousands of lives lost in 9/11,
in Darfur, Iraq, Somalia,
Afghanistan. Ongoing conflicts
in Chad, the Middle East, Niger,
Mali, Angola, Burma, Zaire, and
a host of other nations. Lives
lost and families shattered by
“wars and rumours of wars.”
-
Famines and Earthquakes (v. 7):
The daily news tells us
of reports of food shortages in
increasing areas of our world.
The price of food is rising, and
severe famines are forecast,
especially for parts of Africa
and areas of Asia. There are
internet sites dedicated to
reporting on the occurrences of
earthquakes around the world and
you would be surprised by the
increasing number reported.
-
Persecution (v.9): As false religions, wars, famines and
earthquakes increase, so does
the violence of persecution.
“Then you will handed over to be
persecuted and put to death,”
Jesus said, “and you will be
hated by all nations because of
Me.” Over 600 million Christians
around the world at this time
are suffering persecution, death
and various forms of harassment
because of their faith. It is
estimated that in the 20th
century approximately 45 million
Christians died for just
believing in Jesus Christ,
compared with 25 million after
the birth of Christ.
-
The Spread of the Gospel (v. 14):
Despite the previous paragraph
Jesus indicated that the spread
of the Gospel would accelerate.
According to missionary experts
74.5% of the world was
evangelized in the year 1800.
The percentage had reduced to
54.3% by the year 1900. There
was an explosion of evangelism
in the twentieth century, and by
the year 2000, only 28.3% of the
world remained unreached.
If you continue to read
Matthew
chapter 24 Jesus went on
to say that other perilous events
would occur as we reach the time of
Christ’s second coming.
The purpose of Biblical prophesies
is not given to confuse us, but to
inform, to motivate us and, to
prepare us. It reminds us that God
was present at the beginning of
history, and He is monitoring the
progress of human history, and he
will be the great consummation of
history.
The God of the Bible encircles time
and space and He knows the future as
fully as He does the past. He
possesses absolute and ultimate
power, and he has written the scrip
of the ages. The script is called
The Bible, and studying Biblical
prophesy is nothing less than an
investigation into God’s plan for
our future.
It could well be that we are living
in the last days. Alarming as this
is to some, it has always been part
of God’s plan, and there is great
comfort in knowing that His plan is
right on schedule.
Those who are professing Christians
should be excited about the future,
because in Christ as the hymn
writers says, “We’re safe and
secure from all alarm….” And
as the Psalmist says, “We’re
engraved on the palm of God’s hand.”
And God’s hand is at the helm of human history.
