By Van Yandell
Acts 1: 9 & 11“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
For centuries believers in the Lord Jesus have been listening for the sound of the trumpet (1Thessalonians 4: 16). Our longing for His return has been consistent through the years. Signs as stated in the scriptures have been obvious at times in history but have we ever seen so many simultaneously?
Helene was classified as a category four hurricane and the implications of the impending disaster were underestimated by far. Florida was to receive the “hit” and the usual thinking is that once the storm makes landfall it decreases in intensity.
Not so with Helene! The flooding across southern states is in the “beyond a normal disaster” status and the loss of life and property has been catastrophic. One initial estimate of damage is 160 billion U.S. dollars and that likely is tremendously under the reality.
As Helene passed over the Gulf of Mexico, she picked up trillions of tons of water vapor which condensed into rain once it came over land. The Gulf is unusually warm this year and being late in the season, it is even warmer.
Ecclesiastes 1: 6-7 tells us of the air movements over the earth and the water cycling God initiated at creation. God’s knowing of these characteristics of earth’s atmosphere (and Solomon’s writing explaining them) paints a clear picture of God’s omniscience.
While the Bible does not speak extensively concerning floods, it does warn us of the power of water. Possibly, the reason for that is because Israel is in an area in the Middle East in which flooding was not an issue at the time.
The known world at the time and place of the Bible writing was limited to only a small part of the world and not as we know it today. The consequences of a raging river or a case of a mountainous region receiving thirty inches of rain in a twenty-four hour period, was not in their realm of awareness.
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.” Luke’s lack of knowledge of the power of large volumes of moving water may have limited his description of the actual results of such.
The implications of the flooding in the southern U.S. also include a monstrous devastation of farm production of food. Unharvested crops have been destroyed plus unprecedented damage to the dairy and meat producing industry.
Jesus told us in Matthew 24: 7 there would be famines. Could the result of Helene be a forerunner of greater intrusions into the food supply? If we think crime is rampant now, wait until there is a food shortage.
I cannot recall a time in my lifetime in which so many of the Biblical prophesies of the end times have been occurring simultaneously. We normally process one-at-a-time conditions and have short term memories. To see the big picture should be scary, especially for the non-believer.
To shrug off the obvious is certainly not an expedient action or attitude. To take precautions and make preparations is a very wise move on the part of the people affected, and that’s everyone.
The varying conditions and situations worldwide are “slap-in-the-face” obvious to the student of the Bible. The wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East not only correspond to the Biblical prophesies (Matthew 24: 6) but also remind us of the continuing persecution of the Jews and Israel.
The bombing of Israel by Iran is an escalation of the Middle East war and reflects Biblical implications alarming but certain to the Bible student.
The Jewish people are designated as “God’s chosen people (1 Peter 2: 9).” Whereas the world believes that is a self-designated status, the scripture clearly teaches their purpose was to provide the world with a Savior and that they did (Genesis 12: 3).
The attacks and invasions into Israel by the descendants of Ishmael have come to be expected and must be repelled by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Perhaps the warning by Jesus (Mark 13: 7) applies only to Israel but indications are, based on warlike (and war-threatening) activities around the world, the passage applies to our entire world today.
The pestilences noted by Jesus could be in the form of diseases such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. New strains are being researched in labs and mutated forms of the disease are gathering strength.
The list of fulfilled prophesies is long and hard to look at. The point being, when God Jesus says something is going to happen, it does. We have already seen too many examples to doubt this as fact.
Many of us believe very firmly that nearer the return of our Jesus, prophesies will intensify and become more frequent (Matthew 24: 8). The fulfilled prophesies are probably happening to warn us but also to show the certainty of God’s intentions and actions.
Matthew 24: 36-37 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
So, is “the handwriting on the wall?” Of course it’s not but it is in the Bible. Those in ignorance of the Biblical warnings have no idea of what is coming.
The Great Commission (Matthew 28: 18-19) compels us to tell them. John 14: 6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”