Signs Of The Times

For hundreds of years, there have been people trying to decide just when the Lord is going to come.  Someone is constantly claiming a new insight in an effort to excite people.  Over the centuries hundreds of these predictions have turned out to be false, yet people still flock to the prophets.  In Deuteronomy 18:18-22, God gave some specific guidelines about prophets.  “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”  God said if the prophecy did not happen, it was proof the prophet was not from God, and he was to be executed for lying about God. 

The Jews had long been concerned about the end times, and Jesus disciples were no exceptions, as we see in Matthew 24:3.  “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”  They recognized Jesus as a prophet from God who they needed to hear.  They had seen many signs proving he was from God and had seen a few prophecies fulfilled already.  Though they did not yet fully comprehend what it meant, they knew Jesus was God in human form, and had been involved in the creation of the world, and planning all things.  Understanding these things, Christ’s statements about the end of time should be at least as authoritative and probably more than any other prophet or teacher.    Unfortunately, far too often, his teaching are ignored in favor of more modern scholars and teachers. 

Many of the prophets have focused on the wars and naturals disasters as signs of the times indicating when the Lord will return.  Jesus addressed these things in Matthew 24:4-8.  “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.”  Jesus said the disciples were not to let anyone mislead them in claiming to be the Messiah or representing him in a special way.  Wars and natural disasters prove nothing about the timing of the end of the world, but are only the beginning of the effects of sin on the world.

Of far more immediate concern is the world’s attitude toward the Christians.  Matthew 24:9-12 warns, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”  The World will hate the Christians, and many will turn away from Christ in an effort to gain popular approval.  False prophets and teachers will deliberately mislead people, and because sin becomes widely accepted, others will simply go along with it and stop worrying about what God has said.  Real Christians will stay true to God’s Word despite what others do.  The end would not come until all the world had the opportunity to hear and be saved. 

To put it very simply, Jesus said most of the signs these prophecy teachers have referred to indicate nothing about the time of the end.  They are just signs indicating we live in a sinful time.