End Times. Alarm and Hope

 We see so many natural disasters today. Our survival on this troubled planet is precarious. So many conservative people, even Christians, refuse to recognise climate change. They condemn environmental activists. They call them left wing alarmists.

But why don’t these conservative Christians seriously read bible prophecies about increasing natural disasters in the last days before the return of Jesus?

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Mt 24:7 NKJV

There have always been wars, famines, epidemics and earthquakes, so why does Jesus emphasise these things in His prophecy about the End Times? Clearly, Jesus is speaking of an alarming increase of disasters, including natural disasters.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. Acts 2:19–20 NIV

Nevertheless, in spite of alarming droughts, heatwaves, hurricanes, floods, terrible wars, horrible hi-tech weapons and genocides, God warns that the return of Jesus will come as a surprise to most people.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Mt 24:42 NIV

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night … 2 Pet 3:10 NKJV

But God has a plan to restore everything, to make everything healthy and beautiful again.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Rev 21:1 NKJV

Your life in this world is also temporary. We will not remain here forever. I am now 75 years old and I do not want to remain in this body forever. It is not nice to become old and frail.

But Jesus rose from the dead and promises us a completely new life if we trust in him.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NKJV

An Australian was waiting to die. He heard the terrible sound of the massive bush fire that was inevitably advancing. He was an atheist, but in the panic of despair, he pleaded for God's help.

Suddenly, the wind shifted direction. The man and all those with him were saved from death.

But the man was not only alive, he was no longer an atheist.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Acts 2:20–21 NRSV

End Time Miracles

 In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:17 NRSV

When did this happen? ‘In the last days.’ What does that mean? In the last days of the ancient Jewish nation.

But this expression also has another meaning. We are now living in the last days just before the return of the Lord Jesus, the time when the last of all terrible world rulers will appear.

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. Acts 2:19 NIV

Peter quotes the prophet Joel.

I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls. Joel 2:30–32 NIV

Some Reformed Christians believe that prophecy, signs and wonders were only for Bible times, but Martin Luther and John Knox communicated prophecies that were fulfilled.

In 1909, some conservative Christians in Berlin declared that the signs and wonders in the Charismatic movement came from below.

The Pharisees made exactly the same mistake when they declared the miracles of Jesus to be diabolical.

We see so many miracles in our time. I know a Christian in Germany whose young son played with his guardian angel.

I know a woman in Australia who visited heaven during an operation.

I spoke to a Persian woman in Germany who saw Jesus in a dream when she was a Muslim. Eight years later she converted to Jesus.

A woman I know very well escaped certain death by God saving her from a collision.

It was too late to brake. She could not avoid a collision. Then she felt a terrible heat. The vehicle drove through her car without making any noise, without causing any damage. It was like something out of a fantasy film.

The sensation of heat lasted for several days.

The extreme proliferation of signs and wonders in our time are a problem for many conservative Christians.

Not all stories are true and not all supernatural phenomena come from God.

We need to test revelations, but if we condemn all strange events as counterfeit, we will also reject the miracles of God.

Maybe you come from a conservative background. You find these dramatic testimonies dubious, but you're not sure.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Jas 1:5 NIV

Don't stay where you are. A true disciple is one who always wants to learn from God himself.

C. Peter Wagner was a conservative lecturer at a Bible school in America. He heard amazing testimonies of miracles in Argentina and Brazil.

He attended meetings where poor people received new teeth or gold fillings. He was then convinced that it was not a deception.

Your Time is Coming!

Have you been a believer for a long time? Do you read the wonderful promises of fruitfulness in the Bible? Are you fulfilled and satisfied, or is your Christian life just a religious routine?

Maybe you have already broken out of the religious routine, but you cannot see any fruit. You love God and you have a close friendship with Jesus.

You want to make disciples for Jesus. You want to lay hands on the sick and see miraculous healings. Maybe you love Jesus, but you haven't received a miracle healing yet, even though you desperately need healing.

You love God and your trust in God is real and strong, but your hoped-for miracles haven't appeared. And you need these miracles because you are afflicted with illness, because your loved ones are not yet believers, because you are struggling with financial problems.

In the Gospel of Luke we find an elderly woman who served God for decades with a faithful heart. She had been praying for children since her marriage, but she did not have a single baby. Yet she never became bitter.

Had God abandoned her? Not at all. God had a wonderful plan. She was to experience a miracle, but without the long years of disappointment, the answer to her prayer would not have been the earth-shattering miracle that it was.

Her husband Zechariah was a priest serving in the temple when an angel of the Lord appeared, sharing an amazing message.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. Luke 1:13 NRSV

Elizabeth was to be the mother of John the Baptist, the great prophet who would announce the coming of God's Son.

All over this chaotic world, there are faithful disciples of the Lord who await the second coming of Jesus. Some are well-known prophets, good pastors, or well-known evangelists, but there are also many unknown saints who are frustrated because their prayers seem not to have been answered yet.

Are you one of these? Take courage. God has not forgotten you. God has prepared a spiritual army that He will release in the great end-time revival. Hold on to your hope. Your time is coming.

I prayed for years and God healed my depression.
I prayed for years and God saved my parents on their deathbed.
I prayed for years and .... I am not disappointed.

Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labour! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD. Isaiah 54:1 NRSV

Ready for His Coming

 In the Bible you see how God loves you.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV

If you believe in Jesus, this promise applies to you personally.

We read here that God loves all people.

There are idealists who want to save humanity, but they don't really love people.

But God is not like these idealists. God is love.
And you are not a mere specimen of humanity. You are you, and God loves you.

In the New Testament we see that Jesus will come back to take his church from this world, just as a Jewish bridegroom came to take his bride.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:7 NKJV

Jesus is the Lamb of God who sacrificed his life on the cross to suffer the penalty for our sins, to remove all guilt from us, to set us free from sin.

Jesus said to his disciples that after his death and resurrection he would return to heaven to prepare our eternal home for each of us.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1–3 NKJV

Jesus will come again as the bridegroom to his loving and beautiful bride. We see in Acts a wonderful church where all were filled with the Holy Spirit, where Christians helped one another practically, where supernatural gifts of the Spirit manifested daily.

Jesus will come back for such a church. Is the church ready? Obviously not.
We need an unprecedented worldwide revival to bring this about.

We must expect it and pray for it. But the crucial question is whether you and I are ready.

Who can help us? Who can prepare you? Your church may be able to help. Some churches help and some don't. But only the Holy Spirit can transform you so that you are ready for Jesus.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37–39 NKJV

END TIME REVIVAL, FALSE PROPHECY OR BIBLE TRUTH?

We hear so many people prophesying and teaching about The Great End Time Harvest of souls, of the global revival which is coming. 

On the other hand, there are people who question these prophesies and for two reasons.

The first reason is the Bible prophecies that speak of terrible times and spiritual decline before Jesus comes.

Mt 24:12 (ESV)  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 

 

2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NKJV)  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, 

• lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 

• having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

• And from such people turn away!

Mt 24:5 (NKJV)  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.

This last text can have two meanings. The usual interpretation is that the false preacher claims to be Christ.

It can also mean that the preacher affirms that I (Jesus) is the Christ but then deceives many with bad doctrine and manipulative and controlling leadership. 

• There are indeed many false cult leaders who affirm that Jesus is the Christ. 

• There are also many preachers who teach correct doctrine regarding the Trinity and salvation but they behave like cult leaders, making their members into mindless slaves under the control of church leaders.

The second reason for doubting the prophecies of a Global End Time Revival is the actual experience of the negative prophecies coming true before our eyes.

All of the countries which were Christian before the 20th Century are now either Post Christian or under attack from powerful Anti-Christ culture. 

• Lukewarm Christianity has poisoned all Western societies which were once known as Christendom. Church attendance and moral standards are catastrophically low.

However, there is another side to the story.

• The number of fervently believing Christians in formerly unreached,  or non-Christian countries is hundreds of millions and growing rapidly.

• In Africa, the Christians Gospel is accompanied by signs and wonders which challenge witchcraft and Islam.

• In China, the Communist government has not been able to contain a powerful, believing, miracle working underground church with over 150 million members.

• As in China, so in North India, there are new churches planted every day, thousands of souls saved every week and miracles are a way of life.

It appears the Great End Time Revival has already begun but most of the old Christian countries have not yet realised it.

But what about Bible prophecy?

The same text that correctly warns of lukewarm Christianity in the West, also predicts a global End Time harvest reaching, reaching every nation.

Mt 24:12-13 (ESV)  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

14  And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

People of every NATION, every TRIBE and every TONGUE must be reached in this great End Time harvest.

Rev 5:9 (ESV)  And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Up to now, there are many millions of people in unreached people groups. 

• There are languages and dialects which have never been used to speak the name of Jesus.

Only a global revival can bridge the gap between present reality and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

What will this End Time revival look like?

Jn 17:22-23  (NKJV)  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 

• I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, 

• and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Eph 5:27 (NKJV)  that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.