SIGNS OF THE TIMES
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
INTRODUCTION
When Westinghouse first proposed to stop a huge railroad train with air brakes he was not taken seriously. People thought he was crazy and they dismissed his claim. They said it never would happen. Yet it did! When a man by the name of Edwards first proposed that disease could be prevented through vaccination, most people were skeptical. They said it
would never happen. But it did and the smallpox scourge was eliminated.When Alexander Graham Bell suggested that communication over great distances could occur by means of a telephone, people said it would never happen! When Robert Goddard began his pioneer work with rockets he said that man would someday land on the moon. Nobody believed him.
Many things from air travel to heart transplants have been dismissed by a skeptical public. Yet these things have all come to pass. Similarly, the public is quick to dismiss the promise of our Lord to someday bodily return to this earth.
Yet God has made it very clear in His Word that Christ will visibly return. It is going to happen; you can count on it. At the ascension of our Lord, the disciples were told by the accompanying angels that “THIS SAME JESUS, WHO HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM YOU
UP INTO HEAVEN, WILL COME BACK IN THE SAME WAY YOU HAVE SEEN HIM GO INTO HEAVEN” (Acts 1:11). In Mark 14:62 Jesus said that someday He would “BE COMING BACK IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” Matthew 24:27 declares that “AS LIGHTNING THAT COMES FROM THE EAST IS VISIBLE EVEN IN THE WEST, SO WILL BE THE COMING OF CHRIST.” Many today refuse to believe these incredible claims.
Scripture makes it very clear that the God of this universe is in control of human history.He will have the final say in things and life as we now know it will someday end but it will end according to His divine plan and not some evil terrorist’s diabolical scheme. Life on this earth will not end, as many fear with a nuclear accident. Neither will civilization be wiped out by some infectious and deadly disease. Life as we now know it on earth is not going to continue on forever. God’s Word makes that very clear. There is coming a day when God will intervene.He has promised to create a new heaven and earth. He will eradicate all sin, sorrow, suffering and sickness. He will make all things right. He has promised to do it through the return of Christ. This is referred to as the Second Coming.
GOD IS SOVEREIGN
Scripture makes it very clear that in spite of the evil that abounds, God is sovereign. He is in charge; He is in complete control of things. 1 Chronicles 29:12 declares “YOU ARE THE RULER OF ALL THINGS. IN YOUR HANDS ARE STRENGTH AND POWER…” Sovereignty means God is Lord, Master, Ruler and King. Everyone answers to Him. He answers to no one. He bows before no one. Everything depends upon Him; He depends upon no one. He has no needs, no limitations and no fears. He has everything under control. Nothing catches Him by surprise.”
In spite of the attack on America and the accompanying fear and uncertainty, God is still in control. He is in charge; He is sovereign. Nothing, be it an individual, a country or a massive network of terrorists can thwart or circumvent God’s plan.What God has planned in eternity will come to pass in its appointed time. In Isaiah 46:10 God says, “I MAKE KNOWN THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, FROM ANCIENT TIME, WHAT IS STILL TO COME… MY PURPOSE WILL STAND, AND I WILL DO ALL THAT I PLEASE.” God’s plan will come to pass. His plan is for Christ to return to this earth to usher in God’s Kingdom in all of its power and fullness. God is in control; He is sovereign; You can trust Him. What a source of comfort and peace in these troubled times.
TEXT
Our text for this morning declares that someday “THE LORD HIMSELF WILL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN WITH A LOUD COMMAND, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL AND WITH THE TRUMPET CALL OF GOD, AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST. AFTER THAT, WE WHO ARE STILL ALIVE AND ARE
LEFT WILL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR. AND SO WE WILL BE WITH THE LORD FOREVER. THEREFORE, ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER WITH THESE WORDS.” God has a plan for His people and His creation. He has promised, through the return of Christ, to deal with the sin, evil and pollution that disrupts life here on earth. 2 Peter 3:13 says “….IN KEEPING WITH GOD’S PROMISE WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS.” There is coming a day when there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, or suffering.
What an encouragement it is in these trying times to know that God is in control. Such knowledge results in a “PEACE THAT PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING.” How do we
know for certain that God is in control and that His revealed plan will come to pass.? For me there is no greater proof than fulfilled prophecy. Throughout Scripture God reveals certain things that will come to pass before Christ returns. As we see these things occurring we can know that the day of Christ’s return draws near. These signs point to the promised return of
Christ. This week and next week we will look at a few of these signs of the times.
ISRAEL
One of the most historically verifiable signs pointing to the return of Christ pertains to the nation Israel. It has to do with prophecy concerning the disbursement and the restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland. Disobedience resulted in the predicted destruction of the nation Israel and the displacement of her people. Fifteen hundred years before Christ
came this prophecy from Leviticus 26:33: God said to the Israelites, “YOU I WILL SCATTER AMONG THE NATIONS….YOUR LAND WILL BECOME DESOLATE AND YOUR CITIES WASTE.” Centuries ago the land of Israel was plundered, the nation dissolved and her people scattered throughout the countries of the world. These displaced Jews waited for the promised restoration of their nation and their return to their homeland as
prophesied in Scripture.
Through the prophet Jeremiah God declared, “I WILL BRING THEM BACK TO THEIR OWN LAND WHICH I GAVE TO THEIR FATHERS.” (16:14).
Again, in Amos 9:14 God said, “I WILL RESTORE MY PEOPLE ISRAEL AND THEY WILL REBUILD THE RUINED CITIES AND LIVE THEREIN.”
In Ezekiel 36:24 God says, “I WILL TAKE YOU OUT OF THE NATIONS;WILL GATHER YOU FROM ALL THE COUNTRIES AND BRING YOU BACK INTO YOUR OWN LAND. “AND YOUR DESOLATE LAND WILL BE CULTIVATED.” (36:34)
More than 2,500 years later these prophecies were fulfilled. These fulfilled prophecies have an unmistakable message: God is Sovereign; He is in control. His eternal plans will come to pass. Those who trust in the Lord God need not live in fear.
For over 2500 years there was no nation Israel. Then on May 14, 1948, the independent State of Israel was formally established in the land of Palestine by decree of the United Nations. In that year Israel returned to world maps. Since that time Jewish people have been leaving America, France, Russia, Britain,Africa, Ethiopia and countless other countries to return to Israel. And they are sacrificing a great degree of safety and many conveniences and comforts
to return to their volatile homeland.
There is no explanation for these events except that Scripture declares these things must occur before Christ returns to this earth. Indeed, the “prophetic clock of God is ticking while history moves inexorably toward its final end. As that clock ticks, the believer lifts his head high, for he knows that the coming of Christ draweth nigh.”
These prophecies have a direct bearing upon the attack upon America. The land of Israel or Palestine is a land of promise and problems. Abraham, the “father of nations” was given this land by God. God’s promise to Abraham included a land, the land of Palestine, as Genesis 15:8 and 17:7-8 make very clear. The conflict between the Jews and Arabs in the Middle East is the result of the fact that one of Abraham’s children (Isaac) is the father of the nation Israel and his other son (Ishmael) is the father of the Arabs.
Hence both Jews and Arabs claim the land of Palestine. The Arab and broader Islamic world has long been angry with America for its support of the new nation of Israel. This anger deepened when America supported Israel during the wars of 1967 and 1973 when Palestinians were expelled from parts of Palestine.That is the major reason why terrorists
want to destroy America. Such was obvious when a wealthy Saudi Prince came to New York City the bombing, gave Mayor Guliani a check for ten million and then asked that America reconsider its support of Israel. The Saudi Prince said “America must address the roots of the problem…its relationship to Israel.” The mayor immediately returned the check.
Scripture, written thousands of years ago, prophesied that Israel will be the focal point of war and cataclysmic events that will proceed the coming of Christ. Israel has been and continues to be at the center of much of the tension, war and strife in the time that precedes the return of Christ. The fulfillment of these thousands of years-old prophecies give credence to the other prophecies promising the return of Christ.As we see these prophecies being
fulfilled we can have confidence in the promises of Christ’s return.Fulfilled prophecies regarding Israel are not, however, the only signs that point to the return of Christ. There are many, many more. We have time to look at a just one more.
PERSECUTION
In the middle of His litany of signs of the end times, Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 24:10: “YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO BE PERSECUTED AND PUT TO DEATH,
AND YOU WILL BE HATED BY ALL NATIONS BECAUSE OF ME.” The persecution of believers, both physically and verbally, will increase and intensify as the time of Christ’s return draws nigh. Jesus was speaking about being persecuted for living a godly, Christ-like
life. Around the world the cost of being a Christian is rising. Persecution of believers is occurring with greater frequency and intensity in our country as well as in other parts of the world where believers are routinely beaten and killed. In many countries like China, Egypt, India, Russia, North Korea, Nigeria and many others, Christians are imprisoned, tortured and
killed because of their faith in Christ.In fact, it’s becoming so flagrant we now have a US Commission on International Religious Freedom which monitors the abuses of repressive countries. A recent Amnesty International report confirms that the use of torture is “widespread and systematic” in scores of countries. Let me share with you a few examples.
In India Yesu Dasu was a popular Christian preacher who worked with the lepers. His wife and children said that two people on a motorcycle rode up to their house and took Yesu away. The next morning his body was found on the outskirts of the village.The government
of India has created an environment in which attacks like this can happen with impunity. Radicals have been emboldened to beat believers, destroy church buildings, burn Bibles and carry out other atrocities. In Laos the government has set a goal of completely eradicating Christianity from the country.In scores of Muslim countries, conversion to Christ is punishable by death. Believers routinely suffer social ostracism, the loss of legal rights, jobs and even their homes. In North Korea anyone discovered with a Bible is considered to be a spy and treated accordingly, usually by execution. More than 100,000 North Korean
Christians are imprisoned in concentration camps, sometimes without food, shelter or medical aid. Brutal persecution occurs in Sudan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Cuba, parts of Mexico and dozens of other countries.
In many parts of the world it is very costly to follow Christ. More Christians have been killed in the last 25 years than in the previous 2,000. This is a clear sign of the times. Yet, here in America we have it so easy. Service in the armed services of the United States is more than free tourism or government funded education. It is perilous duty in service to a nation that has enemies. The crew and families of the USS Cole were reminded of this when terrorists caused the death of 17 and injured dozens more while the ship was refueling. Recruitment posters may emphasize seeing the world or getting financial help with college,
but the harsh truth is that enlistment in our nation’s armed forces carries serious and grave risks.So it is with following Christ. Philippians 1:29 reminds us, “IT HAS BEEN GRANTED TO YOU ON BEHALF OF CHRIST NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE ON HIM, BUT ALSO TO SUFFER FOR HIM….” May God help us to faithfully live for Christ even if it means some form of suffering and may we faithfully pray for those who in other countries are brutally persecuted just for following Christ.
CONCLUSION
The events in Israel and the persecution of believers are just a couple of the many signs that point to the second coming of Christ. God is sovereign.; He is in control. His plan will come to pass. We should not doubt it just because two thousand years have passed and Christ has not returned. 1 Peter 3:8 addresses this problem when it says, “BUT DO NOT FORGET THIS ONE THING: WITH THE LORD A DAY IS LIKE A THOUSAND YEARS, AND ATHOUSAND YEARS ARE LIKE A DAY.”
Peter says, “this one fact must not escape you.” This one fact is that God is eternal; He is outside of time; He is not bound or limited by time as are human beings. Therefore, with the Lord God, a thousand years is as one day.In spite of the time that has elapsed from our human vantage point, God is still in control and Christ is coming back. Nothing is, therefore,
more important than accepting Christ as your personal Savior and allowing Him to be the Lord of your life.
“The first time Christ came to earth, He came veiled in the form of a Child, born in a manger. The next time He comes, it will be clear to all the world that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The first time He came there was no room for Him. The next time He comes, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory. The first time he came only a few attended His arrival, some shepherds and wise men.”The next time He comes, “EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM AND EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW…..AND EVERY TONGUE CONFESS THAT HE IS LORD.”
Indeed, God is in charge.He is sovereign.
Make no mistake about it!
