SERIES: COVID-19 & The End Times
Firstly, its not crazy to be Christian and at least a bit obsessed with the return of Jesus. Think about it:
“He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land" (Jer 23:5). "...and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [He shall rule with] justice and with righteousness...” (Isaiah 9:6–7)
We get quite worked up about many ultimately trivial things? How much more should we eagerly long for the day our Saviour and King returns to establish peace and righteousness on the earth, and be bodily here with us forever!
In fact, its a mark of being saved and under the influence of grace that we long and hope for His coming (Tit 2:13).
But it is a different thing to be wondering about crazy world events and whether they mean Anti-christ is coming! True, the 2 go hand in hand. The coming of anti-christ must immediately precede the coming of Christ. But we must not let our attention drift from the Living One, to the evil one; we must guard our hearts in hope and confidence and joy because Great is He in us!, and not allow fear and trepidation at the enemy who is mighty before me, but powerless before He Who is in me!
So should we be wondering whether these crazy COVID-19 times are signs of the end times? There tend to be 4 types of responses, by Christians:
Group 1 teaches it is; Group 2 anxiously wonders if it is; Group 3 knows it isn't, and think Group 1 and 2 are crazy; Group 4 don't know or care, and think Group 1 and 2 are crazy.
But here's why its not at all crazy to at least be asking the question and searching it out: We live in the first generation in history where all 13 pre-anti-Christ signs (the indicators we are in the last days where he is ready to emerge) are either in full bloom or in early flower.
Put another way, we live in the first generation in history that Jesus could return in our generation.
(SIDENOTE: more on those 13 signs in Session 24-26, here: https://youtu.be/04p8LY8UKUM. Also, for more on why we look at signs of antichrist's arrival instead of signs of Christ's return, when it is Christ's return we long and hope for and clearly this is not a real contest of any sort, watch from 20m00s - 22:30s).
That does not mean He will. it just means, we should pay much more attention to this than past generations.
Some Group 3 and 4 folks guffaw, saying 'every generation of Christians has thought Jesus will come in their lifetime', or 'seen this before!', referring of course to say the post-World War 2 era when Israel was 'born in a day' and everyone thought Jesus was coming; or the 70's after Israel took Jerusalem and again everyone thought Jesus was coming. Only, he didn't. So, they say, lets not be crazy again. This is just another time something like that.
But they're mistaken. It's not. What's changed? Look below and you'll see, quite a lot actually!!
If in fact you go back in time just 100 years (not on the image, but helped by the quote below), it's clear we're in a completely different movie, in terms of signs of the end times. Here are the thoughts of an avid eschatology student and teacher, from the 90's:
"Sixty years ago when I first started preaching [1930’s], you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return…. today there are so many signs I'm no longer looking for them. Instead, I'm listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!” - Elbert Peak, circa 1990
What about World War II, the Cold War, 9/11, etc? Also very different. The right column in the image above indicates (using the flag) 5 critical pre-antichrist signs (which must be present before anti-christ emerges), which were almost all completely absent in the 1980's but are now either in full bloom or early bloom.
So no, its not the same as every generation of Christians that has believed Jesus will return in their time. The biblical signs of His immanent return are not only much more present now than ever; many are now present concurrently for the first time in history!
Ergo, its not crazy to be wondering if COVID-19 is an end times sign. That does not mean it is (we need to study the biblical signs of the end times further to draw conclusions about it); it just means its not crazy to be wondering!
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