“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” ~Matthew 24:6
This verse has been the crux of many doom and gloom prophecy teachers who point to the troubled times we live in as proof that we are nearing the end. There are others who point to this passage as being the norm. In other words, that we should not be surprised at all that the world is in constant turmoil because Jesus Himself tells us that it would be. I tend to take this verse somewhere in between the two views.
On one hand, yes; the level of warfare, troubled times, the tension that we see in the middle east, the rumors we hear about World War III, much of what we are already in, does point to our time being something unlike any other time in history. But on the other hand, there is a level of comfort Jesus brings in telling us that “the end is not yet.” It tells me that for one, the entire world will not be destroyed by some nuclear explosion and two, that although we should be aware of the troubles, we should not be bathing in a spirit of fear.
Like many aspects of being a follower of Jesus Christ, there is a tension within the teachings He gives and the way our world operates. If we are simply aloof to the troubles of the world and declare that Jesus will make everything right, then we are seen as lethargic and apathetic, uncaring of the general concerns of the world. But if we are too boastful in our declaration that the end is coming because of these signs, then we are simply conspiracy nut-jobs trying to sell a book or two. Either way, those of us who abide in the Word of God and follow Jesus to the best of our ability should be in more prayer and more study of the Word than ever before.
Doing the best I can be to be a follower of Jesus and as a called watchman, my stance is that I will be alert and aware of the times at hand, much like this blog, the podcast, and the film has expressed, but I will not be filled with fear. I think when Jesus tells us “See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass” He’s telling us something that we find in 2 Timothy 1:7 when Paul tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
While this is a shorter post and I didn’t dig into the Greek words (mostly because I didn’t think it was necessary for this verse), my hope and prayer is that we continue to develop a thirst for the Word and really hang onto Jesus as the only one who will really get us out of any kind of deception, catastrophe, or unknown coming down the pipe. God Bless.
I need to print 2 Timothy 1:7 and Matthew 24:6 and hang them above my computer screen. All these rumors and real info that is constantly flowing at us, it is easy to get depressed, burned by untruth or partial truths, or loose a little bit of that joy of fellowship because we are so focused on the evil of the day an not giving thanks to the restrainer of it, or at least I’m guilty of that. Keep up the awesome blog.
Thanks infocyde,
I appreciate the support and hope that you keep coming back. Yes, sometimes it is alarming and depressing, but always remember that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world! God Bless.