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Watch this, the first three minutes, and then I'll explain something.
I know, last week's news was pretty dark, right? It really was. The blog was full of terrible things happening in the world. I pondered last week's news all this week. I am gaining a new understanding each day, thanks to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said of the Time of Jacob's Trouble- "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (KJV). (Jeremiah 30:7). And again in Matthew 24:21, "He said "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." How can we comprehend a time that will have unequaled suffering? A time that has never been so bad on earth and never will be again? Students of history may be familiar with the Dark Ages, as Wikipedia says, 'a period of supposed intellectual darkness that occurred in Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire from the 5th to 15th centuries AD.' It was a time of wars, rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, barbarians sweeping down from the Mongolian steppes or the German Alps and razing whole cities and populations. It was a time of bubonic plagues where the dead were stacked in the streets. A time of sudden fires and early death and child mortality and torture and Inquisition and witchcraft and sickness and gloom. The Tribulation will not be equal to that. It will be worse.
Jesus spent a great deal of time not only in Chapter 24 of Matthew explaining in detail about these things, but in most of the bible. All of the Old Testament gears up to the time of this Tribulation. How? The Church Age is a time when the Age of Law was paused for 7 years. The Tribulation is actually a resumption of the Old Testament, God finishing His business with the Israelites for the last 7 years. We HAVE to know about it. We HAVE to understand what is coming. Why?
I believe it is important first and foremost to have a solid understanding of the end times and upcoming Tribulation because they are in the bible. Period. Everything in the bible is profitable for knowledge and education and reproof (2 Tim 3:16).
I believe it is important to know these things to even greater detail because we are that generation who will see the end of the Church Age and be raptured. We will experience an unequaled event that all of human history since the beginning has been aiming toward. We are that generation who will personally experience, alive, the result of Jesus' ministry on earth and on the cross: redeeming humanity with His own blood. We are the generation who will be going about our daily business, like every other generation that ever lived since Adam and Eve, but who will experience the interruption of time as Jesus Himself breaks through the veil and calls us up, snatching us up from the earth in a powerful event that defies all science, reason, and comprehension. Of course we should know about that moment, being the glorious recipients of it, and therefore can experience a great anticipation, joy, and hope that we can share with others in this dark time.
But should our knowledge of end time events stop there? No...
The Tribulation is God's judgment for sin. We are sinners. It is only through the grace of Jesus that we will not be experiencing that 7-year period of darkness and horror that we want to shy away from and not know about. But we must have clear eyes and stare steadily into the train wreck that is coming, knowing we will be saved from that wrath (1 Thess 5:9) but understanding thoroughly that if we were not saved we would be experiencing it ourselves, and justifiably so! Who are we to say, 'thanks Jesus, now I turn from the bible's descriptions of what will happen to everyone else because it upsets me too much to see it beginning to be played out on earth'?!
Finally, the scene from the movie Fireproof comes to mind. That is the clip, above. That was the latest movie from the Christian folks from Albany GA in which Kirk Cameron starred as a firefighter whose marriage was falling apart. There was a scene where two cars had crashed and one was crumpled and stuck on the train tracks. Two women were in the car. They were trapped in the vehicle. At first, one firefighter was talking to the woman, asking her if she was OK, telling her the method he was going to use that would free her. Then two other firefighters arrived on scene. A bunch of bystanders started milling round, in the background, not saying or doing anything, just watching. A few walked away, likely not wanting to see the physical results of what may happen next. The three firefighters then heard a train whistle. They could not see the train but they heard it. They began to hurry, hurry to get the car off the tracks, knowing there was no time now to get the women out of the car. As the train rounded the bend, some bystanders came to help, and they grunted and sweated to get the car off the tracks. More joined, still more. At the last second they got the car off the tracks just as the train came by, saving the women from sure crushing- just as surely as people will be crushed by 100lb hailstones (Rev 16:21) or houses falling on them (Rev 11:13) in the Tribulation.
These days are like that scene. People all around us are trapped in their sins, in bondage and chained to the tracks. Many Christians are simply bystanders, looking on but doing nothing to really help the ones in the path of destruction. Some walk away. But at first one helped then another and another. They risked themselves to help. Don't leave the job of salvation to just the fire chief (pastor) but it is all our duty to help those in the path of the wreck. Don't peer at people in a crushed car (the enslaved unsaved) and say "Ew, that's gonna be a mess" and walk away, covering your eyes even though you hear the train whistle. People all over the world are trapped in their sins just as the women were tapped in the car in the movie. Are the bible verses about the Tribulation and the news of today that match upcoming Tribulation events not worth reading because the grisly aftermath is easier to visualize now that the train is almost upon us? Let it not be so!
It takes all of us Christians to do the job: obeying the Spirit, being strong, and actually DOING something to help all the time everywhere, even though our eyes may be looking upon something unsavory or terrible while we do it. But we will not be helping if we never look at the train and know it's coming, nor if we refuse to stalwartly look at the coming indicators of the aftermath, by contrast knowing their fate!
The directions are simple: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2. The more grateful you are, the more joy you have in what you have, and joy in what is to come.
Tweet
I know, last week's news was pretty dark, right? It really was. The blog was full of terrible things happening in the world. I pondered last week's news all this week. I am gaining a new understanding each day, thanks to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said of the Time of Jacob's Trouble- "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (KJV). (Jeremiah 30:7). And again in Matthew 24:21, "He said "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." How can we comprehend a time that will have unequaled suffering? A time that has never been so bad on earth and never will be again? Students of history may be familiar with the Dark Ages, as Wikipedia says, 'a period of supposed intellectual darkness that occurred in Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire from the 5th to 15th centuries AD.' It was a time of wars, rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, barbarians sweeping down from the Mongolian steppes or the German Alps and razing whole cities and populations. It was a time of bubonic plagues where the dead were stacked in the streets. A time of sudden fires and early death and child mortality and torture and Inquisition and witchcraft and sickness and gloom. The Tribulation will not be equal to that. It will be worse.
Jesus spent a great deal of time not only in Chapter 24 of Matthew explaining in detail about these things, but in most of the bible. All of the Old Testament gears up to the time of this Tribulation. How? The Church Age is a time when the Age of Law was paused for 7 years. The Tribulation is actually a resumption of the Old Testament, God finishing His business with the Israelites for the last 7 years. We HAVE to know about it. We HAVE to understand what is coming. Why?
I believe it is important first and foremost to have a solid understanding of the end times and upcoming Tribulation because they are in the bible. Period. Everything in the bible is profitable for knowledge and education and reproof (2 Tim 3:16).
I believe it is important to know these things to even greater detail because we are that generation who will see the end of the Church Age and be raptured. We will experience an unequaled event that all of human history since the beginning has been aiming toward. We are that generation who will personally experience, alive, the result of Jesus' ministry on earth and on the cross: redeeming humanity with His own blood. We are the generation who will be going about our daily business, like every other generation that ever lived since Adam and Eve, but who will experience the interruption of time as Jesus Himself breaks through the veil and calls us up, snatching us up from the earth in a powerful event that defies all science, reason, and comprehension. Of course we should know about that moment, being the glorious recipients of it, and therefore can experience a great anticipation, joy, and hope that we can share with others in this dark time.
But should our knowledge of end time events stop there? No...
The Tribulation is God's judgment for sin. We are sinners. It is only through the grace of Jesus that we will not be experiencing that 7-year period of darkness and horror that we want to shy away from and not know about. But we must have clear eyes and stare steadily into the train wreck that is coming, knowing we will be saved from that wrath (1 Thess 5:9) but understanding thoroughly that if we were not saved we would be experiencing it ourselves, and justifiably so! Who are we to say, 'thanks Jesus, now I turn from the bible's descriptions of what will happen to everyone else because it upsets me too much to see it beginning to be played out on earth'?!
Finally, the scene from the movie Fireproof comes to mind. That is the clip, above. That was the latest movie from the Christian folks from Albany GA in which Kirk Cameron starred as a firefighter whose marriage was falling apart. There was a scene where two cars had crashed and one was crumpled and stuck on the train tracks. Two women were in the car. They were trapped in the vehicle. At first, one firefighter was talking to the woman, asking her if she was OK, telling her the method he was going to use that would free her. Then two other firefighters arrived on scene. A bunch of bystanders started milling round, in the background, not saying or doing anything, just watching. A few walked away, likely not wanting to see the physical results of what may happen next. The three firefighters then heard a train whistle. They could not see the train but they heard it. They began to hurry, hurry to get the car off the tracks, knowing there was no time now to get the women out of the car. As the train rounded the bend, some bystanders came to help, and they grunted and sweated to get the car off the tracks. More joined, still more. At the last second they got the car off the tracks just as the train came by, saving the women from sure crushing- just as surely as people will be crushed by 100lb hailstones (Rev 16:21) or houses falling on them (Rev 11:13) in the Tribulation.
These days are like that scene. People all around us are trapped in their sins, in bondage and chained to the tracks. Many Christians are simply bystanders, looking on but doing nothing to really help the ones in the path of destruction. Some walk away. But at first one helped then another and another. They risked themselves to help. Don't leave the job of salvation to just the fire chief (pastor) but it is all our duty to help those in the path of the wreck. Don't peer at people in a crushed car (the enslaved unsaved) and say "Ew, that's gonna be a mess" and walk away, covering your eyes even though you hear the train whistle. People all over the world are trapped in their sins just as the women were tapped in the car in the movie. Are the bible verses about the Tribulation and the news of today that match upcoming Tribulation events not worth reading because the grisly aftermath is easier to visualize now that the train is almost upon us? Let it not be so!
It takes all of us Christians to do the job: obeying the Spirit, being strong, and actually DOING something to help all the time everywhere, even though our eyes may be looking upon something unsavory or terrible while we do it. But we will not be helping if we never look at the train and know it's coming, nor if we refuse to stalwartly look at the coming indicators of the aftermath, by contrast knowing their fate!
The directions are simple: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2. The more grateful you are, the more joy you have in what you have, and joy in what is to come.
Tweet
Comments
Wow. That was so heavy. Tonight I was fellowshipping with my friend and we were praying for God to use us more to reach out to the unsaved. I was asking the Lord to break my heart completely and help me feel the agony that He feels watching the lost be so lost. I don't want to be apathetic or afraid to open my mouth.
ReplyDeleteThis was such an answer to that prayer, you connected that desperate panic I felt watching the movie clip, to the urgency I should have to see people saved. Time is running out. Thank you so much.
Thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your blogs. I also loved how you so confidently declared that we are the ones to be raptured. When I think about that it blows my mind and gives me goose bumps!
This was so powerful.
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking the time to respond... it is such a blessing to me to hear someone was moved by the Spirit when reading what the Spirit sent me. I was moved myself, I do cry a bunch at certain times when writing certain things that the Spirit burdens me with. In those times of tears I know He has a mighty word and I feel even more humbled that He uses us, frail humans, to accomplish His work. Have a blessed Sunday :)