I'm sitting here thinking about last week's news headlines (May 18-24) and realizing that the "birth pains" spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24:8 are accelerating at an ever-increasing pace ...... God's prophetic time clock is rapidly approaching midnight. ... To briefly review just some of them:
*The Revived Roman Empire being reborn in Europe
*Pestilence in the form of earthquakes & volcanos increasing at a rapid pace
*Signs in the sun, moon, and stars in the form of massive sunspots and newly discovered asteroids
*King of the East rising in the form of China
*Mark of the Beast in the form of rapidly increasing I.D. technology
*More [pestilence & plague in the form of nuclear contamination & dead animals floating up on the beaches of the world ......
... And that's just the past seven days. ....
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 says, "But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3) For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5) You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (KJV) ....
Whenever I think of the "signs of the Times", which is most of the time, I'm reminded of a great man of God named Elbert Peak. Speaking at a conference held in Orlando, Florida in the early 1990's, he being in his early 80's, he made this statement: "Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return." He paused for a moment, and then went on to say, "But 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!"
Let's look at Daniel 12:4 for a moment ... It says, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." ........ Well, we certainly are running to & fro ... everyone on this planet seems to not have enough time in their day to do all the things they want to do .... and the increase in knowledge? ... This is what I want to focus on in this commentary ... today's rapidly advancing technology and how it relates to Bible prophecy. ... Remember that Daniel said this would take place in the end times .... well, here we are!
Simply stated, there are many end time prophecies that simply cannot be understood apart from modern technological developments. Let's look at just a few of them:
*The Two Witnesses - Revelation 11:7-9 tells us of two witnesses who will call the world to repentance during the 1st half of the
Tribulation. When they are killed by the Antichrist, we are told that their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a
half days, and the WHOLE WORLD will look upon them. ..... How could we have even begun to understand this prophecy prior to
satellites and television?
*The King of the East - In Revelation 9:16, it tells of a 200 million man army. ..... Now, can you imagine what the readers of earlier
times must have thought concerning an army of this size?! ... I'm sure they must have considered it to be symbolic, at best. .... But
guess what? Just recently, it became quite clear that the nation of China could field an army of this size, not even needing any
allies to do so. ... Then, to solidify that this army comes from the east, Revelation 16:12 states, "The sixth angel poured out his
bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the Kings from the East." .... Guess that
qualifies China, since they are east of the promised land ......
*The Mark of the Beast - Revelation 13 tells of how the people of the world will be forced to receive a mark on their right hands or
their foreheads. This form of identification will be required to buy or sell anything ... in other words, in order to function in
society, one would need this mark. ...... Once again, how could something like this be even remotely possible without modern day
technology? ... In fact, we are seeing, almost daily, new methods being developed for mass identification.
*A 'Living' Statue - Revelation 13:14-15 says, "Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he
deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword
and yet lived. 15) He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who
refused to worship the image to be killed." .......... OK ... let's think about this one for a minute! Here we got a guy building a statue
that can talk, and who knows what else ... without modern technology in robotics, this would virtually be impossible! ... hello!!!
*Seals & Trumpet Judgements - The incredible carnage of the Seal and Trumpet Judgements portrayed in chapters 6 and 8 in he
book of Revelation indicates weapons and pestilences that couldn't have even begun to be imagined in the days of their writings.
Things like nuclear war and other means of modern technological advances would have to come into existence for these horrific
events to take place .... a fourth of mankind killed ... followed quickly by another third ... open sores of dying people .... the list
goes on ........
*The Gospel Preached to All The World - Matthew 24:14 says, "And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole
world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." ..... Once again, how in the world would this be possible without
radio, television, the internet ... satellites ....
That's just some of the prophecies ... the list goes on. ... I guess Daniel's vision would have to be considered 'perfectly accurate' when he prophesied that "knowledge shall be increased" in the last days. It is truly amazing to watch this all unfold before our very eyes! .............. Yet sadly, most everyone out there is not seeing any of this .... it's passing them by and they don't even realize it!
Luke 17:26-30 says it all, "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27) People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the arc. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28) It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29) But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30) It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed." ............ Sounds just like it is today ... No one is paying attention!
So ..... what are we to do? ......... I know that I'm predictable, but you and I MUST tell people what is going on! ... I'm telling you that Elbert Peak was absolutely correct when he said he will soon hear the sound of the trumpet. ... I sense it ... I feel it in the air ....... My question to each of you ..... are you prepared when it does blow? ... Please think about this because it will end up being the most important moment of you life ... and will determine where you spend eternity.
I'll close with Luke 21:28 which says, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Until next time,
Red