“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
In
the New Testament, when Jesus was sending out His disciples ahead of Him, He
told them not to take any provisions with them (Luke
9:3; 10:1-4). And after their return He reminded
them of how they were provided for (Luke
22:35). Yet in the following verse, Jesus reverses His advice and tells
them to take with them a purse, a bag, and a sword (Luke
22:36). Perhaps He knew they were to face opposition they hadn’t
encountered before. He had wisdom and foreknowledge the disciples lacked, and
this led Him to give different directions in different circumstances.
Practically
speaking, of course it is right and sensible to make preparations for the
future. But we must be careful not to place extraordinary confidence in those
preparations. Jesus’ parable about the prosperous business man who wanted to
build bigger barns for his crops is an example of poor planning. The rich man
was looking to his riches for his provision and security (Luke 12:16-21). There was nothing wrong, in
principle, with his building bigger barns. Where his attitude was wrong was by
placing his confidence in himself, without acknowledging God in his plans.
After all, it was to God he needed to be thankful for the increased crops he
had, and it was God’s wisdom he would need for how he would spend his wealth.
But he never consulted God, and his life was taken before he even had a chance
to spend or use what he had hoarded.
The
bottom line is that we must seek the wisdom of God in matters of preparation
for the future. God promises to grant wisdom to all who seek it (James
1:5), and He never fails to keep His promises. Christians must be wise
stewards of what God has provided, setting aside enough for basic needs and
investing our money, time and talents in a future eternity that will never fade
away (Matthew 6:19-20). When preparing for tomorrow,
think “eternity.”
Why is God going to send a strong
delusion in the end times?
The Bible makes it clear why God is sending a strong delusion in the end
times: “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For
this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the
lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have
delighted in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). Simply put, God
sends a strong delusion to those who choose not to believe the gospel of
Christ. Those who take delight in mocking and rejecting Him, He will condemn.
It
is a person’s choice whether to accept and believe the truth of Jesus Christ as
presented in the Scriptures. To receive the truth and the love God offers is in
keeping with its teachings, “This is love for God: to obey His commands” (1
John 5:3). Conversely, to know the truth and not obey it is to face the
wrath of God: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans
1:18). Frankly speaking, there is no more dangerous condition for man than
to know the truth and refuse to obey it. To do so is to harden the heart and
make God’s condemnation sure.
When
one knows the truth and refuses to obey it, he is subject to any lie, any
deception, any untruth that humanity can conjure up. “For although they knew
God, they neither glorified Him nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to
be wise, they became fools” (Romans
1:21-22). Paul goes on in the next few verses to describe the mindset and
behaviors of those who disbelieve (see Romans
1:29-31). As a result of human foolishness and arrogant disdain of the
things of God, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to
be done” (Romans
1:28). And correspondingly, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that
those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very
things, but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans
1:32).
Isaiah
puts it succinctly: “They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight
in their abominations; so I [God] also will choose harsh treatment for them and
bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I
spoke, no one listened. They did evil in My sight and chose what displeases Me”
(Isaiah
66:3-4). When people know the truth
and refuse to receive it, when they refuse to obey it and hold it in
unrighteousness,
2 Thessalonians 2:12
“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
King James Version (KJV)
“God
is love” (1 John 4:16). He is not some cruel monster who
deliberately and inwardly delights in preparing people for everlasting
condemnation. But He earnestly and lovingly proclaims the gospel of Christ,
“not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2
Peter 3:9).
Throughout
the Scriptures, God urges people to accept the truth. But when people reject
Him and spurn His message, then—and not until then—God hardens them and turns
them over to a deluded mind to wallow in their wickedness to their eternal
damnation. This is what the Lord says about those who choose to reject the
truth: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the
Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish
them for their sins” (Jeremiah 14:10).
The
Bible indicates that there will be a great apostasy during the end times. The
“great apostasy” is mentioned in 2
Thessalonians 2:3. The KJV calls it the “falling away,” And that’s what an apostasy is: a rebellion,
an abandonment of the truth. The end times will include a wholesale rejection
of God’s revelation, a further “falling away” of an already fallen world.
The
occasion of Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians was to correct some of the
errors concerning the end times that the believers had heard from false
teachers. Among the falsehoods was that “the day of the Lord has already come” (2
Thessalonians 2:2). The Christians in Thessalonica were afraid that Jesus
had already come, they had missed the rapture, and
they were now in the tribulation.
Paul had already explained the rapture to them in his first letter (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Paul writes his
second letter to assure them that, contrary to what they had heard, and despite
the persecution they were enduring, the “day of Christ” had not yet come.
In
2
Thessalonians 2:3, Paul makes it clear that the day of the Lord, a time of worldwide judgment (Isaiah
13:6; Obadiah
1:15), will not transpire until two things happen. First, the falling away,
or great apostasy, must occur. Second, the “man of lawlessness” must be revealed,
he who is called the “son of perdition,” also known as the Antichrist.
Once this person makes himself known, the end times will indeed have come.
Numerous speculations about the identity of the man of sin, beginning in the
first century, have included Caligula, Caius Caesar, Mohammed, Napoleon, and
any number of Roman popes. None of them were the Antichrist.
The
man of lawlessness, according to 2
Thessalonians 2:4, is the one who “will oppose and will exalt himself over
everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in
God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Clearly, this has not yet
happened; no one since Paul’s time has set himself up as God in the Jewish
temple. Two thousand years have passed since the epistle was written, and the
“day of the Lord” has not yet come. Paul assures us that it will not come until
the falling away comes first.
The
Greek word translated “rebellion” or “falling away” in verse 3 is apostasia,
from which we get the English word apostasy. It refers to a general
defection from the true God, the Bible, and the Christian faith. Every age has
its defectors, but the falling away at the end times will be complete and
worldwide. The whole planet will be in rebellion against God and His Christ.
Every coup requires a leader, and into this global apostasy will step the
Antichrist. We believe this takes place after the church has
been raptured from the earth.
Jesus
warned the disciples concerning the final days in Matthew 24:10–12: “At that time many will turn
away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false
prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” These are the characteristics of
the great apostasy of the end times.
The
Bible prophesies of many events that will occur in the end times. These events
can be categorized as natural signs, spiritual signs, sociological signs,
technological signs, and political signs. We can look to what the Bible says
about these things, and, if the signs are present in abundance, we can be
certain that we are, in fact, living in the end times.
Luke 21:11
lists some of the natural signs that will occur before Jesus’ second coming:
“There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places,
and fearful events and great signs from heaven.” While we shouldn’t interpret
every natural disaster as a sign of the end times, an increase in natural
disasters seems to be a warm-up to what is coming next—“birth pangs,” as Jesus
called them (Matthew 24:8).
The
Bible lists both positive and negative spiritual signs. In 2
Timothy 4:3–4 we discover that many people will follow false teachers. We
see now an increase in cultic groups, heresy, deception, and occultism, with
many choosing to follow New Age or pagan religions. On the positive side, Joel 2:28–29 prophesies that there will be a
great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled on the Day
of Pentecost (Acts 2:16), and we are still seeing the
effects of that outpouring in revivals and Spirit-led Christian movements, and
in the worldwide preaching of the gospel message.
Along
with the signs in the natural and spiritual realms, there are signs in society.
The immorality rampant in society today is a symptom of mankind’s rebellion
against God. Abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and child molestation are
proof that “evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse” (2
Timothy 3:13). We are now living in a hedonistic and materialistic society.
People are lovers of themselves—“looking out for number one”—and doing what is
right in their own eyes. All these things, and many more, can be seen around us
every day (see 2
Timothy 3:1–4).
The
fulfillment of some end-times prophecies seemed impossible until the advent of
modern technology. Some of the judgments in Revelation are more easily imagined
in a nuclear age. In Revelation 13, the Antichrist is said to
control commerce by forcing people to take the mark of the beast, and,
given today’s advances in computer chip technology, the tools he will use may
very well be here already. And through the internet, radio, and television, the
gospel can now be proclaimed to the entire world (Mark
13:10).
And
there are political signs. The restoration of Israel to her land in 1948 is the
single most impressive fulfilled prophecy proving that we live in the end
times. At the turn of the 20th century, no one would have dreamed that Israel
would be back in her land, let alone occupying Jerusalem. Jerusalem is
definitely at the center of geopolitics and stands alone against many enemies; Zechariah
12:3 confirms this: “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered
against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All
who try to move it will injure themselves.” Matthew
24:6–7 predicted that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.” “Wars and rumors of wars” are definitely characteristic of this
present age.
These
are just a few of the signs that we are living in the end of the age. There are
many more. God gave us these prophecies because He does not want anyone to
perish, and He always gives ample warning before pouring out His wrath (2
Peter 3:9).
Are
we living in the end times? No one knows when Jesus will return, but the
rapture could occur at any moment. God will deal with sin either by grace or by
wrath. John
3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever
rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Those who
do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior will remain under the Lord’s wrath.
The
good news is that it’s not too late to choose eternal life. All that is
required is acceptance, by faith, of God’s free gift of grace. There is nothing
you can do to earn grace; Jesus has paid the price for you (Romans
3:24). Are you ready for the Lord’s return? Or will you experience His
wrath?
Peter
reassures us that God is not dragging His feet concerning prophetic events.
God’s timing is perfect: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2
Peter 3:9). In this light we may understand that Jesus is coming “soon” in
that God’s plan is advancing and is only delayed to allow for all the elect to be saved (Romans
8:29; Ephesians
1:5)—a necessary postponement.
The
Bible teaches that Jesus’ return for His church is imminent, which means the rapture could
happen at any moment. The apostles seem to have believed that Jesus would come
back in their lifetimes. They referred often to the “last days” (1
Peter 1:20; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews
1:2) and urged believers to be ready. It appears that Jesus also intended
for us to believe in His imminent return, because He often urged His followers
to “be ready” (Luke 12:40; 21:34–36; Mark
13:33). Because no one has known or can predict exactly when He is coming
again (see Matthew 24:36), we should live in the
expectancy that He may come any moment. That seems to be Jesus’ point in not
being more specific. He wants every generation to live with the conscious
awareness that the Lord may suddenly appear and we will have to give an
accounting of the way He finds us (Luke
12:38). To answer the question, “Is Jesus coming soon?” we say, “Yes, He
will come without unnecessary delay.”