What will it be like in the last days? Have you ever wondered about that and what people will be like before the coming of Christ? In God’s Word we can find all the answers to these questions; I am going to share a few of them.
Jesus spoke to His disciples about these things as He sat on
the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24:4-31:
“And Jesus answered
and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My
name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And 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. For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
“Then they will
deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all
nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one
another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and
deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow
cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the
kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and
then the end will come.
“Therefore when you
see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing
in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand), ‘then let those who are
in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to
take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to
get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing
babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the
Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since
the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless
those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake
those days will be shortened.
“Then if anyone says
to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false
christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to
deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
“Therefore if they say
to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the
inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and
flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever
the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
“Immediately after the
tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give
its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will
be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all
the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 Paul wrote to Timothy and the church
about these things also:
“But know this, that
in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without
self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying
its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep
into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led
away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist
the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they
will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs
also was.”
There are other books in the Bible that talk about the end
time events and how the people will act and what it will be like, so that every
believer will prepare themselves and not be taken by surprise. If this is the way it is going to be then what
kind of people should we be? I think we
need to take these warnings and learn by them. People need to see a consistent Christian life
if we proclaim one, one that is authentic and not just mere talk. I don’t claim to know all of the prophesies that
are in the Word, but even I can discern the signs of the times and I believe we
are in the last of the last days.
I know that hearing these things can be scary, but for the believer
they can be exciting times. Persecution
is never fun but it will separate the true believers from the false ones. When the church comes under persecution is
becomes a stronger church and it helps to take your dependency of everything
else and put it on the Lord, where it belongs. If you are a true believer persecution will
draw you closer to the Lord than most anything else, plus you will know more
about Him. Many of your activities will
change and you will press into the Lord like never before, spending much more
time in prayer and the study of His Word.
It says this about this subject in Matthew 5:10-12:
“Blessed are those who
are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when
they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in
heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
I think persecution makes people bolder and more determined
to see non-believers come to Jesus plus when those who are timid in the Lord
see your faith and boldness it will help them to be bold and stand strong for their
faith also. I know this may not be a
popular message but I think we believers need to be aware of what is coming, and
like I said, be prepared for it. Something
to think about! May you have a super day
and may the good Lord bless you!!
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