You saw them, all the funnies about the end of the world occurring today, as predicted by the Mayans. The one above was one of my favorites. The one below made me chuckle out loud.
Here's the truth. The Creator, Who also created time, has clearly given us signs to know when He will close this present age.
First, take a look at Genesis 1:14 - "Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years."
Jesus created the lights in the sky to govern our days and nights and years - time, and to signal events.
Jesus gives very specific and clear signs to us, concerning the end of the age we are in now, and how He will bring it to a close. We find the signs in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. These signs are to be watched for by all of His followers. He says this in Mark 13:37 - "What I say to you I say to all, be on the alert!" - all is a 100% word. Each generation of believers should know these signs. He spells them out simply and clearly. Here's my quick summary of Matthew 24 and Mark 13, but you should really study it and know it for yourself.
False Christs.
Wars and rumors of wars.
Earthquakes and famines.
Hatred and deadly persecution against His followers.
Falling away.
Betrayal.
Lawlessness.
Gospel being preached all over the world.
The abomination of desolation that Daniel wrote about. (The New Testament teaching on this is in 2 Thessalonians 2. This is when Antichrist proclaims he is God in the temple - which means a temple of sorts will be rebuilt before the end of the age.)
The greatest holocaust, the slaughtering of the elect - His chosen people, Israel, and of Jesus followers ever to occur. (It will be much worse than the holocaust of WWII or of the persecution against the church in her infancy - much, much worse.)
The natural lights going out - Genesis 1:14!
The Glorious Appearing of Jesus with His angels who will gather us to Him!
We aren't given the day or the hour, but we do know what will happen prior.
"...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Pretty clear, isn't it?
Silly Mayans...
1 comment:
Funny thing is, although the Mayans were far worse than just silly, (but I know what you meant!) they weren’t predicting anything about there being an “end of the world”. Their incredibly complex calendar (and highly accurate--for measuring seasons, daylight, etc.) simply stops at what they called the 13th Baktun. The stone on which it was carved was inscribed at the beginning of that era, we just happen to be at the end of it.
The statements by Jesus, on the other hand, not only warn of an "End of the Age", but weave PERFECTLY into numerous other passages recorded in Scripture which describe various aspects of a larger concept called the "Day of the LORD". This is true because these events are prophesied, not in some "Jewish Chronicles", but in the Word of God.
No other Faith, Discipline, Religion--whatever you want to call the Path that Christian followers of Jesus walk--is as brutally honest, or as balanced! This is because gods Man creates are one dimensional--they're either capricious, or powerful, or benign, perhaps fertile, maybe fast, even artistic, or any of the countless qualities humans look to in a divine being. No religion, however, describes a god who is as complex or multi-faceted as the God of the “Judeo-Christian” scriptures.
This multi-dimensionality is often the very thing that skeptics latch onto when deriding our faith in God. We are accused of being dupes in not seeing that “your God is inconsistent, two-faced and blood thirsty”. But God Himself is the One who describes His manifold character in the Word He Himself penned.
So when the God who created time itself warns us that only He knows the day and the hour He will visit His wrath upon Mankind, we are foolish to look to human constructs in an attempt to divine a point in time He Himself has hidden from us….
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