“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red”; and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.” Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times…’” Matthew 16:2b-3.
Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and the Sadducees should also speak to us today.
These men were asking Jesus for a sign from heaven which could be something spectacular like the sun standing still, or the shadow on the stairs going upward when it should go downward, or the sun and moon shining for one third of the day, stars falling, or fire from heaven, spectacular stuff.
Yet, there was a heavenly sign, a star which the three wise men followed to find the Christ-child, an account read so often on Christmas in Matthew 2:1-12. However, Jesus made no reference to this miracle to them.
Instead, Jesus told them that they should have known by the simplest things, countless prophesies in the Old Testament Scriptures that predicted the coming of the Messiah, the word of prophets, and the writings of many Old Testament Hebrew scholars which they would have been required to read.
Include here, many of Jesus’ well-known miracles, raising the dead, healing multitudes, feeding 4 thousand and 5 thousand, and add to this the testimony of the Apostle John, shown below.
“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” John 21:25.
It is impossible for the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were questioning Jesus not to have heard of or seen the many signs and corroborating miracles pointing to Jesus as the promised Messiah. These men are knowingly rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ statement remains for us too. Can we read the weather, is it red sky in the morning or in the evening, can we read the simplest things around us and not know the signs of the Lord’s return to take us home?
Home? Where is home? Scripture tells us that those who live by faith in God are strangers and sojourners on this earth.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.
“These [believers] all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13.
The Christian is also a stranger and a pilgrim on this earth and by faith we are to embrace the promises of God and look forward to the day when the Lord Jesus will return to take us to heaven. Meanwhile our Lord tells us to occupy till I Come.
“And as they heard these things [Jesus’ words], He added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, ‘A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds [to trade with], and said unto them, ‘Occupy till I come.’” Luke 19:11-13 KJV.
Every one of us has certain abilities and whether great or small God wants us to use them.
Remember this too, God knows what we are capable of, so He will not ask more of us than we are able to accomplish with His help. This does not mean that the job will not be difficult. At times it will stretch your boundaries to show you what you are capable of.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.
So then, are there signs that we can know that the Lord’s return is imminent? Nothing specific that will give us a date, but enough to make us see the need to live a holy life.
One striking thing that Jesus prophesied tells us that the Lord’s return is very near, see below.
“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.” Matthew 24:5-8.
American has been in almost constant conflict since World War 2; whether its Korea, Viet Nam, numerous skirmishes in the Middle East, and the meddling this current administration (12-19-24) is doing to goad Russia into a confrontation.
These are serious, however, the greatest indication that we are in the end times are the words, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Christian scholars and even Jewish rabbis both agree that this is a description of a world war. World War 1 fits this description. Historians say that World War 2 was a continuation of World War 1.
“And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” Matthew 24:7b.
The Lord goes on to mention two things that always follow war, famines which means exactly what it says, famine which brings starvation.
Pestilences refers to any deadly infectious malady. Pestilences always follow war because war creates wretched conditions leading to malnutrition, poor hygiene, diseases, and a lack of hospitals and medical personnel.
There is a new cause of deadly pestilences which are different from those used in warfare from antiquity up to modern times. The germ warfare type of pestilences were natural substances that existed or could be easily made, things like smallpox, anthrax, ricin, Typhus, and plague to name a few.
The new knowledge of DNA and the mapping of a cell’s genome which is the entire set of instructions found in a cell.
With this information scientists might be able to end genetic deformities or stop many deadly diseases.
However, it seems all that scientists are interested in is research into what they call, “Gain of function”, this is a euphemism for biological weapons.
The world has already had a dose of gain of function when Covid 19 was introduced into the eco-system and the world was shut down.
This disease was the result of gain of function in which human DNA was attached to an animal’s disease that humans are immune to. The intent of gain of function is murder.
These current events, if I may use that term since the last one ended in two world wars almost eighty years ago show us that the rapture is very near, “all these are the beginning of sorrows”.
Most of us know a little about the two World Wars, and we have certainly heard of wars and rumors of wars, especially as of this date when there is chaos everywhere, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Yemen, Palestine, Hezbollah and Hamas. This includes the strife in this country caused by criminal illegal aliens allowed to flood across our borders.
The end will also see the proliferation of just plain bad people.
“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!” 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Many of us might say, “Well, we have had people like this in every generation.” And this would be 100% correct, but this passage starts out with, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come…” after which it goes on to give a litany of evil character qualities, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, and so on.
Since the fall in the Garden of Eden men have always exhibited some of these characteristics but never has there been such a complete moral breakdown as we are seeing today.
Even leading up to our transfer of government the godlessness and hatred of Christians, the love of money, and selfish ambition, folks who are in positions of power who are lovers of themselves, many of whom are traitors, who show no pity for the citizens who support them.
And do not forget the abomination of lie after lie after lie after lie after LIE. The citizens of this country and most of the world thirst for truth.
The Lord is coming soon!
Before we go, let us consider one other thing, the devil Satan is a liar and has been from the beginning.
“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” 1 John 5:19.
When he sees the possibility that the Lord Jesus may return for all His Christian children Satan will try to explain the disappearance of about a billion Christians with a fantastic lie.
What that lie may be I am not sure of, but I have a favorite I would like to share.
For centuries the world has experienced sightings of UFOs. Recently some victims have been abducted and experimented on, these experiments are reported to be both painful and degrading.
Aany messages they were given did not speak of God or Jesus but that that was a time of peace coming to mankind. Everything they spoke of was contrary to God’s revealed word in Scripture.
UFOs are not a new thing they have been described from antiquity and the descriptions change with the times. In London they were usually cigar shaped and would take days to cross the sky.
In the early nineteen hundreds they could barely outrun biplane fighters, later they could outrun Jet fighter planes.
Later reports show these flying saucers to reach incredible speeds of thousands of miles per hour then make a ninety degree turn without slowing down, an act which should have killed everyone aboard.
UFOs were usually sighted over bodies of water, over power lines, and near military installations, they could instantly disappear off radar and leave with incredible speed.
Even Ufologist who have studied them for years admit that many of these abductions are more occult than they are extra-terrestrial.
UFO sightings proliferated during Israel’s 6 Day War in June 1967. It is possible that Satan felt that the rapture of the Christians was imminent, so he sent up his UFOs so it could be claimed that the UFOs took all the Christians away because they interfered with setting up a peaceful world state.
The same things could be said about the incredible number of drone sightings we are currently having.
Unless this a government psi-ops hoax, unless we can find a crash site, unless we can shoot one down, there is no reason not to consider the fact that Satan is trying to manufacture an abduction explanation for the rapture of Christians everywhere.
Please try not to worry, I do not think these drones will harm anyone who is not involved in the occult.
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.
Signs and Wonders taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-22-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.