04/08/2020
I see so many Christians jumping on the end-times bandwagon, and cranking up the trumpets since the “covid apocalypse” hit the news. Some are running around wild-eyed like like Henny-Penny shrieking “the sky is falling! The sky is falling!” ( Exactly like what happened in the 70’s due to tensions in the Middle East) Others try to keep it on a scholarly level, making timelines between current events and the Book of Revelation. I’m certainly no expert, but here’s my personal observation for what it’s worth*.
*Take it or leave it because I have no desire whatsoever to debate it.
The Bible compares the “end times” to birth pangs. My midwifery career has taught me well, that labor and birth are wildly unpredictable, even though it usually falls within a very predictable framework. I’ve been on births where “mom” was in active labor for hours, made it to 6 cm. and stalled out with nothing happening for days. It happens all the time when birth is not augmented by medical interventions. So looking at the nature of birth in Biblical times, you can get a very different picture of that metaphorical reference.
The undeniable truth is, we don't know when anything will happen. Look at all the failed predictions so far. I believe those end-time markers were included in the Bible as warning signs... like the ones that tell you to slow down and observe your surroundings…"be prepared for the drop-off ahead".
For so many years, I think Christians have felt (and practiced) that it was their duty, not only to point out the "signs of the times" but to somehow find a way to slam on the brakes and keep it from happening (which is a major factor in the marriage between politics and Christianity). But I’ve read the book from cover to cover, and I'm pretty sure we don't have any responsibility to keep the world spinning. All we can do is get ourselves right with God, and isn’t that the main theme of everything Jesus came to tell us?
If you line up WW2 events with end-times prophecy, it is amazingly accurate. But the surviving WW2 generation has lived a full life, and is fading off the planet of natural causes. The "roaring twenties" of last century were a notoriously irreverent season, followed by a sobering, worldwide reminder not to thumb our noses at the One who holds this planet in His hand. That changed the moral atmosphere for decades, until the end of last century.
Who’s to say this is not a wake-up call for this generation—perhaps the beginning of the revival we’ve all been praying for. Haven’t we already seen it throw a monkey wrench in the swelling globalism machine? Borders are being protected now around the world, without question. Whereas, that was considered a crime against humanity by liberal governments just a few months ago.
I can only do what is in my power. Stay close to my Father, and trust Him to keep me in a safe place. I leave the rest to God. Otherwise, I would end up like those people holed up on a mountain top, drinking poison-laced koolaid.
If there is nothing I can do about it, I force myself not worry about it.
Matthew 6:26-27 "Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?”
However, that is NOT to say we should go along our merry way, saying “all is well, be at peace” ignoring the warning signs. The signs were already there during the disciples’ lifetimes, prompting them to believe Christ would return before they died a natural death. If they felt the time was near, some two-thousand-ish years ago, we are certainly far closer to the “midnight hour” now. We have no more assurance of being able to get right with God just before sliding into the grave, than we ever have. None of us knows whether or not we will end up below six feet of dirt by the end of this week. I’m aware of two instances of friends’ loved ones being unexpectedly taken away in the past few days, and it had nothing at all to do with a virus. To quote the Boy Scout motto, just “be prepared”.
What I think, and what I feel, can waver from peace to panic in a fraction of a second these days. I just keep working to ground myself in the one thing that doesn't change. That is how faith looks when it's put into everyday practice. Is it hard sometimes? Oh yeah. Almost ALL the time. But I’ve learned that God is faithful when nothing else is.
Be careful of what you fear. Fear is a form of worship (another topic for another day), and God has given us clear instruction to have no other gods before Him. It’s one of the “big ten”.
Here’s some wisdom the Apostle Paul sends us from a couple of thousand years ago in the tenth chapter of First Corinthians. The words are as timely now as they were then. “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful…
