Wars and Rumors of Wars

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

(Matthew 24:6-8)

Most people don’t want to think about, let alone study, when the end of this age might happen. Of course, no one but the Father in heaven knows when he will finally have had enough of the evil and wickedness in the world today. Why does he wait? Isn’t there enough evil already in the world? He wants everyone who will, to repent and turn to Jesus. That’s why he gives us all these signs and prophesies. He’s showing us how much he loves us with his warnings of what’s about to happen.

Are we in the “Last Days?” Yes! How long have we been in the Last Days? Technically, they started when Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection. Just like the birth pains of a woman in labor, the birth pains of these signs Jesus mentions, have steadily been getting more and more frequent. The human propensity to violence has been with us since Cain killed Able. He committed his murder with a rock. Our weapons have become high-tech and vastly more deadly. Instead of killing one or two, now we can kill hundreds of thousands in an instant.

Our ongoing technological prowess has made war more and more deadly. Not only for the combatants but for innocent civilians as well. It’s estimated that 90 million combatants died in World Wars I & II. Added to that number are about 60 to 65 million civilian dead in both wars. The numbers of dead, both military and civilian, include war related disease and famine. To make the numbers worse, 20 to 50 million people died, worldwide, of the Spanish Flu in 1918. Those numbers are appalling and incomprehensible to me. That means between the years 1914 to 1945, as many as 210 to 215 million people died because of war and disease. Many people of that day feared the end of the world. Their world certainly was coming to an end.

Are we at the point of God’s prophetic word, when these signs will herald the end of the age? Is the Father’s wrath about to be poured out upon this sinful world? There are many other prophecies, not mentioned in this passage, all of which have to come true for the end to come. I don’t think we have reached the concentration that Jesus was talking about, concerning these signs but even if we’re not, we’re getting closer every day. However, we don’t want to stand around looking for these signs to line up, waiting for the end to come. We must be about the Father’s business, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to an unsaved and dying world. Maranatha!

Father God you are from everlasting to everlasting and the unchanging Lord and Master of the universe. We live in such perilous times, we fear what might come next. There’s always bad news on television, or the things we read about, fearful things that are happening around the world. There are several terrible despots with huge armies with terrifying weapons, who all hate us. Many times, the frightening things happening in the world are not caused by mankind. Natural disasters from earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes are enough to make us lose sleep. Keep us from running into the hills in fear for our lives, because you are in control. Everything that will happen is supposed to happen. Not because you hate us, but because you want all who will come to their senses to repent and turn to Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for your guarantee of the blesses hope. We know, no matter what else happens, our eternity with you is safe. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!