If you read and listen to the news with a Biblical mind, you can often hear a faint whisper of some of the truths of God’s Word faintly in the background. Think about the implications of this summary I read this week:
Humans can live 40 days without food,
3 days without water,
8 minutes without air,
But only 1 second without hope!
What brings hopelessness to life? Most adults in the world, no matter where they live, face the same issues–job insecurity, health uncertainty, financial distress, future fears, relational woes, and general struggles that accompany normal, daily life in our world. Those wear on our hopes for the future.
But beyond those normal struggles, lurking all around us are deadly diseases, incurable killer viruses, and lethal pathogens that if released and unrestrained could devastate all human life in this world. The pandemic is a current example. Those shake our hopes for the future.
But even more ominously in the background are the current possibilities of terrorists, dirty bombs, and even more horrible–atomic weapons being unleashed again on this planet after 60 years of silence. Weapons of mass destruction if properly understood will delete strong hopes for a future.
Because of these three layers of problems, more and more people around the world are coming to the point of hopelessnessâand ending their lives. Japan is seeing more and more suicides, and Germany is struggling with what was reported this week as a nationwide epidemic by the BBC of Londonâs headline: âGermany’s new ‘great depressionâ â
Record numbers of Germans are suffering from depression and other mental illnesses, a new report says. Up to 70% of Germans also say they are prepared to seek professional help for psychological problems.
But the horrible reality isâthe WORST is yet to come! That is where we head this evening in Matthew 24. Please turn there with me as Jesus now turns from the snapshot we saw last time in Matthew 24:15-20. Do you remember them? Those verses show us that Christ sees at His Returnâthe Jews back in their land (after 2500 years without any nation called Israel), with a Temple in Jerusalem (after 2000 years without a Temple), and offering animal sacrifices (after 2500 years without any animal sacrifices).
Now, look on at Matthew 24:21-22 as He introduces a new topic. Jesus sees at His Return a time when mankind is finally possessing the capability of total annihilation of life on planet Earth.
Matthew 24:21-22 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. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the electâs sake, those days will be shortened.
I describe this snapshot as:
When Christ Returns to Earth,
there are Weapons of Mass Destruction.
We all have started saying those words these daysâweapons of mass destruction.
We often have no idea how sobering that concept should be.
WNS-20 & NR4-33 – The Final Siege of Jerusalem (050424AM)
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