Times Of Difficulty

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather

than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.  For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”

~2 Timothy 3:1-7

Anyone who is alive today can tell you the world is in chaos and wonder how much longer we can go on before we’ll self-destruct. For Christians, we know this means the day that Jesus returns to the earth. Never has there been a time when all the signs of the return of Jesus Christ been so apparent. While we cannot know the exact time that Jesus will return, we are told to watch the signs given to us so that we will recognize when the time is getting close. I believe we are in the last days and that Jesus is going to return in my lifetime. That being said, I remember that my grandmother believed He would return in her lifetime as well, and of course, He didn’t. But our world had not advanced enough to fulfill all that Jesus told us to watch for until this century.

In the days of Noah (Genesis 5-10), the world was wicked, so God destroyed it by water, sparing only eight people on the ark. While building the ark, Noah warned people about what the Lord was going to do and they laughed at him. They ridiculed him openly, yet Noah continued building the ark. When that first raindrop fell, the laughing stopped but it was too late. The door of the ark was sealed and no one else could get in. The story of Noah is a cautionary tale for all of us today, and an illustration of the fate those who do not trust in Christ will face.

The Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), because of sexual sin, specifically, homosexuality, by raining fire down on the entire area. In Romans 1, Paul gives us the reasons the earth will face judgement:

1)    People suppress the truth of God

2)    Exchanging the glory of God for the worship of images

3)    Dishonoring their bodies (sexual sin); homosexuality

4)    “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (vv.29-31).”

“As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains (Matthew 24:3-8).”

Since the days of Noah, there has never been a time when these things were more prevalent in society than they are right now. And it’s worldwide. These things are like birth pains. A woman doesn’t know the exact day and time when her child will come into the world, but she knows it takes 40 weeks. Once labor begins, there is no doubt the time is near. As labor progresses, the pains get closer together and stronger, and it’s time to push that child into the world. The days of Christ’s return is like that. We don’t know the exact day and hour, but we can feel the pains that bring it closer.

Some of the other signs are the increase in knowledge, and I think everyone can agree we are in the age of technology where knowledge increases at a rate I can’t even calculate. I do know that the computer I own is relatively new, yet, in the computer world, it’s a dinosaur. The world of science is advancing at a high rate of speed, bringing us newer and better technology, medicine, education, and everything else that it boggles my mind. We travel the world at faster speeds than ever thought possible, and we travel through life just as fast. In Daniel 4, the prophet tells of this happening, yet he lived in a day when traveling the world was impossible, and certainly at a much slower pace. He still predicted the would happen in the end days.

Zechariah 12 speaks of the world coming against Jerusalem, and that is occurring right now. Our president has moved the U.S. Embassy to Israel’s rightful capitol, and the nations are raging because of it. Israel has been the subject of abuse for thousands of years and will continue to be until the Lord returns to set up His kingdom and bring peace to the entire world.

These are but a few of the end time passages in the Bible that make it clear to me we are living in the end of days. Life as we know it is changing daily, and not for the better. But it will all be made right one day soon. Jesus will return for His people, and any who are not ready will suffer the consequences. Will it be in my lifetime? I truly hope so, it’s something I want to see, but even if it’s not, I will still stand before the Creator of all things and answer to Him alone for my life on earth. The only words I want to hear are, “Well done good and faithful servant.” If you aren’t ready to face the Lord, now is the time to make sure you are ready. Pray, ask God to forgive your sins, invite Jesus into your life, and love Him, and your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That’s all it takes. It wasn’t nails that held Jesus on the Cross, it was His love for you and me.

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:22-27).”

Read Micah

©2018 Marie McGaha