By Dennis Edwards
I’m walking along the beach and it’s March 22,2020. All this
thing about Corona Virus has hit here in Europe, especially in Italy and it’s
been quite a pandemic, epidemic, plague, or whatever you want to call it. I was
thinking about how we are all being forced to be quiet. The Bible says in the
book of Revelation that there was silence in Heaven for half an hour.
When was that silence in Heaven? It’s just before the time of the pouring out
of the trumpets of tribulation on the nations which is followed by the wrath of
God on the nations. We could be very well moving closer to those events. Those
of you who have some understanding of Bible prophecy and have your eyes opened
through them will certainly see these present events as conforming to the signs
of the times spoken of by Jesus in the Gospels. We could very well be on the
verge of the prophetic Last Seven Years of Bible Prophecy spoken of by Daniel
the Old Testament prophet and mentioned by Jesus in His prophetic message in
the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.
Jesus said, “When ye shall see the abomination of
desolations spoken by Daniel the prophet stand in the Holy place (let him that
reads understand), for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except
those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s
sake, the believer’s sake, those days shall be shortened.”
Then, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other.”
The verses in Matthew 24 give us a scenario that will be
followed. But why is Jesus talking about the prophecy in Daniel, “When ye shall
see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet?” Different
Bible scholars have speculated about the fulfillment of that prophecy. The
Jewish scholars in their commentary on the 1st or 2nd Maccabees, which was a
period before the time of Christ, claim that that prophecy of Daniel concerning
the “abomination of desolation” was already fulfilled by the Greek General
Antiochus Epiphenes IV around 120BC. Antiochus persecuted the Jews and killed
many Jews in Jerusalem and defiled the temple by throwing a swine’s head into
the Holy place. Jewish scholars claim that the “abomination of desolation”
already occurred, and that the prophecies of Daniel are already fulfilled and
therefore, you cannot apply it to a future event.
There are others who say, “No,no,no, what Jesus was talking
about here was the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman General Titus in 70AD. Surely
part of the prediction of Jesus could be applied very well to the Roman
destruction of the city and the resultant death of some one million Jews by
crucifixion as described by Jewish/Roman historian Josephus. But if we fully
apply the prophecy of Jesus and say it has already been completed then we miss
the fact that Jesus tied the placing of the abomination as a sign for the
beginning of the great tribulation. Jesus said that the tribulation would be
the worst tribulation the world would ever see. He said that if He didn’t
shorten the period of tribulation no life would be saved. Besides that, Jesus
also connected the great tribulation to His coming back in the clouds in the
rapture event where all God’s people are miraculously raised up to meet the
Lord in the sky.
“And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.”
Therefore, Jesus has tied the events all together: the placing of the “abomination
of desolations,” together with the great tribulation period, followed by His
coming in the clouds and the rapture event.
I’ve heard a very knowlegdeable Christian scholar claim that Matthew 24
was fulfilled at the time of the Roman invasion in 70AD. He explains that Jesus
was receiving the souls of the dead saints up into heaven at that time. He says
that Jesus was talking about the heavenly realm, the spiritual realm, and we
shouldn’t confuse Matthew 24 with the rapture. He believes that Matthew 24 has
been completely fulfilled. That is what he teaches. So some scholars put the
prophecy of Matthew 24 in the past and say we don’t have to worry about it. It’s
all past. It has nothing to do with us. There is not going to be a great
tribulation. There’s not going to be a last seven years. So that’s how some of
the different scholars read and understand that passage in Matthew about the
abomination of desolations.
But if you go back and read the writings of all the leaders
of the early church who came after the apostles we find something very
different. The early “Church Fathers,” who were the disciples of the apostles
and the forefathers of both the Catholic and Protestant faiths, ring a
different bell. We find the early Church Fathers speaking of the tribulation
period, a time of Antichrist, of the Antichrist sitting in the temple, of the
world in apostasy, and even mention of the last seven years and the 3 ½ years
of tribulation. Such is what we find in the writing of Polycarp, who was a
disciple of Apostle John, Ireneaus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, Justin Martyer,
Origin, and many others whose name’s I don’t remember being that they are
either Roman or Greek and harder for me to recollect. But all those men, one
after another in full chorus, or in perfect unity like the militaries marching
formation make the same claim that a time of great tribulation, a time of great
trouble, a time of antichrist with the Antichrist himself sitting in the temple
calling himself God would come, just as Apostle Paul wrote in 2nd Thessalonians
2.
Paul said, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not
soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive
you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and
exalts himself above all that is God, oor that is worshipped; so that he as God
sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
That little prophecy of Apostle Paul, tied together with Jesus prophecy in
Matthew 24 and the other prophecies from the Old Testament prophet Daniel and
the New Testament prophet John from the book of Revelation, all the different
prophecies fit together and give us a good picture of the days that are ahead.
My mother used to say she didn’t like reading the book of
Revelation because it was too horrific. I don’t think that only Bible scholars
can understand these things.I don’t think you have to know Greek and Hebrew to
understand the prophecies. I believe God has made His word sufficiently clear
that it can be understood by almost anyone. The best way to understand it, like
we read in the psalms, is to meditate on it and obey it. “I have more
understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I
understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.”
If we meditate on God’s word, if we follow it’s precepts, we will have better understanding
than the scholars, than the guys who know Hebrew and Greek. What in the world
does it matter if they know Hebrew and Greek? If they are not following the
precepts and obeying them, they can’t understand it properly. Jesus said, "If any
man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of
God, or whether I
speak of myself." It’s
in the doing, in the following, in the obeying the simple things Jesus said to
do that our minds are opened up to the Bible’s truths.
That’s why Augustine said, “Seek not to understand that you
might believe. But seek to believe that you might understand.” All these guys
that are trying to understand the Bible without obeying it, just end up totally
confused. That’s why we have so many different people spouting off all these
different interpretations. They make our heads spin. But how many of those
authors or Pastors or evangelists are really following the simple words of
Jesus? How many are really loving God, loving their neighbour, being generous,
being forgiving, not loving money or material goods, not being soon angry or
violent, not being selfish, or greedy, or covetous, or have sexual impurites in
their lives, or are given to alcohol, or are helping the poor and needy and
oppressed?
Anyway, we have a period of seven years which were spoken of
by many the forefathers of the Christian faith who with one voice predict a
time of trouble, a time of Antichrist before the second coming of the Lord.
Apostle Paul said the falling away from the faith would come first before the
man of sin be revealed. We have seen a falling away from the faith in our life
time. From the time of Christ Christianity spread into Europe. Christian Europe
became the beacon of science and intellectual thinking as the light of God
enlightened the hearts of men and resulted in scientific inventions and
improvements in living. But now we see a great falling away.
We see today that godless doctrines of men have come in. The
doctrines are actually spiritual entities, or doctrines of devils as Apostle
Paul calls them. Such doctrines that deny God, like evolution, naturalism,
humanism, atheism are embraced by much of the modern “advanced” world, where everything
but the God of the Bible is allowed. Everything but a godly Biblical framework
or worldview or mindset is allowed. God is mocked and we accept abortion and
kill our unborn children. In Jeremiah we read, “Also in thy skirts is found the
blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search,
but upon all these.”
We brag about the fact that we are pro-choice or pro-rainbow. Our minds have
already been seared with a hot iron of all these doctrines of devils so that our
conscience doesn’t even work properly.
We’ve accepted these demonic doctrines as truth and have
denied and forsaken the faith. God as a result has allowed the present plague
and we are having to stop, look, and listen. He’s trying to talk with us. We should
stop and put off the television. Allan Watt from Scotland said that the
television was the best scientific indoctrination device ever invented because
it has changed the culture of nations, not just one nation. Why do you think it
became mandatory that everyone have access to a television? Because the
government is so kind? Do you really believe that? Why do you think India and China
have been under the same program? It is because your opinions are formed by
what you see and hear. Don’t watch television. You can’t even watch a movie
unless you do it critically.
We need to get out our Bibles, get on our knees, get
desparate in prayer, pray with our family, ask God to show us what’s about to
happen, and what we should do to be prepared for it. Ask God to open up our
eyes. As we read His word, we should try to obey every little bit that speaks
to our heart. And it will speak to our heart if we read it. Then we can take
one thing and try to put it into practice. Here is says I should forgive others,
as I myself want to be forgiven. Now who do I need to forgive in my life? Who
am I holding a grudge against? Who am I feeling bitter towards, who has done
something to me that I don’t feel good about?
I need to forgive them. We can start with forgiveness and try to obey
that and try to make things right with other people in our family, or at our
work place. It doesn’t mean we have to accept what they have done as right or that
they were right in what they did. It means that I have to try to get rid of the
grudge I am feeling in my heart towards
them and put it up to the Lord. That’s what I can do to get my mind illuminated
by starting to obey the word of God.
Start acknowledging that there is a God. If we just start to
acknowledge Him, it will please Him. You can keep holding on to your atheistic,
ignostic, naturalistic, world view, but it’s just rubbish if you really think
about it. I’m not telling you that you have to go back to church or be
religious. But I’m just saying that it’s irrational to say and think that everything we see and
hear and feel, that it just all came from nothing. That it has no purpose or
reason and we are just here on a cosmic ball that’s just going to burn up. Yes,
it’s going to burn up one day, but God is going to resurface the face of the
earth. He is going to come and dwell with man for a thousand years on planet
earth. Then He will make a new heaven and a new earth.
As I was walking along the beach a man coming toward me sneezed
and so I yelled at him, “Don’t pass me any of that vírus!” He responded, “Don’t
worry.” He was about 10 meters in front of me, walking towards me. His accent
seemed more Spanish or Italian than Portuguese. We both laughed and he said, "Have a good day." I responded with, "Okay, you, too." It was a bit of comic relief from the quarentine situation. As we bid good day I remembered Louie Armstrong’s song and him singing, "People shaking hands, saying 'How do you do?' But they're really saying, 'I love you.'" In just that short moment I felt I had connected with the stranger.
I'm reminded of what my son said, "Dad, don’t forget you need to give people some
hope. Don’t just put all the horrible stuff in so they aren’t left without
hope." Like Paul wrote, “We have the hope of the gospel." And the gospel is our hope. But what is the gospel but the fact of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Our hope is actually eterenal life. Many of the early Christians and the men of God throughout the Old and New
Testament, and past the time of the New Testament, died as martyers for their
faith. So our hope is not here. Our hope is that Christ has raised from the
dead and through Him we have eternal life. Our hope is salvation from death and eternal life with God. Both Job in the oldest book in the Bible, and in the psalms of David we see they had hope of life beyond the grave. That’s our hope. That’s what we should keep as the focal point in
our life. I am going to obey God and live for Him and God is going to bless me
and reward me. He will reward me both here and here after. That's my hope and I have that hope because I am not trusting in my own righteousness, but in the righteousness of the One who rose from the dead!
The early Christians didn’t pick up arms and die in battle
to gain eternal life and kill their enemies. Maybe some of them thought that
was the way they should walk, with the Crusades. The false Church had sent them on
these false ungodly missions. But the true believers didn’t take up arms. The
true believers died and had their heads cut off. They died as martyers, because
they weren’t willing to bow down to the gods of the Romans. Justin Martyer and six of his students got their head cut off because they refused to worship the Roman gods. They had another
God, an invisible God. The Romans considered them atheists because they didn’t
believe in the Roman gods. They didn’t like the Christians because of their
strange different faith even though they knew that the Christians had love. It
was during the times of the plagues that Rome experienced in the 2nd and 3rd
century that the Christians that stayed in Rome won the Romans to Christ. By the love that they showed in ministering
unto the Romans during the time of the various plagues was what converted the Romans. The
Christians were willing to sacrífice their own lives, if need be, in order to help
others. That’s Christianity.
Please, have hope. Don’t have fear. But realize that our
hope is not necessarily here on earth. We have an eternal hope that we shall
live with Him in heavenly places forever. In fact we are going to live here on
earth again with God who will come down and dwell with men. He’s going to bring
us back to this earth and later make a new heaven and a new earth. Ultimately,
God is our hope. Our hope is build on Jesus’s raising from the dead. That’s
where our hope is. Because He lives, we will live also. Because He suffered and died, we may very
well suffer and die for His name sake in a like manner. He said, if they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. I can’t give you much hope for
right now. I can give you hope that God is going to be with you throughout
whatever happens to you, because the Christians were able to go to their death
in faith. They could raise their hands praising God inspite of the fact that
they were in the fire of affliction. They turned their screams into songs of
praise. God gave them the grace to die bravely.
You may think, “I don’t have the grace for that, Dennis. Well,
you don’t have to have the grace for it right now, because you’re not dying right
now. But when the time comes, God will give you the grace. Like the story of
Corrie Ten Boom. She confessed to her father that she was afraid that she
wouldn’t be able to stay faithful to Christ under Nazi persecution. The Nazi’s
were persecuting the Jews and any one who would help them or the underground resistance
movement. Corrie’s family was helping both.
Corrie said, “Dad, I don’t have faith for persecution. I wouldn’t be
able to stand it and I will deny my faith. I don’t have faith for persecution.”
Her father responded, “Corrie, when do I give you the money for the train to
Amsterdam. Do I give it to you a year, or a month, or a week in advance?” “No,
Dad, you give it to me when we get to the train station, when it’s time to buy
my ticket.” Her father answered, “That’s the same with God. You’re not facing
the persecution now, so He hasn’t given you the grace. But the time will come
when, if it is your time to face the persecution, He will give you the grace.”
You might be fearful and frightened like Corrie was, but don't be. If the
time comes that you need to stand up for the truth, that you need to stand up
for Jesus, don't worry. God will annoint you with His Holy Spirit and help you to be that witness. Just try
to stay close to God today. Try to stay faithful today. Spend more time
reading God’s word today. Spend more time in prayer today. God promises to be with
you and help you and keep you both today and tomorrow. That’s
where our hope is. Our hope is in God’s word. Our hope is in His promises. No matter what
happens here, we can still rest assured
that our hope is in heaven and in heavenly places. “My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but truly rest on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other
ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.” Keep your hope on
the solid rock of God’s word. Read it. Memorize it. Use it to fight the good
fight of faith, to fight the mental battles, to fight the lies of the Wicked One that attack your mind. Use God’s word as an attacking weapon. It’s the
sword of the spirit which can help you fight the firery darts of the enemy. Jesus
used it to rebuke the devil and we need to use it too.
