7
And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for
such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8 For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows.
The
celebrated expert on War from the early nineteenth century, Von Clausewitz, is
reported to have said that war is the attempt to compel an enemy to do one’s
will. I have read that in the last 4,000 years there have only been 300 without
war and the person jokingly said that those 300 years must have been needed to
reload. Since 1945, when the U.N. was created to end global conflict there have
been nearly 200 wars, civil wars, genocides, terrorism, humanitarian
interventions, inter-ethnic wars, and even drug wars. The 20th century was the
bloodiest century in history and the 14th century ran a close second. One
hundred million people were murdered in war, millions were displaced from their
homes, and countless numbers suffered horribly in the 20th. Plague alone killed
35 million in Europe in the 14th century while nearly 20 million died of the
Spanish flu alone in the early 20th.
Every
week my email inbox receives notifications of earthquakes from the USGS. There
are and have been earthquakes around the world, some in history killing
hundreds of thousands of people as in Lisbon, Portugal in the 1700’s and in
China in the 1500’s.
Historical
famines, such as the one in the Deccan Plateau of India in the late 1800’s due
to British Imperial policy (see Mike Davis' Late Victorian Holocausts:
El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World) and the one recently in
Ethiopia, have killed millions of people. (see 1 Timothy 6:10 for the reason.)
These
are not new things. They are the nature and condition of humanity. Books
like Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern
Civilization by David Keys shows how the ancient world was destroyed
by climate change, famine, and plague beginning in the early 500’s. Books like
James Reston, Jr.’s The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000
AD show that the European world feared that the end was near as the
first millennium was coming to an end and Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims seemed
poised to tear their world apart.
Satan
is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4.) It is under his operative
control. Mankind is essentially wicked. Even born-again Christians can be so
consumed by the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes
(1 John 2:16) that they are for the most part useless to God if they are truly
born-again.
Jesus
tells you that this is only the beginning. What is coming after the church is
removed will make World War II look like a skirmish. We act foolishly when we
look at the conditions we see around us and say, well, this must be the end.
You can’t even imagine what the end will be like. Read Revelation. Jesus is
about to say that if those days weren’t shortened “no flesh should be saved.”
The
time of God’s wrath is coming on the earth that will be unlike anything since
the Great Flood of Noah that wiped out all humanity save eight people.
9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall
deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye
shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against
them. 10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought
beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the
Holy Ghost. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death,
and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and
shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all
men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved.
Read Matthew 24:9-14. Jesus warns his Jewish disciples of
what they are going to come up against both in the immediate time to come and
in the future. They will be hauled before religious councils, beaten in the
synagogues, and brought forcibly before national leaders and kings for His
sake.
As the context can clearly also be applied to the
Tribulation to come based on previous statements we can surmise that these
warnings would extend to the 144,000 Jews in the Tribulation, “the servants of
our God.”(Revelation 7:3). Clearly, many Christians have suffered under these
conditions, first under the hand of the Jews, then the Romans, then the Roman
Catholic and Greek Orthodox state-churches at Rome and Constantinople, under
the Arab-Islamic invasions and conquests, under the Protestant state-churches
of Europe, and even now in parts of the world under Islam.
Peter later relays this message;
1 Peter 4:12 ¶ Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on
their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But
let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a
busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of
God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not
the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let
them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Jesus says that the gospel will be preached to every
nation. Are the 144,000 Jewish servants of God evangelists in the Tribulation?
Remember how Jesus sent out His disciples to the Jews? Read Matthew
10:1-42. In the verses in Matthew Jesus also tells them not to think
about what to say but that the Holy Spirit will give them what they should
speak. The direction taken here is that these Tribulation verses in Mark and
Matthew can be linked to the Jewish servants of God in Revelation.
Family members will betray them and they will be roundly
hated by all men because of Jesus Christ’s name. Then comes that curious verse
that says that he that endures to the end shall be saved. Revelation repeats in
2:11, 26; 3:5; and 21:7 “he that overcometh” which is defined in
1 John 5:5.
My point is that these verses must have a double
application as Jesus warns His disciples of what they will have to face and
warns us of what is coming on the earth at the end.
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