Reading the signs of the times part 1.
We are living in extraordinary times
.All too often when we watch events unfold in the world we are confronted with events of such magnitude that we can wonder precisely what disaster or calamity is going to unfold next.
It is a remarkable fact often overlooked that at least one quarter of all of the scriptures are predictive prophecy.
In other words God alone knows the future and often describes the future to us where we need to know things that lie ahead,in order that we may be thoroughly equipped to serve him and have prepared ourselves for what lies ahead.
Many Christians are worn down by life and by the continued barrage of disasters that are occurring which can sometimes only serve to anesthetize them to being able to discern what is going on in the world.
There is a passage of scripture that I have always loved in 1 chronicles 12 20 21 which says speaking of the tribe of Issachar that "the children of Issachar who had understanding of the times,to know what Israel ought to do"
This old testament tribe of Israel not only had discernment in their times and of their times but knew what God required of them to do.
They knew what their response in the midst of those times ought to be.
This is a very apt description of what we should be like as Christians, not as those who are going about wringing their hands saying what in the world is going on, which is incidentally what a lot of people in the world themselves are saying at this moment,but we should rather be as those that know what God is saying and respond accordingly.
The bible has spoken of the days in which we are alive and mapped out for us precisely where we are going.
In Matthews gospel chapter 24 the disciples are commenting on the architectural beauty of the temple and Jesus startles them with his words that follow.
He says to his disciples in verse 2 "Do you not see all these things?Assuredly,I say to you,not one stone shall be left here upon another,that shall not be thrown down."
Later we are told the disciples come to Jesus as he is sitting on the mount of olives looking out over Jerusalem and they ask him when this destruction of the temple will occur.
"Tell us,when will these things be?And what will be the sign of your coming,and of the end of the age?"
So we see that there are two distinct lines of thought here firstly when will the temple be destroyed,and secondly what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of this age?
Jesus answered both questions describing exactly what to look out for before the destruction of the temple which happened exactly almost 40 years later, and then proceeds to devote the rest of this passage to describing precisely what the signs would be just prior to his coming.
I believe that as we look at some of these we can never doubt that we are alive in that very generation.
The first answer that Jesus gives to his disciples of when will the temple be destroyed is in Luke's account of this same passage in Luke 21 20 22
"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,then know that its desolation is near.
"Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart,and let not those who are in the country enter her."
This was precisely fulfilled in 70 ad when the roman general Vespasian surrounded Jerusalem and laid siege to it,intent upon its destruction.
Early into the siege however he was abruptly called back to Rome by the senate as he was chosen to be the next emperor.
The siege was lifted and the Roman armies withdrew.
Those Christians however that remembered the words of Jesus recalled that he had said "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies know that its destruction is near.Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are in the midst of her depart..."
And that is precisely what the Christians living in Jerusalem did who believed Jesus words they departed and withdrew to a town called pella which was on the east side of the Jordan.
Vespasian's successor Titus reformed the siege and eventually Jerusalem fell.
During that war over 2 million Jews were slaughtered and a further one million sold into captivity and Jerusalem was so completely destroyed that literally not one single stone of the temple remained upon another.
It is important for us to acknowledge that God always means what he says and the He says exactly what he means.
The Christians who believed Jesus words and acted accordingly saved their lives those Jews living in Jerusalem who did not believe were summarily slaughtered.
Likewise for us today when we see unambiguously the words of Jesus prophecy coming to pass we need to take these things to heart and to act accordingly.
In this first blog I want to simply touch upon the initial signs that Jesus outlines for us to look out for and look at the first of these.
In subsequent posts I would like to consider some of the other signs and what our response needs to be.
In Matthews gospel chapter 24 and verse 4 following we read "And Jesus answered and said to them;
"Take heed that no one deceives you."For many will come in my name saying,"I am the Christ,and will deceive many.
"And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars.See that you are not troubled;for all these things must come to pass,but the end is not yet.
"For nation will rise against nation,and kingdom against kingdom.And there will be famines,pestilences,and earthquakes in various places.
"And these are the beginning of sorrows.
vs 12 "And because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold .
"But he who endures to the end will be saved.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
Jesus refers to the signs of his coming and a sign is just that something that points to and announces the approach of something else.
If we were driving along a stretch of road and passed by a sign announcing a sudden dangerous bend in the road, we may if we were distracted or careless have missed the first sign.
However the sign would be repeated and so if we repeatedly missed the signs and approached the curve in the road too fast it would be because we ignored the signs.
The signs were not placed by the roadside to draw attention to themselves, but instead they were placed there to call attention to the reality of something that the driver is about to encounter further along the road.
Likewise the signs of the end of this age and the second coming of the Lord are not meant to draw peoples attention to themselves but are given by God to point to an impending event the coming of the Lord.
Jesus called the people of his day hypocrites because they had learned to accurately predict the patterns of the weather but could not discern the signs of the times.(Luke 12 56)
The Lord Jesus did not have particularly good things to say concerning hypocrites so we do not want to be in their company.
Today we have spent millions of pounds on satellites that can very accurately predict for us the weather patterns for several days, but sadly all to often even Christians are living in ignorance of the signs of the times.
Some Christians I am sure feel slightly confused about the array of various "end time teachings"that are circulating about the body of Christ, many of them conflicting in their assertions.
However this should not deter us from our responsibility to study what Jesus said concerning these things, or what other of the new testament writers said.
When we break down the words of Jesus concerning these events then we discover that it is remarkably clear and simple to understand.
For Jesus did not teach his disciples these things to confuse them but to equip them and us for what I believe is not about to occur on this earth.

It is important to see that whilst the increase of natural disasters such as earthquakes,famines and pestilences are foretold that is not the number one sign that we are living in the generation before the coming of the Lord.
The number one sign which we will see before the Lord returns is rather that of people being deceived or of deception.
And Jesus answered and said to them take heed;
"Take heed that no one deceives you.
"For many will come in my name saying,"I am the Christ", and will deceive many".
The emergence of false messiahs and false Christs is not going to happen it has already happened throughout the history of the last two thousand years.
One Jewish enclyopedia lists over 40 false Christs or Messiahs which have arisen and come to the Jewish people to mislead them.
However what is also implied from this warning is that there will be an increase in deception in general and Christians need to be rooted in the truth of who Jesus is and of what he has done for them as never before.
The Apostle Paul says the same thing when he gazes prophetically into the future in 2 Tim 4 and states,
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.Convince,rebuke,exhort,with all long suffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,but according to their own desires,because they have itching ears,they will heap up for themselves teachers;and they will turn their ears away from the truth,and be turned aside to fables.
Paul predicts an hour of human history when there will be a multiplication of teachers who give to people what "their itching ears want to hear"
Or in other words what their flesh wants to be flattered with.
Truth often stings it always challenges and it always builds us up in faith hope and agape love.
Truth always points us to Jesus and his death upon the cross.
It builds us up in the knowledge of our inheritance in Christ Jesus, and gives light on His inheritance in us.
It establishes and strengthens us, humbles and equips us, and always it brings us into a closer and more vital walk with Christ.
Today many of the foundational truths of the gospel are being denied even by those who call themselves believers.
Truths like the atonement and the new birth the authority of the scriptures and the reality of hell are all under attack.
And this attack is often coming from surprising quarters.
In addition there are today a rising army of "wellness" gurus and self help teachers who spout doctrines extolling the virtues of self discovery and maximising the potential of your self, but say nothing of Christs death burial and resurrection and the relationship of that to all of human kind.
They do not teach the reality that all of human kind irrespective of race colour culture or creed is born into one of two families and one of two natures Adams or Christs, Jesus or the devils life or death.
Political correctness and its counterpart within the church religious correctness have silenced much of the church whilst condemning multiplied millions of souls to hell.
If ever a generation needed to know and to love the truth it is ours.
But this rising tide of deceivers and deception is not something which we are to fear as Christians.
The Bible never points to fear as the answer to deception, infact if we fear a thing long enough we are in far greater danger of being vulnerable to it.
Job said that "what I have greatly feared has come upon me"
Rather it is our vigilance and love for the truth that will save us,not our fearing of deception of any kind.
Paul when he is writing to the Philippian church prays for them that
"Your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all discernment,that you may approve and discern the things that are excellent,that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ."
In other words it was their growth in walking in love that sharpened their spiritual discernment, not their succumbing to a spirit of fear.
Some misguided Christians see it as a God given calling to warn everybody else of the dangers of this deception or that,whilst failing to see that they are themselves focusing on the darkness that they are wishing to warn others away from.
And such preaching almost always only sows increasing fear into the lives of those who are listening.
I remember being told of the process that the US Treasury uses when it is training its bank tellers to recognize counterfeit currency.
To begin with they allow them no exposure to any counterfeit notes, and train them to handle and become completely familiar with the genuine currency.
Only after some time will they introduce a false note here or there and the results are always the same.
The tellers always report "feeling strange" when handling the counterfeit notes, even when there may be no discernable difference between the real and the false.
The hundreds of hours which they have spent working with the true notes have made them instinctively sensitive to discern when they encounter a false.
This is precisely how we should be when knowing and discerning truth from falsehood.
Our propensity to know truth from falsehood should be honed from the amount of time we have spent listening to and loving the truth.
Paul talks in 1 thess about those whom God allows to be subject to delusion becuse he says they would not "receive a love of the truth"
We are kept safe by our love for the truth not by our fear or focus upon the darkness.
Heart motive is so important in the christian life, we may emphatically defend the truth whilst all the time operating out of a motive of anger in wanting to correct those who are being mislead.
Our motive however can only ever be one of love, and we should seek to win others by exhibing a spirit of humility not contention.
But if our desire to help others is based upon our desire to focus upon the truth not upon the lie or the falsehood,and if our driving motive is our love for God and our love of his truth then we will be kept by God in his truth and have no fear of going astray.
Gods word declares that he has not given to us a spirit of fear but one of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Let us believe that and thank God for that and let us walk in the light of that day by day.