Pandemic Preaching - The End? Not Yet, But Coming

"And when you hear of wars and revolutions, don’t panic. For these things must happen first, but the end will not follow immediately.”

Then he told them, “Peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, there will be great earthquakes, there will be epidemics and famines in various places, and there will be fearful sights and great signs from Heaven." Luke 21:9-11


Birth Pains

Jesus said that the end of the age will come and it can be likened to an expectant mother having birth pains.

We know when a woman conceives, and when her pregnancy progresses to full term then she will eventually deliver a baby after "approximately" nine months.

The same can be said of the end of this age. Certain birth pains will mark it's impending arrival. (Even scientists, Greta Thunberg and movie script writers have put an expiration date on planet earth).

With an expectant mother, we can approximate when the baby will come but we cannot tell the precise minute.

Signs

Some of the signs that Jesus mentioned about the eventual end of the age were:

1. Wars, Rumors of War
- Crimea, Middle East, ISIS
- China, North Korea

2. People vs Other People
- Race wars, Religious wars, Gender Wars
- Partisan Politics
- Rich vs Poor, Intellectuals vs Airheads, Karens vs Non-Karens

3. Nation Against Nation

4. Great Earthquakes

5. Epidemics
- AIDS, Avian flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika
- Covid 19

6. Famines
- Sudan, Somalia, Yemen
- North Korea

7. Signs in the Heavenlies
- Climate Change
- Weird/Unpredictable Weather
- Sights, Sounds, Falling Objects

Don't Panic Yet

But don’t you panic just yet.

These will all have to happen, the world is pregnant (with destruction) and like in a pregnancy, certain things will happen during the first trimester, then others in the second and followed by those that has to happen on the last trimester.

These things must all happen, but when we do see them remember the end will not come just yet.

Has To Happen

So when is the delivery date?

When everything that has to happen has taken place then everyone will be given the opportunity to hear the gospel.

The gospel has to be shared to all the world, then the end will come.

Pandemic

Now this we had a jump start on. For during the last six months when the whole world was in lock down, things fell into place resulting in the gospel becoming digital. It became less ritualistic, less rigid, less traditional.

It went online, mobile, virtual. It's on social media.

If you are reading this, then you know this is true.

Now the unconnected parts of the world still need to be reached some other way. And that may still be a way off.

So we now know all the signs. No time to panic but certainly it is a time to prepare, be ready and to brace ourselves.

We could very well be on the third trimester and the "birth pains" will start to intensify

"Yeshua replied: “Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you don’t become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come.

For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; all this is but the beginning of the ‘birth-pains.’

At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, many false prophets will appear and fool many people; and many people’s love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah.

But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. And this Good News about the Kingdom will be announced throughout the whole world as a witness to all the Goyim. It is then that the end will come."

Matthew 24:4-14 (Complete Jewish Bible)


Pandemic Preaching Series