The End of Days

For several days now, I have had this "something" inside me that I could not quite figure out what it was.  It was finally this morning that I understood the "something".  In our day of focusing on daily survival, self-gratification, and life in the now, we, or I should say, me, have lost sight of the bigger picture of our world.  As a kid and a teenager it was so cool to talk about the book of Revelation and the end times.  Though I have throughout the years thought about the end times as I looked at the world, it has been in the last several days that "something" in me has started to grow and it is related to the end times.  For the first time in a long time, I have asked myself this question, Could we be living in the End of Days?  Could the culmination of God's plan for the world be unfolding in our lifetime?  I know that it would be so great to live in a world where everything is peaceful and without worry or stress, but we need to get real and be reminded that is not how all of this ends up.  It ends in war, with God and His people winning.  We live in a war zone regardless of geography because there is a heavenly war that rages daily.  Let's get real about this.  

In case you did not notice something last week, Iran successfully sent a rocket in space with a telecommunication satellite.  The same Iran who has threatened to wipe Israel off the planet and is building nuclear capabilities.  Think through the possible implications  

I know that every generation has asked this question, and to be frank, every generation should.  The reality is though, the past is the past and the future is not here yet, and the End of Days will happen in some generation.  Since we are the only ones alive in the unfolding of God's Story, it could very well happen in our days.  Why not at least think about its potential reality and live with an awareness that makes us ready if it comes?

Friends, we live in a time that has never had so much uncertainty in the world, and we as believers should of all people be in tune with the current conditions globally.  So, I have gone back to the words of Jesus, who gave us perspective for "end of days".  Here are his thoughts in Matthew 24:36-44.

  36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Jesus said to be ready for his coming.  Are we?