|
HOUSMAIL HM041
28
September 1999 SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE HOUSMAIL
No 40 ended with a promise to say a little more about whether Jesus actually prophesied
that earthquakes would be one of the major signs of his coming! If we
read the Olivet Prophecy carefully, we will easily discover that Jesus didn't
say anything at all, about INCREASE in either frequency or
magnitude of earthquakes! When
he did mention earthquakes (along with wars, and famine, and pestilence) it was
to say clearly that these things are NOT SIGNS of the end of the age! "The end is NOT YET ....all this is but the
beginning of the birth pains". (Matthew 24:7-8) and "This must first
take place, but the end will NOT BE AT ONCE." (Luke 21:9) Recorded
history tells us that from earliest times, those things have always been a part
of human experience. And just as Jesus predicted, they have continued unabated
for nearly 2000 years since the Olivet Prophecy, with the clock still running! In the
last days, it seems likely that it could be things like that which SCOFFERS will
use to say "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers
fell asleep, all things have continued as they were since the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:4) Of
course the scoffers are wrong! But there is no need for us to fuel the fires by
quoting Jesus incorrectly. To recognise
the REAL SIGN which Jesus gave, the important thing to notice is that he told
Peter, James, John, and Andrew, that they would all be dead long before the end
of the age! (Matthew 24:9) There was ONLY ONE SIGN amongst all the other things that Jesus
said, that has any relevance for them, or for the countless other believers who
also sleep with them in the dust of the earth. For
Peter, James, John, and Andrew, THE SIGN OF THE END OF THE AGE is in Matthew 24:31. (It is also mentioned
in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16) Some
of us are now old enough to believe that it is MOST LIKELY that we also will be
dead before Jesus returns. We will EXPERIENCE the sign that Jesus is back, and
the end of the age has arrived, and the Age To Come is beginning, when we hear
the trumpet which wakes us from the dead! And those who remain alive at that time,
will also experience it when they see people alive again, who they know were dead! WHEN
will it be? The Bible doesn't have an answer for that question!
All we do have is the statement contained in the last words Jesus spoke to his
disciples, just before he was taken up to heaven. "IT
IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES AND THE SEASONS WHICH THE FATHER HAS
FIXED BY HIS OWN AUTHORITY." (Acts 1:7) "Watch therefore,
for you know neither the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:13) Allon |