Things To Come

Gò0dNews for Everyone

Things To Come

by Eddie Turner

In the Bible, we can read about various activities and events that signal the nearness of the day of redemption, also known as the rapture. Some of these events, however, represent trends that cannot be tied to a clear-cut date or time period. The wars, famines, and earthquakes that Jesus spoke of, for example, have been on the rise for so long that it’s tough to know which part of the upward slope we’re currently sitting on. Thankfully, the Bible does not leave us hanging.

In order to determine whether a prophecy has been fulfilled, we need only examine our history. I mean, it

should be easy to find out if something’s already happened, right? We just need the specifics of one of these prophetic events. In the Book of Isaiah, we’re given several of them; each one is said to occur in the “latter days.”

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins…In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation” (Isaiah 17:1, 9). In these verses, we are told not only of Damascus’ imminent demise but also who’ll be responsible for its destruction. If you’re into world history, you likely know that Damascus has been deemed the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. Today, whichever city is second in line for this title has great potential to steal this record as Damascus was destroyed by Israel in 2013. Isaiah goes on to tell of events concerning Egypt in the latter days.

“‘I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom…I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 19:2, 4). The year 2012 saw Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, turn his back on the values he touted to the Egyptian people during his campaign. Once elected, Morsi granted himself absolute power that allowed his Muslim Brotherhood to rewrite the Egyptian constitution according to Islamic law. When this occurred, a deadly civil war broke out between Egyptians who supported Morsi and those who opposed him. If you watched this event unfold on the news, you might recall segments that were shown to inform the world of Egypt’s environmental and economic conditions. The news correspondent I watched might as well have been reading directly from the Bible. These are just a few examples of end times prophecies that describe current events. More prophecies concerning events that occurred over the last 15 years can be found in the Books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Numbers. As tough as it is to imagine that the same prophets who foretold the birth of Jesus also spoke of events that would occur in the 2010s, the proof is “in the pudding,” as they say. God said each event would occur in relative proximity to the other as signals that the end is near, and they did. He also stressed the importance that we recognize them when they happen.

Realizing just how close we are to the day of our redemption should not be what prompts us to jumpstart a Bible study and scramble hastily toward a relationship with God. What you learned here may be new and exciting, but our motive to do these things has been present since before the earth began. If anything, these signs should make our already-pounding hearts beat a little faster in anticipation of our Lord Jesus Christ.