Signs and Happenings

In April we experienced the day of the Lunar eclipse, a celestial event set in motion at the beginning of time by the hand of our Creator.

In the weeks prior I saw the ramblings of every false prophet imaginable, predicting everything from the second coming of the Lord Jesus to the end of the world.

What does the Bible say about Christ’s return? We can find this in Matthew 24: 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

We can clearly see in this Scripture passage that when the Lord returns, it will be a normal day, a common day, but also a time that the hearts of men are completely corrupt. Nowhere in the Scriptures does it teach us of any great event announcing the Lord’s arrival, not before the catching up nor before His return after the Tribulation!

Matthew 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.

This is what comes from seeking signs from the Lord himself—there will be no sign!

However, there are signs of the coming of the ”End Times”.

The Bible teaches there will be great deceivers (antichrists). There will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be natural disasters, persecution of Christians, apostasy, false prophets, depravity, and great preaching. These are the signs of the end times. Do you see any of these today? These are the signs of the coming of the end times.

What exactly are the end times? I can only attempt to explain this through my understanding of the Word, but first allow me to tell you how I understand the timeline.

As we witness the signs of the end times, the time will draw to a point where Jesus will appear in the Heavens and catch up those that are truly His (we call this the Rapture), and then is the beginning of the Tribulation (7 years of the complete free reign of Satan on this Earth). The first 3.5 years or so will be the molding of the world—a time of peace and great deception (a time of preparation by the Antichrist).

Then there will be another 3.5 years of great Evil, and the signs that precluded the tribulation will be manifest a thousandfold, even beyond the imaginations of men.

One of the men that led me to Jesus would often say, “we are not guaranteed the day nor the hour,” and we aren’t!

There will be earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, great storms, and other natural disasters. There will be wars and rumors of war.

There will be false prophets and false teachers. There will be crime and heinous things done by men. There will be famine and large scale illness, all these things we can understand.

You may ask if that is the case, then how are we to know when the Lord will return? The answer is we will not know!

What we can know is that we are not guaranteed any time at all, so we must begin our day putting on the whole armor of God and do our absolute best to live each moment of our lives serving God, presenting an image of our Lord Christ Jesus to the world, and seeking to please God in all our day!

To some of us, this seems like an impossible task—and it is difficult for sure—but are we not told that the path is hard and the gate narrow that leads to Heaven? How do we maintain such a life? It is not as difficult as you might think if you Love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.

Just like anything else we do, if we love it then it is far easier than if we did not. Of course, this can make us tired, and if we are not careful we become discouraged.

This is why prayer is so vitally important! Jesus said “come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest”. Prayer puts us in the presence of our Lord, and He will provide the rest and the strength to carry on!

We sing a hymn that goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the Light of His glory and Grace”.

This is the hymn that ran through my mind the day I realized the “New Creature”, the day I committed to dedicate my entire life to the Lord Jesus Christ. These words for this hymn ring absolute truth! Darkness does not stand in the presence of the Lord!

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple