In Bible Byte 1 we covered a little about the deception of our time. Very little. There are so many different kinds of deceit I could never cover them all.
We will move on to verses 6 - 8 of Matthew 24. (Jesus speaking to his disciples continues to answer their questions about the end of the world and His second coming.)
6) You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. (emphasis added)
Jesus lets us know that there will be wars and rumors of wars. We have seen this before and continue to see it now. Verse 7 was used in the headlines during WWll.
And there have been famines and earthquakes but the key is verse 8.
Birth pains.
When a woman goes into labor, the pains are expected to get stronger and closer together.
This is what will happen with wars, famines, and earthquakes. They will happen more often and with greater strength. There were 20 million who died in WWl, 75 million died in WWll and the number that The Bible tells us will perish in WWlll is staggering: 2.558 Billion, 1/3 of the earth's population.
These “birth pains” are announcing that something is about to happen. We learn more about what is going to happen in verses 9-14.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
It will be a challenging time for all true Christians. You will be hated, persecuted betrayed, and killed.
But isn’t that what happened to Jesus?
Do we really want to be like Jesus? The test is coming. To stand strong we must be born again (John 3:3-7 and Acts 2:38). We must fast and pray. Study your Bible and share it. Spend time with Jesus renewing his Spirit within us day by day. Keep the Spirit flowing. You will be tested. If you stand firm (verse 13) and hold to the TRUTH in faith and love, a crown awaits, and eternal life.
The time to be ready is now.