What Are the Signs? - Pt 5

 

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1–6 ESV).

 

The fourth sign of the End of the Age will be the persistent denial of the crises of our world. When he spoke of the Second Coming, the apostle Paul stated, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3). Perhaps the most insidious and subtle of denials is when “peace and safety” are yearned for, when ease and comfort are cherished, at the expense of truth. This becomes a time when Christ’s return becomes an annoyance, an avoidance, or even regarded as a pipe dream. People don’t want to hear about it because they like the way things are; they don’t want things to change.

 

Perhaps one of the best examples took place during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Practically overnight, the entire world was impacted; our way of life shifted dramatically. Many students of Bible prophecy identified it as a sign of the end, one of the “pestilences” (cf. Matthew 24:7). However, the greatest concerns were financial loss from businesses. Many people couldn’t wait until their favorite stores and restaurants could reopen and their routines returned to “normal.” People became much more concerned with getting back to their creature comforts rather than responding to the alarm being sounded. In so doing, they make the Second Coming but a byword. The devil has a thousand ways to distract us with the humdrum of everyday life.

 

We are facing a dramatic shift in the “peace” of the world. Regardless of how many times it is said by others, we are not living in peaceful times. These are times when the security of the past is being swept away in favor of control at a high level in our world. This is such a time when it feels as if we have been struck by calamity and uncertainty. Be certain of this… Jesus is coming! Pray that it is soon. Be vigilant and ready!