{"id":2087,"date":"2024-04-26T11:37:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T16:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/truthmission\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2024-05-01T13:03:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:03:38","slug":"what-sign-what-the-bible-says-about-the-end-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/truthmission\/2024\/04\/what-sign-what-the-bible-says-about-the-end-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What Sign? (What the Bible Says about the End: Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple area, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, <\/em>\u201cTell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be when all these things are about to come to an end?<\/em>\u201d Mark 13:3-4 (NABRE)<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This scene immediately follows Jesus\u2019 public prediction concerning the destruction of the temple. Jesus\u2019 inner circle is trying to get the inside scoop on what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all kind of like that, aren\u2019t we? We like to be the first ones to know. Sometimes it\u2019s just for the knowledge itself. Sometimes it\u2019s for the attention we get in the short term. Or it might be about having the reputation for being a source of reliable information.<\/p>\n
But there is a warning that comes along with this thirst for knowledge. The sense of pride<\/a> that comes from being first to know can overwhelm the significance of the knowledge itself. To avoid succumbing to that, check your motivation for obtaining the knowledge in the first place. Is it to help others, to help yourself, or just to be first?<\/p>\n
Fake News<\/strong><\/h3>\n*** ** ***\u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t need to remind anybody in this age of disinformation how much garbage there is on the interwebs masquerading as knowledge. Any post or clickbait that triggers somebody\u2019s offense mechanism<\/a> has the potential to go viral before a single fact has been checked. And now, social media itself, under the guise of \u201cfact checking,\u201d is censoring voices that dissent with its political agenda, making even the real news look like fake news.<\/p>\n But our urge to be able to say, \u201cYou heard it here first\u201d is so strong that people have gone so far as to create new social media networks, just so they can have an outlet to forward the latest \u201cbreaking news\u201d without fear of recrimination by the tech lords. So, under the guise of free speech, all we have done is relocated and refined our echo chamber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another thing to be wary of with a thirst for knowledge is that sometimes when you ask questions, you might get more than you bargained for with the answer. Consider how Jesus responded in Mark 13:5-31\u00a0 to the question posed by His inner circle at the top of this post.<\/p>\n He begins with a warning. \u201cWatch out that no one deceives you.\u201d Fake news was a thing even 2000 years ago. Jesus knows the hearts of His disciples, so He knows their motivation for asking. Although we can\u2019t really tell from the context, Jesus\u2019 warning is useful regardless. He wants them to have correct information from the Source, both for their own knowledge and to share with others who might ask.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Getting the Scoop<\/strong><\/h3>\n***** ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** There is also a sort of secondhand knowledge that people thirst for. If you aren\u2019t in the \u201cyou heard it here first\u201d club, then maybe at least you can be the first to report a sign predicted by those who were. Jesus knows that even though He is telling his inner circle directly about the signs of the end, since these signs will be unprecedented, they could easily be misinterpreted.<\/p>\n ** What I mean is that our individual perceptions\u00a0 color our worldview. When we see a war, a certain political alliance or a natural or humanitarian disaster, we might be tempted to point and say, \u201cSee? The end is near!\u201d But Jesus specifically said this 2000 years ago:<\/p>\n ** *****\u00a0<\/p>\n " When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don<\/em>\u2019t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn\u2019t the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end. <\/em>Mark 13:7-8 (CEB)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n To a woman going through childbirth for the first time, labor pains are an unprecedented calamity. There is no pain quite like it (so the ladies tell me). But the labor pains themselves are not the main event. They are the prelude to a birth.<\/p>\n Likewise, these signs of worldwide calamities, which have been going on throughout the ages, are not the main event themselves. It might be accurate to call them \u201cthe beginning of The End,\u201d but since we don\u2019t know when The End will be, we also have no idea how long the Beginning of The End will be. It seems kind of pointless to even try to measure such a thing as it is happening. Perhaps this is also a symptom of our wanting either to know more or to at least make sense of the knowledge we have.<\/p>\n
Day 4 of crusade in Namayingo, Uganda. December 2022. (Mugobe Sedrick\/Truth Mission Uganda)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n***** ** *****\u00a0<\/p>\n Be on your guard!<\/h2>\n******* ** *******\u00a0<\/p>\n " Be on your guard! You will be taken to courts and beaten with whips in their synagogues. And because of me, you will have to stand before rulers and kings to tell about your faith. But before the end comes, the good news must be preached to all nations.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Mark 13:9-10 (CEV)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In verse 9, Jesus gives another warning, this one more personal. \u201cBe on your guard!\u201d\u00a0 He then tells His inner circle of the personal persecutions they will face in His name, and the purposes thereof.<\/p>\n But He is not warning them to be on guard against their persecutors. He is warning them against looking for big-picture signs of The End. This practice would take their focus from their individual missions. They need to be ready to witness to the authorities before whom they will be brought. They will need to remember the Great Commission that Jesus will give them to preach the Gospel to all nations. Most of all, they need to prepare their spirits to receive wisdom and comfort from the Holy Spirit amid their persecution. It is their faith that will see them through what is coming, not their ability to read the signs of the times.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This warning is for us as well.<\/h3>\n********* ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Most of us Americans have not faced the danger of arrest or public beatings for professing our faith, but this does happen daily in many areas of the world. I doubt that many of the persecuted people find themselves in that situation for interpreting the signs of the times. They are jailed, tortured, and martyred for the Name of Jesus.<\/p>\n ** But since, as Americans we have not previously faced these troubles, we tend to get spiritually lazy. We lose our sense of urgency about preaching the gospel and instead turn our attentions to the news, fake\u00a0 or otherwise, about the state of our nation. We look at the spreading degeneracy of our culture, in our media, our schools, our government, etc., and say something religious sounding like, \u201cCome Lord Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 But what are we doing to prepare for that coming?<\/p>\n ** More importantly, what are we saying or doing to get the world ready?<\/p>\n ** *********\u00a0<\/p>\n Until the Whole World Hears<\/strong><\/h3>\n*********** ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** In verse 10, Jesus says that the Gospel must first be preached to all nations before The End comes. I have often wondered if that\u2019s why it has been 2000 years and we\u2019re still waiting? I can\u2019t know this for certain, but it seems to make sense for this reason. (I\u2019m going to lose some of the Calvinists on this one.)<\/p>\n ** God offers salvation from Sin and Death as a free gift. The way to receive this gift is to believe that Jesus is who the Bible says He is, did what the Bible says He did, and to trust and rely completely on that Truth, following Christ in obedience. In other words, a person must exercise a conscious and deliberate act of the will.<\/p>\n ** ***********But a choice cannot be made where there is no awareness of the choice that needs to be made. This is what the preaching is for:<\/p>\n " \u00a0<\/p>\n For\u00a0everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?<\/em> As it is written, \u201cHow timely\u00a0is the arrival\u00a0of those who proclaim the good news.\u201d\u00a0But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, \u201cLord, who has believed our report?\u201d\u00a0Consequently, faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word\u00a0of Christ.\u00a0<\/em>Romans 10:13-17 (NET)<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For this reason, I do not believe that anyone who has never heard of Jesus could be condemned for not choosing Him. Some theologians would disagree with me on that, but it\u2019s the story I\u2019m going with, because if God would send some lost African tribe to hell because they didn\u2019t make a decision for Christ, then all those who die in infancy would go along with them. Therefore, I call shenanigans on that theology.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Every tribe, tongue, and nation\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n************* ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** So, about those lost African tribes (or wherever they may be). I believe that Jesus hasn\u2019t come back yet because we haven\u2019t reached everyone with the Gospel yet. Whether it\u2019s because the Church has been lazy about missions, or the world\u2019s population is simply growing at a rate that the Church can\u2019t keep up with, they haven\u2019t all had a chance to make their choice yet.<\/p>\n ** Therefore, the point is to stop looking at the sky and to start looking for opportunities to share the Good News, both near and far, until the whole world hears. Because until we reach the whole world with the Gospel, it doesn\u2019t matter what ELSE is going on in the world.<\/p>\n ** *************\u00a0<\/p>\n (How do we stand firm in the Gospel during the End Times? Click the Free Newsletter Link<\/a> so that you can find out in Part 3<\/a>. Only don<\/em>\u00b4t worry about being the first to know!)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What sign will there be when all these things are about to come to an end?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5016,"featured_media":2102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1025,500],"tags":[1076,1067,1070,1064,1073,1046],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eschatology","category-evangelism","tag-defending-your-faith-with-reason-and-precision","tag-fake-news-articles","tag-misinterpret","tag-need-to-be-first-to-know-things","tag-this-is-just-the-beginning","tag-understanding-the-bible"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Sign? 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