If you are you getting the sense that things are coming unraveled, you are not alone. The average person is sensing an unprecedented level of insecurity about the world around us. Our daily news is filled with crime, political tensions, scandal, rioting, protests, and moral rot to the point that many have stopped listening to such negative news. Lawlessness and corruption have resulted in a spirit of concern and alarm almost all over the world. Tensions are high!
We were told about these days just before the return of Jesus.
They would be just like the “days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37). Those days are described in the Book of Genesis. It is stated in Genesis 6:11-12, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
The Bible also speaks of this end-time generation. It states, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2 Tim 3:1-5). This sounds a lot like our world today.
Deception has also become commonplace in the world today. The news media more and more cannot be trusted to report truth. The Bible addresses this for the end times. It states, “Because they receive not the love of the truth… God will send them strong delusion” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). Who would have ever dreamed that the news media cannot be trusted?
Again, about these days, Jesus said these conditions would increase like “birth pangs.” This is exactly what we are seeing in our world today. That these conditions have developed has not been so much of a surprise, but the acceleration of them! These conditions are preparing the world for a ruler God calls Antichrist. He is even called the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and coming with deception (2 Thess 2:10). The world about us is in strong delusion.
What does all this mean?
It means that the return of Jesus draws near. In that promise, there is hope. Antichrist’s short rule will be over. Deception and lawlessness will cease. Jesus will set up His long-awaited Kingdom that executes peace, righteousness, and justice (Isaiah 65, Amos 8, Micah 4).
Jesus said, “When you see these things beginning to take place… your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
The whole world is groaning and travailing, waiting for this redemption (Romans 8:22). Those who love Him can’t wait!