Our current world is in a “topsy-turvey” panic situation. The left is totally dedicated to somehow solving that “impending” climate-change disaster that is—in their view—about to suffocate us, or on the other hand, engulf us with roaring waves of water as the ice melts at the poles.

Then, a Corona virus comes along and explodes those issues in favor of a very real and present danger to civilization, worldwide. Their idea of a God in heaven, if that idea were ever to take place, has no ability to do anything.

If mankind wants to know his future, he can find it in the Bible, the Word of God, the God of the universe, the Sovereign Voice of Prophecy. Jesus said, in Luke 21:28, “When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption draws near.”

God has a plan for the universe, and it has not changed from its existence before time began. These three verses give us some idea that we can know what is coming to pass, in addition to that quote from Luke 21:28 above:

John 16:13 – “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but what He hears, that He will speak, and He will tell you things to come.”

Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

 Habakkuk 1:2,5 – “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!‘ and You will not save.‘

“Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.”

To those thoughts we must also add the following from Romans 11:33-36:

“Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Viewing the world through Biblical lenses is like thinking God’s thoughts along with Him. That is how it seems to be when I am reading the Word as it is verbally inspired, or “God breathed” as I am reading it in its present tense. In other words, God is saying it in eternity now, but I am seeing it in present time. Therefore, we can view current and future events as they appear in the Scriptures with confidence that they are our future.

A very real and vital example that tells us about this Corona virus and whether or not it means this is the end of the age, and Jesus is going to appear at this time, is in Luke 17:26-30:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

The picture shown here is as it will be when Jesus is revealed. It will not be the picture of devastation and doom that we are seeing today. There will be, then, a restoration of the economy and related lifestyles to resemble those in the passage above. (Incidentally, some have placed this passage’s parallel in Matthew 24:37-39 at the Lord’s second coming at the end of the seven-year tribulation. However, at that time there will be no such thriving economy, but devastation and a struggle to survive will be the conditions.)

Daniel 9:26-27 is the bullseye of the prophetic target that opens up the culminating end of this age:

“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering, and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”

We see that the time of this beginning point is when the Messiah was crucified. We also see here that one who is of the lineage of the Romans who destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 A.D.    He will join with many to confirm a covenant—with many nations, no doubt, since it will have been the United Nations which established nationhood for Israel in 1948. This one who rises out of the ashes of the old Roman Empire is seen as a “prince,” perhaps someone of a higher political stature than a person rising out of obscurity, at least at this point. Who is now hovering in the shadows just off-stage, waiting for that opening to come to him and he is elevated to leadership of the world?

The one who is to come will bring forward that sixth head of the Beast of Daniel’s prophecy to the front page of today’s current events. With whom the covenant is made is revealed when we see that a new temple is evidently allowed to be built soon after the covenant is in place, just as touched on above.

Again, as mentioned above, this points to a restoration of Israel as a sovereign nation. It also reveals who the “many” are who also confirm the covenant—the United Nations. God often made a promise to the Jews that after He scattered them to all the nations of the world, He would later restore them to their native land again in the latter days. Ezekiel prophesied in Ezekiel 37 of that restoration and ends that chapter with a promise of an everlasting covenant with Israel. This. Time-wise, parallels with the seven-year covenant the secular world will make.

The key figure in this context is that “prince” who arises with authority to take control, as the Scriptures indicate. How will that happen, we may wonder? It is also the timing of the Rapture of the saints; and the resulting “sudden destruction” the world will experience, no doubt will open the way for “someone” to take charge, for the world will be looking for a leader.

That mortally wounded sixth head of the Beast will arise as this person takes control and fronts his actions behind the face of the New World Order proponents who have been longing for a one-world government to give them elite status.

This coming lawless one is revealed coming forth on a white horse, “conquering and to conquer.” This is a simple preview of what he will be doing throughout the seven years of the covenant period, although he will cancel the covenant halfway through it. That first seal opened by Jesus in Revelation 6 and the action portrayed in Daniel 9:27 displays the strange authority that will have been given to the Antichrist. Somehow, he will come to a world leadership position that is identified with his confirmation of the covenant with many other world leaders. There is no Scripture which tells of his being assassinated, then rising again to convince people that he is the Christ. Once the Rapture occurs, no Christian will be left on earth to challenge his authority, and the Lord will bring upon those who are left behind an evil, deceptive spirit to turn their hearts.

Currently, it is obvious that the “falling away” Paul writes of in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 is underway, full bore. In that passage we see that the “falling away” leads to a complete “taking away” with the removal of all resistance against the evil that is overwhelming the world.

The covenant’s confirmation is the pivotal event that triggers the Rapture, evidently, for Paul also writes of it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to 5:10, noting in 5:2-3, “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, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

Who in the Middle East is fervently interested in “peace and safety” but Israel? That little country, the apple of God’s eye, is the bullseye also of prophecy. And thus we see it as the focus of seven years of judgment, along with the whole world, from which God will salvage a third of the Jews and restore them to a relationship with Him. (See Zachariah 13:8.) In Zachariah 12:10 we read that the Jews will “look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as for an only begotten son.” They will recognize Jesus as their Messiah during that seven years, at a feast of the atonement.

Closer at hand is the current epidemic of Corona virus. What do the Biblical lenses reveal to us about that issue? There is no direct reference to such things encountered by mankind during the ages particularly, but Biblical history shows that God deals with the sinfulness of man in drastic measures. The most destructive event, of course, was the flood of Noah’s time. It was worldwide and so extensive that only eight people survived, though warnings were evident for about 120 years.

That event was brought on because people of the world were so degraded with sin that “every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Is this world approaching such a condition? It may well be so. God is certainly shouting out a warning that His judgment has not been nullified whatsoever. At the least, this episode has the ability to shake the population loose from its grasp onto false gods and false doctrines and point them to the truth that is in Jesus Christ. A saying akin to that thought comes out of the wars of the 20^th century, “There are no atheists in the foxholes.”

The agnostics believe God created everything then left it to fend for itself, so I understand. But that is not so. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That is where we are today.

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com

You have heard the expression describing something as “priceless.” The meaning is that something is of more value than any price that can be put upon it, a concept that obviously is also described as “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” An antique automobile that is certified as an original one in all aspects would be in that category to a collector of antique cars. But to someone not in that frame of mind, it would be a means of getting from “here to there,” and if it worked for that purpose, it has that value.

However, we want to consider cost versus value in regard to spiritual things. The Lord is speaking to this in His idioms on the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13:44-48:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.”

Obviously, in the mind of the seeker of treasure, what he found in one location in the field was enough to make him want the whole field in the possibility more treasure would be found there. He was looking with expectation and hopefulness. It has the leading appeal so expressed in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” However, we forget that in the next verse we are told that, “God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

The merchant apparently knew the market and that this “pearl of great price” was the single most desirable of all pearls. It is like having a storage facility full of gold bars, but when the economy breaks down, how can one use the gold to buy a loaf of bread? Thus, the kingdom of heaven, as a pearl of great price, is so valued because of the benefits that are available with that possession—eternal life being the main one.

Psalm 103:2 speaks of the benefits of knowing the Lord: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” These are listed in the following verses, as “forgiveness of all our iniquities, heals all our diseases, redeems our lives from destruction, crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies, and satisfying our mouths with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

The picture of the dragnet describes how the Lord reaches out to all people, for He is a just God, and those who respond to His invitation are the good ones who are not cast back into the sea. The Scripture that clearly defines that action is Revelation 3:20, saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and live with him and he with Me.” God chooses those who want to join Him, for absolutely no one who does not want to be in heaven will be there!

The first cost of discipleship is coupled with the acceptance of Christ as Savior. It is the willingness of a person to repent of his sinfulness, his desire, first, to embrace all of the allure of the flesh, the world and the devil. The lordship of Christ in a believer’s life is called for when Jesus speaks like this in Matthew 10:34-36:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”

Putting the Lord first is absolute, for life comes from Him—all else follows afterward. However, I once read of a young lady who committed to go to Africa as a missionary, but her mother, not equally as committed to the Lord, said, “No, no! Over my dead body, you’ll go!” In obedience to the Lord as responsive to her mother, she did not go. That is, until her mother died, then she stepped forward to fulfill her commitment—“over her mother’s dead body,” in reality.

The great question, in relation to cost versus value, is expressed in Mark 8:36-37, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul.” Certainly, there is no profit in terms of eternal destiny, for all of the world is doomed to pass away. Even so, no one will be able to take the world’s things into the hereafter with him. Awaiting the unsaved is that awful and certain prospect of “outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth,” a picture of great desperation and hopelessness.

That sums up some of the cost of not following the Lord into salvation, as well as being a disciple.

Considering the cost of our salvation to Christ has some deep theological realities that do, in fact, define the value of choosing salvation over rejecting it. We may think that Jesus, knowing that He would be raised from the dead by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:11), would not be paying such a heavy price, even though He would carry in His body the sins of the whole world since time began. After all, we may think foolishly, He would not stay any longer than three days and three nights in the “belly of the earth,” where the wages of sin dictated He must go to pay the full price of our sins. It speaks of this in Hebrews 12:2:

“…Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Yet, what was behind that cry from the cross when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The world does not realize what it will mean to be apart from the God of the universe, the God of creation, for even one second.

But Jesus, who knew what that meant, was in total anguish and despair at the thought of it, dying as a man, and as all men will one day die. That is, until those who are to be caught up to meet Him in the air will be so delivered from death. That which Jesus faced was more than enough to pay for the load of sin which He bore for mankind.

The basic core value Jesus put on no separation from God in His cry from the cross is what impacts my heart. His knowledge of what it will be like for those who do not know Jesus puts a very heavy cost on going into eternity for ever and ever with no hope for the suffering to cease! First, it will be that “outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” and total aloneness, followed by that great white throne judgment and then, being put in that lake of fire to burn forever and ever.

Again, “what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul!” (Mark 8:36).

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com