“On the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.” (Luke 21:25-26a)
The world is in crisis! The nations are being tossed upon the wild and stormy sea of anguish and perplexity at what is coming upon the whole world. Just before WW1 and WW2 the nations of the world were heading towards war. The stakes were high and the apex of this global conflict of nations saw the nuclear detonations over Hiroshima and Nagasaki which launched the whole world into the nuclear age.
Today we see China hell-bent on conquest and edging to take Taiwan which would see even Australia drawn into the conflict. Russia seemingly has decided to approve the Iranian nuclear deal. We also see the European Union approving of the deal and America also re-negotiating with Iran as the Biden Administration seeks to revive this 2015 nuclear deal brokered by Obama.
China has signed a 25 year mega billion dollar deal with Iran to get its oil in exchange for financial aid which will enable the Iranian regime to develop its nuclear capability while thumbing its nose up at the western democracies. Added to this the Biden Administration has just agreed to restore $235 million in US aid to the ‘Palestinian’ Arabs and most of it will undoubtedly go into the coffers of Abbas and Co for terrorist activities against Israel.
Russian forces are gathering on the border of Ukraine. North Korea has started to launch missiles over Japan into the sea much to Japan’s chagrin. Japan is threatening to retaliate if North Korea keeps up its missile tests. Turkish forces are gaining momentum in Syria to undoubtedly attack Israel. Iran is continuing to finance terrorist activities and fight its proxy wars in the Middle-East. In all of this surging and tossing of the nations producing fear and anxiety in millions around the world, the only nation that is standing up to Iran is Israel. While Prime Minister Netanyahu is in power the Israelis will not allow Iran to go nuclear and eventually Israel will be alone in this matter.
Caliph Erdogan of Turkey has now won over Libya which will also join in his invasion force of Israel. (Ezekiel 38:5 KJV) A war is also looming between Israel and Iran and if I have understood Daniel Chapter 10 rightly then there will be a war between Israel and Iran in these latter days. (Daniel 10:12-14, 20) In this war Israel will win initially and even though Iran will be knocked down in the arena of this conflict they will not be ‘out for the count’ but will make a comeback when they join the Ezekiel 38 invasion force that will come against Israel in these latter days. (Ezekiel 38:5a)
There is no doubt the nations are stirring once again as we see the nations “tossed like ships on a stormy sea.” The apostle John tells us that there is a war coming that will see a third of the world’s population decimated by awesome firepower of modern weapons with possibly nuclear detonations causing death and plague through fallout and that on a scale unprecedented in past history. (Revelation 9:13-19)
Just before the eruption of WW2 the democratic free nations of the world saw what was transpiring with Adolph Hitler and did nothing until after Germany kick-started WW2. Will it be China or will it be Iran that that kick-starts the next war? Already the Iranian Regime has started a war with Israel which will inevitably draw the nations into the arena of this conflict if the conflict escalates.
The only hope for this world is the return of the Messiah our Lord Jesus to destroy all opposition to God and to set up the Messianic Kingdom on earth. This world is ‘a sinking Titanic’ that has already ‘hit the iceberg.’ Added to all of this we see the realm of Christendom apostatizing in wholesale lots and inundated with Ecumenism, interfaith, hyper faith prosperity, kingdom Dominion, Anti-Semitism, replacement theology and an embracing of the philosophies and ways of the world. The persecution of the faithful bond slaves of the Lord Jesus will also be a conspicuous mark at this time. (Matthew 24:9-13)
The Lord Jesus is calling His bond slaves to get ready for the time of Great Tribulation that will soon engulf the whole world, a time of great turmoil, stress and trouble which will see Israel, the faithful and the apostate Church, and the world at large, plunged into a chaotic nightmare unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again, a time of great tribulation that God Himself will cut short for the sake of God’s elect saints and for the very survival of this planet. (Matthew 24:21-22)
Are we now on the very precipice of this period of great tribulation? The ‘signs’ (birth pains) are all there. (Matthew 24: 4-8) They are most definitely increasing in intensity and frequency indicating that ‘the birth’ of God’s kingdom on earth is coming very soon.
In all of this turmoil our Lord Jesus told us that when these things begin to take place, we are to stand up and not to bend over at the knees with fear and to look up into the heavens with expectant faith, because our redemption and rescue out of this present evil age will be very close indeed! (Luke 21:28) Added to this we are also told by our Lord Jesus that the last great sign that will indicate the end of this present age will be the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come! (Matthew 24:14)
With these things in view let’s press on serving the Lord, maintaining faithfulness through the Holy Spirit’ power, reaching the lost where we can and seeking to consolidate Spirit-filled fellowship as we see the day of the Lord rapidly approaching and our gathering together around the Lord Jesus in the air at His Second Coming to earth. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) (2 Thessalonians 2:1) This is our hope for the future in a world destined for wrath, a wrath that will not come upon all those who shelter by faith under the atoning blood of the Messiah. (1 Thessalonians 1:10b; 5:9) (Romans 5:9)
