I can vividly recall the first time I heard about the biblical Book of Revelation. It was a warm, sunny afternoon after a fun-filled third-grade day, and I was lying in our hammock in the front yard when my cousin Jamie, an all-knowing seventh-grader, came running over to me, a suspicious grin on her face.
“They ever talk about Revelations in Sunday School[1]?” she asked me. I shook my head and she stuck her hands on her hips. “I thought you knew all about the Bible?” She said this because I was in the habit of reading my Bible daily and had piously baptized all eight of our dogs in my family’s creek in an effort to secure them an eternal resting place in heaven.
“What’s Revelations about?” I said.
Jamie’s eyes brightened with the unsettling glee of someone preparing to tell a ghost story over a campfire.
“Dragons,” she began slowly. “Horsemen who will unleash death, famine, disease, and war on the whole world.” She crept toward me, and I sat up in the hammock, wondering if she wasn’t mistaking a creepy fairy tale for the Bible. “Swarms of locusts that sting like scorpions. And a giant abyss with smoke that comes out of it that’s so huge, it blacks out the sun.”
I must have looked terrified because she paused for a moment and gave a small, satisfied laugh; she’d succeeded in scaring me, but I could see she regretted it.
“There’s more, but I can’t remember it all,” she said before sitting beside me and changing the subject.
I never thought to ask Jamie where she’d heard about Revelation. She seldom went to church with my family and me, and wasn’t a Bible reader. But what she said lingered in my mind like scenes from Tales from the Crypt, which I sometimes secretly watched from behind the sofa (don’t tell my mom!). Only, Revelation felt scarier to me, because I knew the Bible wasn’t a work of fiction, but fact. If God’s Word prophesied fearsome beasts, devastating plagues, and global catastrophes, then I could count on those very things taking shape one day.
I never learned about Revelation in church. Not while sitting in the pews or around the table at Sunday School. Not in my youth group when I was a teenager, and not on church-sponsored mission trips to South America. There was no teaching of Revelation at the private Christian school I went to either. Every other book of the Bible was studied and taught, but the last book, the scary and confusing and controversial one, was apparently off limits.
As a young Christian, I thought nothing about Revelation’s absence in my life. It was out of sight, and therefore out of my mind. And when I did hear mention of its name, on the radio, for instance, or when movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact summoned the same frightening feeling I’d felt that day on the hammock, I thought, “That’s so far away. None of those things will happen anytime soon.”
Fast forward some twenty-four years. I now think, almost daily, that the horrors of the Book of Revelation are at the world’s doorstep, fangs bared and swords raised. The “birth pains,” as Jesus called the tribulations which are leading up to the Great Tribulation, are increasing in frequency and intensity, just as He and the prophets and apostles predicted millennia ago.
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies of hypocrisy, having their own conscience, seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” – 1 Timothy 4:1-3, NKJV (emphasis mine)
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows … And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold … So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors!” – Matthew 24:6-8; 12;33, NKJV (emphasis mine)
I believe that for genuine, born-again Christians, the Holy Spirit is showing us how very near the world is indeed to the horrific time of which Revelation, and other prophetic books of the Bible, foretold. Yes, there have always been wars and pestilences, deceit and hypocrisy, but never before have the economical, religious, societal, environmental, geopolitical, and technological landscapes around the world been so perfectly poised to accept the one-world government which will rule throughout the tribulation.[2]
And, I might add, never before has the world appeared so perfectly poised to accept, even worship, the man who will lead that government.
“And they worshipped the dragon [Satan] which gave power unto the beast [Antichrist]; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” – Revelation 13:4, NKJV
Here is an inexhaustive list of a few of the things, currently in place, that certainly point to the fulfillment of end-times Bible prophecy:
Famine (Revelation 6:8)
One example we’ve recently seen is the 2020 swarms of gigantic locusts in parts of East Africa. National Geographic reported that swarms of locusts can destroy up to 300 million pounds of crops in a day.
Experts agree that this winter will present shortages of not just food, but electronics, clothing, furniture, and vehicles. The reasons for this range from scarcity of materials and high transportation costs, to a severe lack of employees.
Inflation (Revelation 6:6)
Venezuela is one example of devastating inflation caused by money printing and government debt; sadly, the U.S. economy is teetering on the edge of disaster due to these reasons, too. High unemployment has also moved America closer to a total collapse.
Increased Anti-Semitism (Matthew 24:15-20)
New York City, which is home to nearly two million Jews, saw a record number of anti-Semitic attacks in 2019. France and Germany are rapidly becoming unsafe places for the Jewish people to live. During the first few months of the 2019-2020 UN session, the organization adopted 18 anti-Israel resolutions.
Violence (Revelation 9:21)
Revelation 7 tells us that there will be a great multitude of martyrs that have come out of the Great Tribulation. These, according to John the Revelator, were killed “for the word of God and witness they have borne.” We already see tremendous violence and persecution coming against Christians today. There is little doubt in my mind that the same people who advocate abortion up to and after birth and send the police to stop worship services are the same hate-filled people who will soon fiercely persecute true Christ-followers both before and during the Great Tribulation.
The Mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:16-18)
I’m not going to say much on this bullet point, other than much of what is going on in the world today is preparing the global population for the control the Antichrist will exert throughout his rule. Much of what is happening in our country right now would have been deemed tyrannical not a decade ago.
The New World Order (Daniel 7:24-26; Revelation 13:1-10)
I invite you to visit and explore https://www.weforum.org and look into Agenda 2030.
Middle East Tension (Ezekiel 38-39)
Despite the world’s focus on COVID-19, tensions continue to rise in the Middle East. The nations described by the prophet Ezekiel are exactly aligned, even more so after the tragic debacle that occurred in Afghanistan in August of this year. Interestingly also, Israel rabbis believe the war Ezekiel foresaw is imminent.
Apostasy (1st and 2nd Timothy)
Simply read the chapters mentioned above and you’ll see that the apostasy Paul wrote about through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is here, and will only become more pervasive until Jesus’ return at the end of the Great Tribulation.
Lawlessness (Matthew 24:12)
In 2nd Thessalonians 2:3, Paul refers to the Antichrist as “the man of lawlessness.” We can see this spirit of lawlessness surging across America as groups of rioters and anarchists destroy property, ruin lives, instill fear, and encourage more civil unrest.
A whole post could be dedicated to just one of the above subjects, but my point is that the end times are not close, they are here. The chaos that will occur as a result of an imminent economic collapse will provide the perfect opportunity for the Antichrist to step onto the world’s stage, cast his spell, and take control.
There is good news. Really, there is! We don’t have to fear what’s coming. We don’t have to tremble, as I once did, at Revelation. We don’t have to dread the future, because the Lord has promised deliverance for His children – deliverance from hell, and also from the wrath about to be poured out on this world.
Here are a few verses that speak of the church’s rescue from wrath:
“ … for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” – 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, NIV (emphasis mine)
“God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ” – 1 Thessalonians 5:9, NIV (emphasis mine)
“Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” – Revelation 3:10, NIV (emphasis mine)
Paul also wrote of the “blessed of hope” of Christ’s second coming.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” – John 14:1-4, NIV (emphasis mine)
“ … we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NIV (emphasis mine)
“ … the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” – Titus 2:11-13, NIV (emphasis mine)
I hear many people expressing a desire to “get back to normal” after nearly two years of COVID-related fear, anger, confusion, division, sorrow, politics and propaganda. I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but rather the opposite, when I say that I believe normalcy kicked the bucket a long time ago. The end-time signs we see now will continue until Jesus’ return at the end of the seven-year tribulation, which is why it so vitally important that each of us focuses on our relationship with God and make sure that His Son is Lord and Savior of our lives.
It isn’t enough to go to church occasionally.
It isn’t enough to read a daily devotional or motivational email.
It isn’t enough to pray empty prayers or give to good causes.
It isn’t enough to be a moral person who tries his or her best to be kind and loving toward everyone.
It isn’t enough to have been baptized when you were a kid.
Only Christ is enough (John 14:6).
Only confessing that He is Lord is enough (Romans 10:9).
Only believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead is enough. (Romans 10:9)
Do you believe it? I pray that you do, and pray that you will find encouragement in the chaos, knowing that every second of it leads us closer to a glorious kingdom with a righteous King who will reign forever and ever.
Before we can pray, “Lord, Thy Kingdom come,” we must be willing to pray, “My Kingdom go.” – Alan Redpath
[1] The Book of Revelation is commonly, though mistakenly, called “Revelations”
[2] Revelation 13:1; Daniels 7:16-24; Daniel 2:41-42; Revelation 13:3-4; Revelation 13:7