The United States of America was founded on Judeo-Christian values and faith. It once operated as “one nation under God”, and though this phrase is still on our currency, America no longer follows after the ways of God.
While on a book tour in 2019, the Benham brothers declared, “America is changing. Not from Christian to secular, but from secular to pagan.”
It’s true. America is now operating as a pagan nation. Its citizens have allowed the killing of the unborn. Its judiciary has gone against the biblical mandate for holy matrimony. And many churches are choosing to walk hand-in-hand with the culture instead of standing up for biblical truth. These are signs of the times, but are they signs of the end times?
Defining the End Times
The “end times” started in the first century AD. The apostles considered themselves to be living in the end times, which biblically means the period of the new covenant leading up to the second coming of Jesus.
In modern times, major prophetic events have come to pass: Israel once again becoming a nation, the restoration of Jerusalem, and the Jewish people returning to their homeland. These signs show us that we are nearing the end of the end times.
In Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13, Jesus gave a list of “the beginning of birth pangs” that would be precursors to His return, including persecution of the saints, false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. The takeaway from these prophetic passages is that there are signs to watch for.
God has a specific timeline for the events of the end times, and in His grace He has revealed enough of it to us that we shouldn’t be lost or confused when we see it unfolding. (Check out this article for a list of biblical signposts that can help us identify where we are on the biblical, prophetic roadmap.)
So, yes, we are living in the end times. However, the “birth pangs” have just begun and no one knows when Jesus will return. As one prophecy teacher described it, “Today we are one day closer to the end than we were yesterday.”
Alert and Expectant
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”
Matthew 24:42
Two of the basic principles that Scripture gives us about the end times are that the day of judgment is coming soon and that there will be a great apostasy as the return of Christ draws near. But how soon is “soon”?
Many believers throughout the centuries have expected Jesus to come back in their lifetimes, and they were right to do so. The Bible admonishes us to be alert and expectant. If He delays, it is out of grace so that more may be saved. Regardless of the amount of time that passes, the day of judgement will come “soon” in this regard: it will be much sooner than the world or any complacent believer expects.
According to Faith
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen,
in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household,
by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness
which is according to faith.” Hebrews 11:6-7
Perhaps the best example of a man who understood prophetic urgency was Noah. God gave Noah a prophetic revelation about the coming judgment of his generation and He assigned Noah a task to prepare for it. The Bible does not record any reluctance or delay on Noah’s part; instead, it says, “Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him” (Genesis 7:5).
Our mission at Living Strategically is to help you strategically pursue your God-given purpose. God probably hasn’t called you to the same assignment as Noah, but He has given all of His children specific callings. Through faith and obedience, we need to be following God’s will for our lives.
Noah lived in an age where “every intent of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, being a righteous man who was blameless and walked with God (see Genesis 6:8-9). The Lord declared that Noah and his family would be spared from the coming destruction, because Noah was the only righteous one in his time (see Genesis 7:1).
What does it take to live righteously? A commitment to honor the Lord in all that we do. Standing firm on a biblical foundation and unwavering faith. And rising up to our divine callings.
For Such A Time As This
These are prophetic days. Days just like the days of Noah. And before we know it, our Savior will return. We read in Matthew 24…
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:37-39
From studying God’s Word, we understand the big picture. We see the signs of the times and we fully trust in God’s plan. Now it is time for biblical Christians to live each day with prophetic urgency.
