Welcome back, beautiful family!
I am hopeful that this next subject will be as impactful for you as it has been in my own life.
Look around you, especially over the past 3 years, and no doubt, things have been crazy and chaotic. The idea that a virus no one had heard of could close down the entire world for months and not return things to “normal” even years later seemed impossible before 2020. The lockdowns, the constant concerns about an ever-mutating virus that could potentially take your life, or someone you love’s life, the economic downturns, and military battles and propaganda about new wars seem to be everywhere. For my lifetime, the idea that World War III could be on the horizon was fear-inducing, but seemed as though that would be a bridge we would not cross as a human race. After all, my generation was raised by boomers who completely understood the risks of a new world war. They were not eager to tumble back into a conflict like that and it was naturally passed to us not to want that either. However, suddenly, over the past few years in particular, the world seems to be on a collision course which feels like we’re moving closer to WWIII every day. In fact, with all that is happening worldwide at the moment, I would not be the least bit surprised if history books in the future will state that it has already started although no formal declaration has yet happened. The level of violence and hatred seems just to be increasing exponentially. Everything seems to be falling apart.
But what if I told it is very much the exact opposite? That everything is falling into place?
All that we’re experiencing was foretold in the Bible, from thousands of years ago. How is that possible? Well, we spent the last posts going through how Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension were all fulfilled prophecies. From that knowledge, we can extrapolate, with confidence, everything else prophesized in the Bible will come to pass as well. This is what sets apart the Bible from anything man-created. The Bible is directly from God, Himself. This is how prophecies are fulfilled. It is something no man could do.
Now, a couple of things to point out very quickly before we dive into this topic.
We have hope in all of this. There is nothing for us to fear. Make sure you read that again. As born-again, Spirit filled and sealed believers, we have nothing to fear with any of this. We ultimately know what is the end, and that is glorious and amazing. No matter what we face in this life, we know that we’ll be where we were created to be and with God forever.
Now, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, none of this is the case. Not even trying to be sensational or dramatic, but there is nothing but fear. And the end is not going to be good for you.
This does not have to be the outcome of your life. Please, if you have not already made the decision to become a born-again believer, I cannot reiterate enough that today needs to be the day of salvation for you. Please do not put this off. We are not guaranteed our next breath. We don’t know what could happen in the next moment. Knowing for sure that you are saved is the only thing that will provide peace and safety. It is the only source of hope for us. If you have questions or concerns about this, reach out to me directly, I am happy to help you! This is literally the most critical decision you will ever make in your life. And it turns everything from extremely scary and horrific to imagine going through to simply the best gift.
We can see what is happening as prophecies continue to be fulfilled in front of us and know that we’re going to be ultimately safe. This is the most comforting knowledge and our source of hope. It is how I can lay my head down at night, and know that no matter what the day holds my God is in control. He is holding the world in His palm. And no matter how dark or bleak things seem to be, I am going to be His. There is absolutely nothing that can pluck me out of His hand. That, my family, is everything to me. And it should be everything to you too. I pray that if you are reading this you can go to sleep knowing this peace and comfort too by knowing God.
Things are going to get so much worse than they already are. In fact, what is still to come will make everything we’ve been through over the past recent years look like they were wonderful, carefree times. I am not exaggerating. I am being completely real with you. Just wait and see what I mean. It is not pretty.
But I have been going to church for years, and my Pastor has not spoken about this. How do I know I can trust it? Excellent questions. For anything that I discuss in this blog, go to your Bible. What does it say? I am not claiming to be a Bible expert. I have not attended seminary. I am just a regular person who has fallen deeply in love with God and developed an insatiable hunger for the Word. I have spent years digging and going deep into rabbit holes (such a fun thing in Biblical study). So, what does your Bible say? Get yours out and see for yourself! Pray before you start and ask God to reveal Himself to you. Be prepared when you ask, He will open your eyes.
So there are a lot of reasons that many Pastors choose not to preach on this. Many denominations choose not to focus on prophecy. They just leave it out of consideration and exploration. It’s a tough subject, especially if you’re trying to get numbers in the door to increase in your congregation. It is very similar to how a lot of churches no longer preach about Satan, sin, and hell. Instead, they focus on how on what I describe as “feel good” sermons. How to have your best life, or how to follow the prosperity gospel (i.e. God wants to bless you!). The modern church, for the most part, has turned away from the Bible and chosen to focus instead on self-development. It is missing the key point of life – that we’re all sinners in desperate need of a Savior or we will end up living eternity without God in hell. It is that simple. There are still Bible focused pastors who will preach on this. It may not be in your community but thankfully, at least for now, there are many online that you can follow. Just like with my blog, check it against the Bible. If what is being said is not in line with the Word of God, leave it immediately.
I remember being told as a child that our church didn’t go into Revelation because it was too complicated and we don’t know what everything means, so it all needed to be avoided. But I challenge you to stick around because that really is not the case. I don’t have all the answers, but I sure do love digging in to try to find them.
Additionally, a lot of churches don’t preach on the End Times (Eschatology) because it is not the most conducive to convincing people to buy into long-term church goals. Think about it…Pastor reveals that the Great Tribulation is casting its shadow on our current lives, who is going to be interested in building a new building or pledging to pay for a new sanctuary? But God gave us all of this so that we would know what is going to be coming, and so that we can have hope in the future. We know how everything turns out because we know He who holds all the keys Himself. If this wasn’t important for us to know, He would not have breathed it into the Scripture. It really is that simple. If we didn’t need to know it, it would not be here. Now, that point alone motivates my soul to know all I can. I hope it does the same for you.
If you are easily scared and anxious, this may not be the topic that is best for you. I just want to warn you up front, if you don’t like to hear about some really fascinating, but heavy topics, it may be best to come back later to this blog once we’re done with all this. I don’t want to cause burden or fear. I do know that we have nothing to fear with this, but honestly, it is overwhelming at times to consider all the people who are in my life who don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior. That is terrifying. So just to be fair I did want to include this disclaimer.
Now that we’ve gotten all of this out of the way, let’s dive in.
The definition of Eschatology is the part of theology (study of God) concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of people.
To jump in to this topic feet first, the Bible is clear that all of humanity is going to have to face their decision to either accept Jesus or not. Our world is spiraling into chaos. Our decisions and actions, that got us kicked out of the Garden of Eden and all its perfection is still causing every single one of us to rebel against God through sin. At some point, I believe in the not too distant future, mankind is going to have to pay the piper. For those who choose not to follow Jesus, it is going to mean paying for all that sin themselves, and it is not going to be pleasant. Ultimately, God is going to renew the Earth to that perfection we once experienced in the Garden of Eden with God. Similar to the destruction at Noah’s Flood, the world will be wiped out again and this time, perfection will be reestablished.
Why is this going to happen? Because it has to. The sins of this world cannot go on without consequence. God’s righteous anger and wrath has to be dealt with and oh this world will pay. The powers of darkness that rule this world will have to answer for their misdeeds as well. Once the sin is dealt with, we can return to the pre-sin state with God again. And it is going to be amazing, dear family, that much I can promise.
So if you’re ready, we’re going to start diving into the study of what is to come.
I hope you join us as we walk through this and share with anyone you think could get something out of this content.
Until next time, beloved.
She Follows Him Alone 