Throughout History

Mar 13:8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.


Throughout history nations have risen against nations.
Throughout history kingdoms have risen against kingdoms.
Throughout history earthquakes have occurred in different places.
Throughout history there have been famines.
Throughout history there have been troubles.


So how do we know?


Mar 13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.


Again history is filled with such delivering. Even today people are delivered before courts for their faith and sentenced to death. Perhaps not in the United States and other so call free countries, but in many countries around the world people are even now being delivered to their fates before the leadership.


Mar 13:10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.


This has been done hasn't it? There isn't a remote area in our world that has been left untouched by missionaries bringing the gospel to people. No, not all will accept the gospel, the majority won't, but the gospel will be made known. Just because something is published doesn't mean it will be accepted.


We see signs as they have seen signs throughout history.


Luk 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.


Undisputed fact- Jerusalem the Holy City didn't become the capital of Israel until 1980.


Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem—west and east—as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.

Source- "Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1980-07-30. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1980_1989/Basic%20Law-%20Jerusalem-%20Capital%20of%20Israel. Retrieved 2007-04-02.


Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles, controlled by Gentiles for years and returned to Israel's control 'complete and united' in 1980.


1980


We were given a sign that people can't twist and in some cases rightly so by saying it's been this way throughout history. Throughout history Jerusalem wasn't in Israel's control, but rather in the Gentiles. What does this say to us all?


For the last 30 years we've been living closer to the time of Jesus' second coming than ever before.


So while the various natural disasters occur all around us and people continue to murmur about the signs of the times and others scoff, we have to remember one thing- no matter what happens that cause people to wake up to their mortality - whether it's a disaster, or just every day life- it will forever be just if we take from the tragedies of life a warning to open our eyes and hearts to the only truth in life which is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who became man and defeated sin and death, dying Himself to save us from our sins so that we might have life eternal in Him when He returns. We can find solace in Christ alone. No one welcomes tragedies, large or small, but life is filled with them. May our hearts and eyes be opened to the love of Christ, the love of God, the love of the Holy Spirit now and forever.


Amen.