Such A Miracle - Disregarded By Most
"Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you." Acts 13:41 It is amazing how God is doing an unprecedented work in this generation, a work prophesied thousands of years ago, being done right before our eyes – but people do not believe even though men are declaring it before all. This is the last generation of which the Bible has so much to say, "ha'yamim ha'achronim," the last days. There is more prophesied about these days than was prophesied about Jesus's first coming. It is absolutely amazing that people don't believe, that they are not interested. "What work?" you ask. The work is two-fold. When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the signs of his coming and the end of the age, he listed several signs: wars, rumors of war, earthquakes, famine, pestilence (disease). People scoff and say all these things have happened throughout history. True, but not as Jesus defined it. Every generation has had its great earthquake, or great famine, or great plague. But the signal of "the last days" is the generation when all these things happen together in one generation, and proceed as birth pains, increasing in intensity and frequency. No other generation has seen that happen, until this one. But the greatest sign given in that same passage is the "budding of the fig tree." The fig tree is the symbol of Israel. The Bible has repeated over and over again the prophecy of the restoration of Israel in "the last days." For 2,000 years the land of Israel lay desolate and the Jews scattered throughout the world. Two THOUSAND years! Preachers of the Gospel in previous centuries had a hard time understanding those prophecies because it seemed impossible that that desolate land would someday flourish again and that the Jewish people would return and turn the wasteland back to beautiful green farmlands and cities teeming with Jews. In previous generations the Jewish people were dispersed throughout every country on earth and the idea that they would be regathered back to Israel, back to the land of their fathers, back to the land they left 2,000 years ago - seemed impossible. How could those prophecies come to pass? Our generation has seen the astonishing fulfillment of those promises. This is the generation in which the Jewish people have been gathered from all over the earth back to the land of their fathers, and the reborn nation of Israel reestablished in one day, May 14, 1948. The malaria-infested wastelands have been turned into beautiful farmlands in bountiful production of food, enough to feed the entire country and then some. While this has all been going on, other things prophesied for these days have been taking place in the world. The Bible describes this generation: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 2 Timothy 3:3-5 That was prophesied 2,000 years ago. How could anything more accurately describe this generation? The two-fold work is right before our eyes: 1. The gathering of the Jewish people back to the land of their fathers 2. Evil becoming worse and worse and the preparation taking place leading to the one-world government under the Antichrist, and the one-world religion under the papacy. Yet concurrently, the Lord has brought revivals and is preparing his people to be brought home to him before "the Great Tribulation" begins. And that seems to be imminent. If you have not received God's provision for your salvation by coming to Jesus in repentance and surrendering your life to him, do it now. Don't put it off. The invitation is with bountiful grace and mercy, but those who ignore it will remain here while the wrath of God falls upon this earth. Jesus said that the tribulation of those days will be worse than anything that has ever happened on the earth from the beginning. If you've read the Bible's Book of Revelation, you know you don't want to be here during that awful time. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life..." Deuteronomy 30:19