Discerning The Times That We Are Living In / Why God Gave Us The Prophetic Scriptures
We are living in one of the most strategic times in the course of human history. The Bible has much to say about the times at the end of this age. We are living closer to the end of the age than any other generation before us. In fact, the last days or end times is one of the most discussed subjects in Scripture. The Bible speaks more about this period of time than about any other period in human history.
Has the time finally arrived? Now that nearly 2000 years have passed since Christ’s first coming, ominous trends in the world today tell some of us that we are indeed living in the end times. Our age is replete with many disturbing signs indicating that the age of man’s 6000-year government on earth is drawing to a close. We have seen some of the biggest global, political, economical, social, and religious changes happening in the past number of years. End time events are beginning to unfold themselves in rapid succession. Question: “Can we understand end time prophetic events today?”
God intends that people should be able to discern the signs of the times that indicate what we might expect to happen in the future. They are called in Scripture the “sign of the times.” Our ability to interpret the significance of the things we see developing in the world around us depends on our knowledge of what the future holds in store. That’s why God gave us the prophetic Scriptures: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).” Need I remind people that over 26% of the Bible is dedicated to prophetic Scripture so obviously God wanted us to know His plan for the future and to be able to discern the times that we are living in. God is omniscient. He knows every detail of the future, and exactly when and how it will take place. In the prophetic Scriptures He has revealed the events of the future to the extent that it is good for us to know. We would do well to discover and give heed to what He has revealed.
It comes as a surprise to many people that no less than 300 times in the New Testament, future events are mentioned. God is not hesitant to reveal the truth of the future. Matter of fact, He commands us to be ready for what is coming. Unfortunately, more often than not, people look to God’s word for what has happened, not necessarily for what is going to happen. However, Scripture can be trusted at both ends of God’s program. In fact, the prophetic passages that have already come to pass give us great confidence in the end times prophecy still to be fulfilled.
Christ angrily rebuked those who were prone to doubt the authenticity of what God had made known through His chosen prophets. He said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken (Luke 24:25)!”
The apostle Peter was inspired to write to those who are of Christ’s church today, “We also have the prophetic word made sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place… for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19, 21).” This means that what the prophets wrote was not a concoction of their own ideas and not the result of human imagination, insight, or speculation. They wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In some way which we cannot fully understand, God directed these prophets as to the very words to write, and yet He did not destroy the individuality or style of the writers. This is one of the key verses in the Bible on divine inspiration.
In a day when many are denying the authority of the Scriptures, it is important that we stand firmly for the verbal, plenary inspiration of the inerrant word. By verbal inspiration we mean that the words as originally penned by more than 35 writers of the Bible were God breathed (see 1 Cor. 2:13). God did not give a general outline, or some basic ideas then let the writers phrase them as they wished. The very words they wrote were given by the Holy Spirit.
There are hundreds and hundreds of prophetic examples throughout Scripture that the prophets wrote about that were fulfilled hundreds and even thousands of years later. I’ll give you one example by the prophet Isaiah whose writings detail Christ’s crucifixion 700 years later. This amazing prophecy describes in detail Christ’s crucifixion, even though crucifixion wasn’t even invented for another 300 years after Isaiah’s death. The only way Isaiah could write about Christ’s crucifixion was that the Spirit of God revealed it to him. The very words Isaiah wrote were given by the Holy Spirit.
To discern the importance of our role and of the hour we are living in is imperative if we are to fulfill our redemptive calling and reach the lost world. In Matthew 16:3, Jesus criticized the religious leaders for their inability to discern God’s actions and timing in their generation.
The spiritual leaders of Israel, the Pharisees and Sadducees, came to Jesus in order to tempt (test) Him to show them a sign from heaven. They wanted to see Jesus’ attempt to perform a miracle. This would then strengthen their case against Jesus, proving that He is not who He claimed to be. Their hearts were hard, and they expected Him to fail in giving them a sign from heaven. They had made up their minds not to believe. If you give someone a test, your goal is not to learn anything from the person or situation, and this was their attitude. They did not want to learn anything from Jesus; neither did they want to see the truth. Even though Jesus had already performed a large number of miracles such as multiplying the bread and fish to feed 5000 on one occasion and feeding 4000 on another occasion, opening blind eyes, healing the lame and sick, raising people from the dead and driving out many demons from people, yet their hearts remained untouched by this, and they did not consider the signs authoritative enough.
The point is this: they did not really want to see a miracle; they simply wanted to discredit Jesus and gather evidence against Him. Because of the hardness of their hearts and their disbelief, the religious leaders were unable to properly discern the times they were living in. Because they refused to look at Jesus, they were unable to look at anything else in the right way. They were spiritually blind. They failed to recognize and discern the purposes of God because their hearts were far from God. They embraced a form of religion and pronounced it with their lips, but their hearts were cold and focused in the wrong place.
The world is filled with examples of spiritually blind people. There are two types of spiritually blind people. Firstly, there are those that will always remain blind and will never be able to see spiritually because they will never make the decision to accept the gift of spiritual life from Jesus. Secondly, there are those who are blind, but their blindness is not permanent. Their spiritual blindness will be cured because they choose Christ. The Lord is about to do unprecedented things in unprecedented ways, and if we do not truly know Him we might become offended by what He is about to do. We need discernment and understanding to rightly judge the coming of the end of the age. To dwell and operate from within His presence forms part of our destiny. It is God’s will that we properly discern the importance of the hour (times) we are living in.
Unable To Discern The “Spiritual Weather” Of Their Time
Jesus responded to their request for a sign by exposing the actual problem, namely their unbelief and inability to discern the times. God had already given the signs, but they did not see them. Their spiritual discernment was erroneous and nonexistent because their hearts were hard. He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘there’ll be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times (Matt.16:3).” Then just to emphasize the point again Jesus repeats the warning in the book of Luke. He said to the multitudes gathered (believers and nonbelievers alike) that people who failed to discern the time that they are living in are hypocrites (12:54, 55, 56).
Here Jesus Christ emphasized how important it is to understand the significance of the times we live in. He told the religious leaders that they were good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but they couldn’t read the obvious signs of their times. Question: Can we today read the obvious signs of our times?
Jesus is clearly telling us that we should know the times of the season that we are living in. We can see from Scripture that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for not understanding the times that they were living in, for not knowing the time of His first coming. Now, if He called these religious leaders’ hypocrites and expected them to understand the times that they were living in and what they were going through prophetically at the time, then what does He expect of our generation today and the times that we are living in? Are we also hypocrites for not heeding Bible prophecy pertaining to the end times?
According to Scripture, religious leaders failed to analyze the time they were living in. It’s the same today: people fail to see the signs of the end times and Christ’s second coming. We are told by Jesus that we must know the seasons of the prophecies and the end times. Jesus couldn’t make this any clearer to us today. All the Scriptural warning signs for us today must be fulfilled before Christ’s return. To discern the times is an important command of Christ. It is the spiritual responsibility for children of God to discern the times they are living in.
Jesus’ Response To Their Request For A Sign From Heaven
The religious leaders could not discern the “spiritual weather” of their time. They failed to separate thoroughly the activities of their day and did not recognize that the Messiah was standing in their midst. They could not distinguish between everyday activities and those which were truly important and that demanded their full attention, namely Jesus. The whole of the Hebrew Scriptures pointed towards Jesus, yet they missed the time of His visitation because their focus was in the wrong place. Because they did not believe, they could not see.
We are all familiar with the saying, “seeing is believing.” Well, when it comes to the kingdom of God it works the other way around, “we see because we believe.” Faith causes our spiritual eyes to see that which is important, to discern the purposes of God in our generation. As His people, we need to look at God’s signs and adjust our lives accordingly, without rejecting His signs and wanting God to come up with the signs we want to see before we believe. Even today most people simply refuse to believe. They want proof that God is who He says He is but, ironically, even if God reveals Himself to some of them, they will still choose not to believe.
There were at least 35 miracles of Jesus mentioned in the Scriptures. At His first sermon to His followers, Jesus miraculously fed 5000 men and their families from five loaves of bread and two fish. At His second sermon Jesus fed 4000 followers from seven loaves of bread and a few fish. After the crowd were all fed, the disciples were still able to gather up 12 baskets of loaves that were left over – nothing was wasted. There were other numerous miracles witnessed of Christ healing the sick, lame, blind and deaf. Christ walking on water and His control over nature by miraculously calming a furious storm and saving the crew as witnessed by the disciples. On two different occasions, two children were miraculously raised from the dead in front of their parents and other witnesses.
However, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is, arguably, the most predominant public miracle of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Historically, it marked a significant turning point in His ministry. In this miracle Jesus manifested His divine power and authority over life and death. This event is an indication of Christ’s power and deity. Jesus deliberately delayed His arrival at Lazarus’ home for a few days, so that Lazarus would have died and been buried before He arrived. In Bethany, which was close to Jerusalem, Christ revealed Himself to the Jewish authorities.
Before Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, He told the crowd what He was doing and why. Jesus said it was for the benefit of the unbelievers among them. The people were astonished seeing Lazarus come out of the tomb in funeral wraps. After seeing this, the religious leaders were extremely furious. It is significant to note that it was this marvellous sign of the raising of Lazarus which led the Pharisees and the chief priests to conspire together and devise a plan to kill Jesus. They said, “What should we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation (John 11:47-48).”
The most interesting thing about this very public miracle is that even though Lazarus had been dead four days and was already decomposing, some of the people still refused to believe (religious leaders): even though many did. So, solid proof of a miracle will not convince some individuals if they simply refuse to believe. It is also impossible to convince anyone of God’s existence if they refuse to believe no matter what evidence is presented.
And this is exactly what took place with the religious authority. Even though all these miracles were witnessed by the multitude, the religious leaders rejected God’s miraculous signs. Instead, they wanted to choose a sign from heaven, but none was given them except the “sign of Jonah.”
Jesus told the religious leaders who wanted a sign, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40).” Earlier, Jesus had likewise announced that His resurrection would come three days after His death (John 2:19). Jonah’s miraculous survival after being in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights was a powerful sign that Jonah’s message to Nineveh was from God (Jonah 1:17; Luke 11:30). By the sign of Jonah, Jesus predicted in advance that He would be entombed “in the heart of the earth” for three days and three nights before miraculously coming out of the tomb alive. This miraculous sign would prove that He too was sent by God. Then after His resurrection, Christ appeared to the apostles and over 500 other witnesses (1 Cor. 15:6).
In closing, I just wanted to say that there are numerous signs that tell us we are living in the end times. There are natural signs, spiritual signs, sociological signs, technological signs, political signs and many more. In future postings I will go into detail regarding the signs of the end times and discerning the times that we are living in. Till then I’ll leave you with this: Often, people experience anxiety when they think about the future; however, it does not have to be that way. For those who know God, thoughts of the future bring eagerness and comfort. For example, describing a woman who knows and trusts God, Proverbs 31:25 says, “She smiles at the future.”
Oscar