Terry James: Savoir's Signals

Savior’s Signals!

Terry James

Every word in the Bible is true—and from God the Holy Spirit. Even when the great apostle Paul says that it is he, not the Lord, saying something, if it’s in the Bible, it is absolute truth and put there by God Himself.

Every one of God’s prophets are to be given 100 percent attention. Their words were given by the Creator to all of humanity to heed, without exception. How much more important, then, are the words of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead, when He foretells the future?

Signals of prophetic import flashing with every so-called breaking news item today inundate our senses. Video and spoken reports fill our eyes and ears with the message that the end of the age is drawing to a close. Jesus’ own words of prophecy for this late hour of human history are in our headlines—thus this article’s title, “Savior’s Signals!”.

Lately it seems to me that prophetic signals directly from Jesus fill the news. I would like for us to look at a few of these.

To begin, we’ll consider the scriptural passages that most prominently feature Christ’s words about the end of the age. It’s a familiar portion recorded as part of the Olivet Discourse.

From the book of Luke, we first look at Jesus’ answers to His disciples’ questions about signs for His Second Coming.

Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:10–11)

Pestilences

Jesus framed all of His Olivet Discourse teaching about things to come by saying the signals will be like birth pangs the closer to the end of the age mankind’s history gets. These signals will increase in frequency and intensity just before He comes back to the earth to put an end to this wicked system that is hopelessly corrupt and rebellious.

The most significant signal in this regard at this moment is wrapped in the term “pestilence.”

I don’t have to remind you of this fact. The COVID-19 pandemic is all we’ve heard about since early this year.

The disease has completely disrupted life not just in America, but around the world. There have been many pestilences throughout the centuries, but none has been as disruptive to all peoples of earth at the same time as the coronavirus.

Compared to recent flu epidemics, it is not as deadly in terms of the number of deaths as counted against the total number of cases. Yet COVID-19 has brought changes and immense fear to the nation and the world at levels never seen in history. This, I believe, makes the current pandemic a signal of pestilence in the end of the age like that prophesied by the Lord.

I believe this to be particularly the case because of all the other such signals converging simultaneously, indicating this to be the time of birth pangs for the wind-up of the age.

Seas and Waves Roaring

We look at the next signal Jesus gave for the end of the age that is prominent in current news. It is found a bit farther along in the Luke account of the Olivet Discourse. Here, the Lord repeats for emphasis part of His earlier words:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. (Luke 21:25)

Here, Jesus puts together—side by side—two things that leap from our headlines hourly. Specifically, nations with perplexity and the sea and the waves roaring.

Never in my memory, nor I think in history, has there been the simultaneous convergence of these things on a global basis. Most every part of the world is now in some sort of crisis.

In our America, we are suffering through the pandemic, financial meltdown, riots and anarchy, and political differences, with irrationality at its core that pits race against race and ideology against ideology. The seas of humanity are roaring across the globe. We are all too familiar with the burning of major cities, murders, and lawlessness that wants to do away with all rule of law.

We see the same rioting and roaring of humanity in places like Beirut, Lebanon, where the people have witnessed hundreds dead, with anger over government not being able to protect against violence and being nonresponsive to the carnage suffered by the multitudes. The pattern is the same in many places in Europe and beyond. Jesus’ words should be resounding in the spiritual senses of every Christian. His return to put an end to the satanically inspired evil is on the brink.

Hatred for Christ

The veracity of the third signal Jesus gave that shows exactly how near the end of this age we must be is made manifest in our news. The Lord said:

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. (John 15: 18–20)

One stunning item that brought home the hatred for Jesus Christ is a stark reminder of just where this generation is in its absolute rebellion against Heaven. This excerpt about a professor at a public university needs no further comment to make the point.

Timothy Snediker, a PhD student in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Santa Barbara California, made a deeply disturbing Twitter post last week. Andrew Trask queried, “If you were dropped 2000 years back in time with nothing but the knowledge you have now—what would you do?” Snediker replied, “Easy. I would find and assassinate Jesus of Nazareth.”

He added, “Theologically speaking, it would be really important to get him before his calling and ministry begins, so that gives me roughly a decade to make it to Palestine, locate the man and make my move.”…

It is interesting to note that the Religious Studies Department is a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter and the move to defund the police.

“The Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara stands in support of the protests for racial justice and police reform. Black lives matter.”

“We commonly hear that ‘The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic’,” the department statement reads. “This sentiment echoes in the national response to the current health crisis, where thousands and thousands have died and continue to die daily…

Apparently the department’s concern for life does not extend to Jews living in Judea, no matter what the era. (“Religious Studies Professor Tweets Plan to Go Back In Time to Kill Jesus,” by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz , Breaking Israel News, Latest News)

There can be no doubt that our Savior has given those who will observe the times through the prism of Bible prophecy signals of just how near the Tribulation is. That means He must be at the doors of Heaven getting ready to call His saints of this Age of Grace to Himself. Here is what He tells us of this generation of believers:

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is…Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:32–33; 35–37)