We focus on prophecy each week for about five-minutes.
Christians who are critical, even sarcastic, about emphasizing prophecy argue that it’s study has only negative effects on your walk with the Lord.
Not according to the apostle Peter. He spent a great deal of time in his second letter discussing things to come. Then he asked, “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (3:11-12).
The apostle Paul wrote extensively about the resurrection and rapture of the church in his first letter to the Thessalonians. Then he told them to “comfort one another with these words.”
Personal holiness and comfort are just two of the spiritual by- products of studying Bible prophecy.
There are approximately 500 yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies. Knowing what they say, we expect to see certain trends in the world.
We’re not saying these trends are the fulfillment of prophecy – only that things seem to be unfolding just as you’d expect.
Jesus told us that the Last Days would “be like the days of Noah.” He specified what He meant when He said, “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…” (Matthew 24:38).
In Genesis chapter six, the Bible describes the marriages Jesus was referring to:
Gen 6:2 …the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose…
Gen 6:4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
The “sons of God” were fallen angels, and they were marrying and mating with human women. Their offspring were called Nephilim. They are described, both in the Bible and in other literature of the time, as a race of cannibalistic giants.
Nephilim are mentioned many, many times in the Bible. One notable example: The Israelites refused to go into the Promised Land because the twelve spies saw Nephilim there, claiming the their soldiers looked like grasshoppers by way of comparison.
They weren’t just slightly taller men. They were agile warriors – described in other Bible passages as up to 15’ tall.
The fallen angels in Noah’s day were corrupting the human race by manipulating our DNA.
You would therefore expect folks to be seriously manipulating DNA… And they are – both in human beings, and in animals.
The most recent article I read was titled, Mutated Animals Show Why Gene Editing Isn’t Ready for Human Trials.
Excerpts:
The scientific community has largely denounced He Jiankui, the researcher who recently claimed to have used CRISPR to alter the genomes of twin babies in China.
A key critique has been that CRISPR’s effects aren’t understood well enough to guarantee the twins’ wellbeing. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal published a disturbing story about the unintended consequences CRISPR gene editing has had on animals, and it paints a portrait of a technology nowhere near ready for human trials.
The WSJ article describes a number of examples of geneticists using CRISPR to modify livestock to exhibit favorable traits.
In each example the editing worked, but it also produced unintended side effects:
Rabbits and pigs modified to grow leaner also grew enlarged tongues and extra vertebrae, respectively.
Goats modified to grow longer cashmere wool grew too large in the womb for natural births.
Cattle that scientists modified to sport lighter coats died as calves.
Read the Bible and this is the kind of Last Days trend you’d expect.
As believers, we expect that Jesus could return at any moment.
Jesus promised He’d return to rapture His church – which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any-moment) event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!