As we joined our Israeli friends to celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem 50 years ago last month, my thoughts turned toward what lies ahead for the “City of Peace.” Its future will be agonizing, then glorious.
The ancient Bible prophets foretold that Jerusalem will become the focal point of the world. In many ways, it already is. We know the nations of the world will gather against it. And we know that, eventually, many of those nations will coalesce into formidable blocs that will oppose each other. Those groups of like-minded nations will become enemies that go to war against each other.
The Bible says that it will culminate in a final conflict that the world has come to know as “Armageddon.” “Armageddon” looms over the world. It’s never far from the thoughts of even unbelievers. Despite a prevalent lack of Bible literacy, fascination with Armageddon continues to grow. People seem to sense that something huge and awful will soon befall our planet, but few know any specifics.
The Bible, on the other hand, gives a great deal of specific information about both the war of Armageddon and the events surrounding it. Daniel 11 gives us one of the most compelling accounts. There have been but the merest glimpses of Armageddon-like violence in world history. Dresden, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, to name a few. The real thing will be awful beyond words. The Bible predicts the number of deaths during that time as like nothing else imaginable.
The world system will fall apart in almost every way, starting with the totalitarian rule of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. War will rage with all the fury modern technology makes possible. Never before in history could humanity do to itself what the Bible describes in the last 3 1/2 years before Jesus Christ returns to earth.
But now, it can do just that. And in today’s newspaper you can read the specific names of the nations described by the ancient prophets as they begin to align themselves in perfect accordance with what the Bible predicts. Which can only mean one thing: the “time of the end” described to Daniel by the angel Gabriel is upon us.
If you are not ready for the sudden appearing of Jesus Christ to call away all true believers, then don’t hesitate to accept the full gift of pardon that His death on Calvary purchased for you. And if you have received His pardon and follow Him, then now is the time to make certain your family, your friends, and those around you have heard the Good News and have had a chance to prepare themselves, too.