.............................................................................................................................................................
Signs
in the
Heavens
For those who take heed, God provides a
way of escape from His wrath
by Chris Moen
God will use supernatural heavenly signs to
signal the beginning of His intervention to punish humanity for our sins — and
to rescue us from self-destruction.
Through the prophet Joel, God
spoke of astonishing signs in the heavens before “the coming of the
great and awesome day of the LORD.”
God gave this message to Joel
for those living in the last days, saying: “I will show wonders in the
heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great
and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:30-31).
The prophet Isaiah also
described these same events: “For the stars of heaven and their
constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going
forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine” (Isaiah 13:10).
The sixth seal in the book of Revelation
The prophecies of Joel and
Isaiah match the events described by the apostle John in a vision of the end
time: “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a
great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon
became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree
drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as
a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of
its place” (Revelation 6:12-14).
The focus of this article is on the events
included in this sixth seal, which is the prelude to God’s wrath on the earth.
The reason God will orchestrate these signs in
the heavens is to announce that He will now intervene in human affairs in a
very visible way.
Jesus mentioned that the
heavenly signs would follow right on the heels of another prophesied
event: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).
Tribulation precedes the signs in the heavens
What was Jesus referring to
when He said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days”?
The Great Tribulation will be a time of terrible
trial for the modern-day descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later renamed
Israel).
These people will suffer famines and pestilence,
military invasion and enslavement.
Additionally, the Tribulation
will be a time of widespread persecution against the saints of the true Church
of God at the end of the age. This group of people is called “the
Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).
The “tribulation of
those days” and “the time of Jacob’s trouble” spoken
of by the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1) also refer to this
Tribulation spoken of by Jesus.
A vivid picture
If one were to look at a combined list of the
cosmic events prophesied by the prophets Joel, Isaiah, Jesus and the apostle
John, it would look something like this:
· A great earthquake occurs.
· Every mountain and island will
move out of its place.
· Blood and fire and pillars of
smoke will be seen.
· The sun, moon and stars will
have their light blocked, making them appear as dark as night.
· The moon will appear blood
red.
· The stars of heaven will
appear to be falling to the earth.
· The sky will be seen receding
like a scroll when it is rolled up.
Immediately after these stunning cosmic
disturbances, a series of great plagues will quickly follow, each accompanied
with the sound of a trumpet (Revelation 8 and 9).
These plagues will precede the return of Jesus
Christ to earth in glory and majesty to establish a kingdom of peace and
righteousness.
Immediately after these stunning cosmic
disturbances, a series of great plagues will quickly follow, each accompanied
with the sound of a trumpet (Revelation 8 and 9).
These plagues will precede the return of Jesus
Christ to earth in glory and majesty to establish a kingdom of peace and
righteousness.
Who will control these signs and wonders?
When these signs in the heavens and the earth
occur, scientists and weather forecasters may attempt to explain them away as
extreme, cyclical events, rather than signs from God.
To be sure, Bible prophecy
clearly shows God will be the author of them. These signs will constitute the
beginning of what the prophet Joel called “the coming of the great and
awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31).
It is hard to imagine, but large numbers of
unconcerned people are likely to dismiss these signs as being random occurrences.
But those who are watching and praying will discern the reason for the
signs (1
Thessalonians 5:2-4).
Throughout the Bible, God says that He controls
all the elements of His physical creation and that He uses them either to bless
or to curse mankind.
The book of Job reveals God’s
authority over nature:
“He stirs up the sea with His
power, and by His understanding He breaks up the storm” (Job 26:12).
“He covers His hands with
lightning, and commands it to strike” (Job 36:32).
“He scatters His bright clouds.
And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever
He commands them on the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come, whether
for correction, or for His land, or for mercy” (Job 37:11-13).
So, we clearly see that God controls all the
powers of the heavens and the earth — from climate conditions to earthquakes
and volcanoes to the orbits of the planets and the positions of the massive
constellations in deep space.
Biblical descriptions
The ancient languages of the Bible didn’t have
the modern scientific definitions we give to atmospheric conditions today.
Consider the following: God speaks of the sun,
moon and stars being darkened; and this has happened at various times on
smaller scales. A dense, dark cloud of smoke can certainly block light to the
earth over an area of land.
For instance, in June 1991 the second largest
volcanic eruption of the 20th century (in terms of the amount of material
spewed out) took place on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
The volume of ash emitted from the June 15 peak
eruption was about 1.2 cubic miles (five cubic kilometers).
The giant, umbrella-shaped eruption cloud was
250 miles (400 kilometers) in diameter and 21 miles (34 kilometers) high. By
mid-afternoon, areas around the volcano were pitch-dark (Encyclopaedia Britannica
Online, article, “Volcano/Mount Pinatubo”).
Mount Pinatubo is just one in a series of more
than 450 volcanoes along the ring of fire circling the Pacific Ocean.
It is certainly possible that a series of
simultaneous volcanic eruptions could shut out sunlight for a period of time
across large portions of the earth.
For another example, a passage
such as Matthew 24:39 — “the stars will fall from heaven” —
could describe any number of deep space objects plummeting to the earth rather
than actual stars colliding with earth.
Meteorites, comets and asteroids are among the
objects that could collide with earth’s atmosphere causing the appearance of a
shower of falling stars.
Astronomers estimate that between 18,000 and
84,000 meteorites 10 grams or larger impact the earth’s surface each year (Cornell University’s “Ask an
Astronomer” website, “How Many Meteorites Hit Earth Each Year?”).
If the heavenly signs to come are caused by
natural laws of physics, God will orchestrate these events in an extreme and
stunning display.
If these wonders are supernatural, God can
certainly alter the courses of the heavenly bodies and the natural elements
from what has been the norm.
God always sends a message of warning first
Not wishing for any to perish, God’s practice
has been to send prophets to warn people to repent of their sins prior to
inflicting punishment for disobedience (Amos 3:7).
God says, “For I have no
pleasure in the death of one who dies” (Ezekiel 18:32).
Will God get the attention of the vast
population of the earth before that time? Will He find lasting, heartfelt
changes in human behavior before He unleashes His anger?
Jesus posed an important
question to His disciples and us today: “Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
He predicted that the latter days would be very
evil and that many would simply ignore the signs of the times much like the
people in Noah’s day ignored the warning message before the Flood came (Matthew 24:37-39).
After the heavenly signs are
witnessed in various parts of the earth, “then the sign of the Son of
Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and
great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Those who never took heed of these warning signs
will be in terror at the appearance of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus promised the
faithful: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up
your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
For those who take heed, God provides a way of
escape from His wrath.
Chris
Moen currently serves as associate
pastor of the combined Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Michigan, congregation of
the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.
No comments:
Post a Comment