Have you ever ignored a sign and ended up in trouble?
Signs are often there for a reason.
The most ominous sign I’ve ever seen was at Waddamana Power Station.
It read "Warning – very high voltage. Near approach will cause instant death!"
But there is a difference.
Jesus spoke of signs appearing in the sun, moon and stars (Lk. 21:25).
These aren’t signs pointing out the way, like a road sign does.
These are signs that draw our attention to what is yet to come.
the times.
Bushfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have also been interpreted the same way.
But are these signs?
We don’t often think of them this way.
If a comet appears in the night sky, we don’t think of it as a sign from the Lord but as an interesting natural phenomena.
When a hurricane forms, it’s merely workings of the weather; the meteorologists get to work predicting its path and whom it may affect.
It’s the same when a volcano erupts; the volcanologists set to determining what it may do next and who is in danger.
None of this is wrong.
Think of the countless lives that have been saved by being able to predict the path of a cyclone.
But we are apt to forget that God uses such for His own purposes too.
He doesn’t send evil events like cyclones and earthquakes, but He uses them as signs to remind us that the world is temporary.
The world will end one day.
But Jesus also says this: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near" (Lk. 21:29-31).
The kingdom of God is near.
That’s why Jesus tells us of these signs of the times at all.
Yes, they’re alarming and distressing and sometimes destructive, and they may affect us personally, but that’s only a symptom of sin in the world.
For those who are Christ’s, dreadful events like natural disasters, wars and upheaval function as reminders that the Lord is near! those who are Christ’s know that there are better and greater things stored up for them in heaven.
Signs of the times should not be a cause of hopelessness.
Jesus Himself said it this way: "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Lk. 21:28).
Where there is Christ, there is hope even in the midst of upheaval and disaster, because in Christ we can see through the ‘signs of the times’ to our eternal redemption.
See in the dreadful events that surround us not just the approaching end of creation, but as God has promised, the return of His Son our Saviour and our own entry into eternal life.
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- LUCAS MATUSCHKA