WHAT SHOLD CHIRISTIANS DO, WHEN END-TIMES CHAOS IS APPROACHING ?
Wold wide missionary work is the last sign of the end of times. End-times chaos is approaching.
What Christians should do as the first priority now is...
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.”’ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the LORD. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’ Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD. So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. HAGGAI 1.
When we look at current global events, it seems that all nations are involved in some form of turmoil or in the midst of natural or human disasters. Even in Christian countries persecutions against Jews and Christians are growing.
Israel is facing difficulty in forming her government, while the threat of a Middle East war outbreak looms. Emergence of a New humanism, a one-world religion and government, redefining truth and intentionally distorting God's creation, is a global trend.
Thus, end-times chaos is approaching.
This summer, Japan was battered by a series of strong Typhoons that were meant to occur only once in half a century, which not only caused many casualties, and damaged houses and properties but also left a trace of terrible consequences.
After the typhoons passed, there were still areas where suspension of water supply and a blackout lasted for a long time. Not to speak of the sorrow accompanying the loss of precious human life, the toll on people is immeasurable.
What is happening? What can we do and help victims? What is the ultimate and best solution?
A biblical perspective on the current world situation can be found in God’s answer to post-exile Israelites in Haggai’s day. Prophet Haggai was a contemporary of Zechariah. Both were used by God to encourage the remnant of Israel to rebuild the Second Jerusalem Temple in the ruins of the once-great temple.
It was sixteen years earlier that the Persian emperor Cyrus had issued a decree to permit the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. No more than 50,000 God believing Jews returned to their promised land with a newly appointed governor of Judah, Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, while the majority of the exiled Jews preferred to remain in Babylon.
They initially worked hard in clearing the temple court of rubble and replacing the altar of burnt offerings, and the daily ritual of sacrifices began. Although the foundation of the temple had been laid when neighbouring tribes, especially the Samaritans, the secular occupants in an impoverished land started showing their hostility against the Jews, they gradually lost their first enthusiasm for the Lord and His temple, by putting their priority on themselves, and valuing peace with surrounding hostile occupants. Cyrus’ successor, Cambyses was pressured to stop the work and thus, time passed.
Under such difficult conditions, God’s Word came to Haggai. God was displeased with the remnant Jews who ceased working and rationalised it as God’s will: ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house’.
After the repetition of His Word:
‘Give careful thought to your ways’,God revealed that their heart attitude was wrong – that they had abandoned their obedience to Him to get on with what God initially commanded them, i.e., rebuilding His temple.
Instead of that, they had put worldly matter such as their own well-being, their own houses, their own business and friendship with the neighbouring hostile occupants before God and His temple. God commanded three things to His unfaithful remnant:
‘Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house’.God’s instruction was very simple.
If they put Him first, God would bless their work abundantly so that they won’t be confronted with either natural- and human-disasters or lack of success in every area of their lives.
In contrast, if their zeal turned to only their own interests, God will cause the droughts, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, monsoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, riots and as a result, no crops, no fruits, no waters, no processed food, trade deficits… in order to awaken to the fact that God works all things together for good:
‘we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Ro.8:28).God had foretold the Israelites that natural disasters such as famine are often an instrument of His wrath for their disobedience in Deu.28:20-24 et al.
As the Jews accepted Haggai’s message and obeyed the Lord, by immediately putting it into action, God protected them from interference by the enemy and made their work effective. Consequently, they finished rebuilding the temple in less than four years.
If we apply this biblical principle to our days, in view of all that is happening today, recognising what sort of days we are living in, Christians have no time to waste but actively proclaim the Word of God. Now is high time for Christians to put God and His kingdom first.
It is each Christian’s responsibility to reach out to non-believing people with the Word. Otherwise, how can the Word spread? Beyond current global turmoil and disasters, from the divine perspective, the truth must be boldly declared that the salvation of the soul is of utmost importance.