A Time to Comfort
We’re living in a time of prophetic dichotomy. That is, we’re in a moment very similar to a time Bible prophecy says things will be like when humanity experiences the end of this Age of Grace.
This dichotomy—a significant difference between two things that otherwise should match up—is that things on the economic front seem headed in a positive direction. All the while, things tending toward nuclear war and global cataclysm seem to be surging into the most terrible time of human history.
Despite reports of developing economic collapse and shortages amounting to famine-like conditions, reports to the contrary tell of ports full of shipments and shelves full of products here in America. At the same time, there’s no getting around it: The rumors of war—and war itself—seemingly can’t be avoided. That war would, the experts say, quickly make the leap to the nuclear variety. Life on earth will, if this happens, mean the end of humankind at some point.
Jesus Himself has told of such a scenario. He said if He didn’t return to put an end to the destruction, no “flesh” would “be saved” (Matthew 24:22). The Lord also said people will be buying, selling, marrying, planting, and building when He is next revealed and intervenes into the affairs of wicked humankind. He said it will be business as usual—not all-out nuclear war or world-rending famine—at the moment of that intervention (Luke 17:28-30).
While this president is, I believe, about to be instrumental in producing an economic boom in business like the conditions the cultural immorality-vexed Lot was experiencing in his days in Sodom, at the same time. we seem to be poised for nuclear extinction. We indeed face a genuine dichotomy!
In regard to the building movement toward war, a recent news item adds enlightenment to the predicament:
[British Labour PM Sir Keir] Starmer, Macron, new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, plus the unelected EU apparatus under Ursula von der Leyen all seem to be avid for war with Russia. They are insane, of course, and not just because their combined militaries are a joke. They stirred the pot badly over the weekend, helping Ukraine carry out drone attacks against Russian air defense bases as far afield as Siberia and outside Murmansk, way up north on the Barents Sea. The bold attack was apparently carried out after a year-and-a-half of planning, using tractor-trailer trucks to transport concealed drones in on-board shipping containers deep into Russia. The drones took out Russian aircraft enabled to launch cruise missiles and long-range radar detection planes, all tolled estimated at $7-billion damage. The gambit would have required NATO satellite targeting assistance.
You might recall a week ago, Chancellor Merz declared that Germany gave Ukraine “permission” to carry out long-range strikes into Russia. Smooth move, Friedrich. He is, apparently, unaware that in so doing, he automatically gave Russia permission to strike deep into Germany as well, which Russia has not yet done. Instead, it replied with missile strikes against Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kyiv, little more than a routine smack-back, but perhaps an ominous prelude to worse in the offing…
Russia wants to conclude this war. Mr. Trump wants to end it, too. Mr. Zelenskyy, maybe not so much, since his fate is only secure as long as the war keeps going and he is not overthrown by his own wingmen.
Neither the US nor the NATO / EU axis will participate in the Istanbul peace talks directly, but you can suppose that Merz, Macron, Starmer, and von der Leyen are looking to stir the pot in the background. You might conclude that war is all they’ve got left as summer draws near and each of them face a European population primed to explode at its feckless, noxious, incompetent leadership. I would expect much more fighting in the streets of the European capitals going forward, and falling governments. It could prove hard to put these Humpty Dumpties back together, with years of political chaos following. (“Bedlam Is in The Air,” Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge, authored by James Howard Kunstler, The Widening Gyre, June 2, 2025)
So, it looks as if believers during this Age of Grace (Church Age) are confronted by what would, by the secular world of unregenerate minds, be considered a biblical contradiction. But since God cannot lie, and Jesus Christ is God, there can be no contradiction. There is an answer to the seeming prophetic dichotomy.
The explanation for this seeming division of Bible prophecy—on the one hand, business as usual, and on the other, world-rending catastrophism—is given by Jesus in His “days of Lot” prophecy.
The division—the prophetic dichotomy—is foretold and explained by Jesus in, again, what I believe is the most relevant of all prophecies for this exact moment.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).
Here is Jesus’ explanation: “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”
The impending, world-rending war—the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads at present—is on heavenly hold until a certain condition is met. All believers in Jesus Christ—the only righteousness God sees on this fallen planet—must be, as was righteous Lot, removed before all-out war and destruction can begin falling in judgment.
God’s Word—which is Jesus’ Word, because He is the Word (John 1:1)—tells us, through the Apostle Paul, the truth wrapped up in this moment of removal. They are the words of our Lord when He presented a mystery to His immediate disciples while sitting atop the Mount of Olives:
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
The Holy Spirit commissioned the Apostle Paul to reveal that “mystery” Jesus told His immediate disciples that day.
Paul, saying, “Behold, I show you a mystery” (1 Corinthians 15:5), thus prophesied the following:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
There can be little doubt in the spiritual hearts and minds of believers who truly study God’s prophetic word and genuinely observe these times in which we live that our removal, our rescue—like Lot’s from Sodom—as Jesus and Paul said, must be at any moment.
Paul’s final word upon describing that Rapture promise was:
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
Let us “look up and lift up our heads, for our redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Thus, we can find, and offer to others, great comfort in these exciting days of anticipation of Christ’s Words: “Come up here!”
—Terry
The Rewards of Watching for Jesus’ Appearing
My parents owned a trucking company that began many years ago by catering to farmers with such services as hauling their livestock to the Chicago Stockyards. One of my dad’s customers lived in a large two-story farmhouse that had a pinnacle rising above the roof with windows on all sides.
I remember asking my dad about this unusual feature, and he told me that the previous owner of the house built it as a place to watch for the Lord’s return. The idea of someone building a room for that purpose impressed me as a small child (I was about eight years old at the time).
I now understand that although the watchtower might have displayed faith in Jesus’ promises, it’s not what Jesus had in mind when He instructed us to “watch” for His coming.
A Clear Command
Today, the Lord’s command for us to “watch” is perhaps the most ignored of all His direct instructions to His followers. I can’t remember hearing a sermon about it, although many pastors stress the necessity of the Great Commission because the Lord commanded us to spread the Gospel to the world.
After the Lord answered the disciples’ questions regarding the signs that would mark His “coming and the end of the age” in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:3ff), He gave His followers (us) three specific instructions:
- “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).
- “Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
- “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13).
As we see the fulfillment of all that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 rapidly approaching our world, is this not the time we especially need to “stay awake,” “be ready,” and “watch”?
How Do We Watch for Jesus’ Appearing?
Although the farmer who built the watchtower may have had good intentions, Jesus had other things in mind than sitting in a room in anticipation of His return. Let’s take a look at how watching for His return applies to our day.
Watching begins with believing what Scripture says about the end times. In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked this question at the end of His parable about the persistent widow, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Why would the Lord insert this particular question at the end of a parable about the need for persistence in prayer? Just as it takes faith to persevere in bringing our requests before the Lord, does it not also take the same determination to remain hopeful of His imminent appearing as we wait year after year?
Watchfulness begins with believing what Scripture reveals about Jesus’ imminent appearing. Christians who lack such a belief often place all their hope in future aspirations for this life rather than eternity, and as a result, remain blind to how world events point to the nearness of the Rapture.
We watch by paying attention to the many signs of the rapidly approaching Tribulation. The Rapture can happen at any moment and without warning. However, because it occurs before the start of the seven-year Tribulation, we take note of the many signs pointing to the nearness of this time of God’s wrath upon the earth. We understand how the news headlines of our day align with how Scripture describes the last days.
As I write, I’m reading about the widespread civil unrest planned for this coming Saturday, June 14, in over one hundred cities across the US. The lawlessness that’s growing exponentially in American cities at this moment aligns perfectly with what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11. The apostle described antichrist as a “man of lawlessness” and noted that the “mystery of lawlessness” was already at work in preparation for his arrival on the world scene. The current and dramatic uptick in lawlessness is but one more sign of the nearing seven-year Tribulation that heralds the soon appearing of Jesus.
Watching leads to serving the Lord. In the parable of the “faithful and wise servant,” Jesus said, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Matthew 24:46). Believing what the Bible says about His return leads to activity, not passivity.
As believers, we all have diverse gifts and different callings in the body of Christ (see Romans 12:3-8). Knowing that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing should cause us to be all the more faithful in serving the Lord in the way He has gifted us and called us to serve and share the hope we have as the Lord gives us the opportunity to do so.
Watching implies that we are ready. Of course, readiness for the Lord’s return implies that we have already put our trust in Jesus as our Savior and depend on Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. All those in Christ will participate in the Rapture regardless of what they believe about it.
As New Testament saints, we strive to maintain a close walk with our Savior so we are ready to suddenly find ourselves in His glorious presence (read 1 John 2:28).
The Rewards of Watching for Jesus’ Appearing
Yes, it’s been two thousand years since Jesus commanded His followers to watch for His coming, and yet we are still waiting. Is there any advantage in it for our day? Yes, I believe there’s a great blessing in such awareness, in watching for His appearing.
The Apostle Paul, who initially anticipated that the Rapture might happen in his lifetime, wrote that the Lord will reward all who love Jesus’ appearing with a “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). There’s always been a reward for those who long for Jesus’ appearing, the Rapture. Not only that, but there’s also a temporal reward for our continued watchfulness.
The encouragement and reassurance that such awareness of Jesus’ imminent appearing bring doesn’t depend on how soon it might happen, but rather arises from the absolute certainty that someday Jesus will come to take us home to glory, thoroughly destroy the lawless kingdom of antichrist, and establish His rule of justice throughout the nations.
Yes, the growing violence in our cities, government corruption, and constant rumors of wars distress us at times. However, calmness returns to our souls as we remember that the Bible said the end times would look like this and that God remains sovereignly in control of all things.
There’s a blessedness from knowing that Jesus might appear at any moment that’s difficult to describe, yet it constantly restores peace to my soul as I watch for His imminent appearing.
-Jonathan