Parkstone

Biblical Answer

“MI5 is fighting to contain a rapidly growing terrorist threat, with at least 30 top-priority plots under investigation, the head of the security service said yesterday. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said Islamic militants linked to al-Qa’eda were recruiting teenagers to carry out suicide attacks and will use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons if they get the chance”.

“Iraq faces greater bloodshed and instability if British troops are withdrawn too early, Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday. ‘The situation in Iraq is dangerous and volatile’ she said. ‘We are at a critical juncture with the fate of that country hanging in the balance. There is the very real risk of even greater instability and bloodshed than we have already seen’ ”.

“The bodies of 18 Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli artillery fire were buried in the north Gazan town of Hanoun yesterday as Israel raised its alert level in anticipation of revenge suicide bombings. As the funeral was held, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, described the shelling… as a ‘technical error’ that resulted in a ‘tragedy’”.

Three short extracts all taken from the same newspaper, the Daily Telegraph of Friday, 10 November 2006. None of us really needs reminding just how much hate and violence fills our world. Is this what God intended when he made the world? Is God going to stand by and let our planet degenerate further and further into chaos? Can it really get any worse?

Perhaps surprisingly the Bible tells us that it has been this bad before. Then God acted decisively and He will do so again. Then, He said in effect “enough is enough”. The account of this occurs early in our Bibles, in chapter six of Genesis.

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth’ ” (Genesis 6vv11-13).

So all but eight people were destroyed; men and women who cared nothing for God or His ways perished because they were offensive to God. The significance of this is rather greater than we might think. Jesus knew that after his crucifixion and resurrection he would ascend to heaven to be with his Father. But he also knew that in due course he would return. And he likened the days in which he would return to earth to the days of Noah’s time. Listen to theses words of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel record.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24vv37-39).

Jesus has prefaced these words with the statement that “…about that day or hour no-one knows…only the Father” (Matthew 24v36). We all have to watch and to try to ensure we are ready for his return – in Matthew 25 we have some examples about how we can do that by reference to the parables of the ten bridesmaids, the bags of gold and the sheep and goats.

Jesus IS coming back to establish the kingdom of God, here on the earth. About this the apostle Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica.

“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night…But you, brothers and sisters are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief …since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake (alive) or asleep (dead), we may live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5vv1,4,8-10).

Some well-intentioned men and women may strive to bring about peace now. But true and lasting peace will elude mankind until the kingdom of God is established under the rulership of the Lord Jesus Christ – the Prince of Peace. Of this time we are told –

“He (the Lord) will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more” (Isaiah 2v4).

For the faithful believer there is, though, the opportunity to be at peace now despite the ugliness all about us.

“…since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand…Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him” (Romans 5vv1,2,9).

The peaceable kingdom of God IS coming – world events may suggest sooner rather than later. To be part of that kingdom we need to accept in faith the Bible as the word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. We must try to get our lives in order.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for the Lord’s people. Nor should there be any obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: no immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no-one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 5vv3-6).

Whilst we cannot be certain when Jesus will come, let’s make the right choice while we still have time.