This world is a much larger place than many of us truly understand, we may see the scope of it on our television screens, but until we attempt to actually travel somewhere very distant from where we are, it can be difficult to comprehend. Not that long ago in relation to the time we have been on this earth as a people, distance meant hardship, walking, or some form of animal transport was the normal and accepted means of travel, not sitting on an airplane moving through the atmosphere at well over six hundred miles an hour, travel meant much planning, many provisions, and most generally some form of danger.
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4) The last days then, their beginning? I would suggest approximately the mid to late 1950’s or so. You see, days in the Scripture does not infer in at least in this passage a twenty-four-hour period of time, for God is gracious, and desires to give men the ability to change, to call upon Him and repent. The times are set, they will not change, we are by His mercies only given advanced warnings of their approach.
You may call the advent of the internet the sign of the “knowledge” part of this Scripture verse if you like, for with it nearly every subject imaginable can be found, from the wisdom of God to the folly of man, to irrelevant, useless trivial pursuits. The point is this, not one single born-again believer should be surprised by the days we now find ourselves in, we have had many decades to ponder the verses, we have been given much warning, and so the subtlety of our adversary becomes that much more discernable.
Have you ever wondered why God Almighty is going to send a strong delusion upon people in these final days, why He would find it necessary to do so when Satan is indeed so very good at subtlety, at deception, and diversion, and most people are so easily deceived? Believe it or not, there are still some cognitive, deductive based individuals on this planet, those who do the research, who check all the possible facts, those that do as it was said by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes books, “When all the facts are displayed, and found wanting, whatever is left over, no matter how absurd, is surely the truth.”
Yet the truths of these individuals is most generally based only on the materialistic, what can be recognized by the five senses we possess, the spiritual is very rarely debated as possible. It is the reason that Satan will need complete obedience, the reason that the fear of personal retribution will ensue to those who will not obey, but as for the reason that God will send a great delusion, and on whom He chooses to do so, I cannot say, no man can. “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” (Romans 9:18)
Of course, in these days that we are living, travel of nearly every sort is being limited, and will continue to be further restricted as the final days approach, our adversary always does all he can to do the inverse of what the Word of God says. The knowledge is nothing more than the wisdom of men, “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” (1 Cor. 1:19)
The point in case in this letter to you my friends is this, do not spend all of your time constantly searching the internet and other media devices for the “next new sign” of His sure and imminent return, they will arrive in the proper time, for how can you continue to lead the lost to the cross, how can you stand in these evil days (Eph. 6:13) if you are continuously consumed with the desire to find the next new sign. What profit could it possibly bring to you, you have the Word of God at your disposal, everything you need to know is there, and you should have been prepared a very long time ago for these days.
I cannot stress this enough, do the research each day if you desire, but drastically limit that time, spend your time in the Scriptures, spend your hours contemplating Christ, not what Christ is going to do, but what He has already done for you, who He is, and then share that with all you meet at every opportunity. They are living in fear, we live in the light of the truth, show them this path, show them the path that must be walked by all who desire to serve in humility.
