The world seems like it could be crumbling away right under our feet. Fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding, sickness and pandemics, greed, hate, wars and rumors of wars, and the sexualization of everything. You can’t hop on social media, or turn on your TV without seeing the chaos. It would not be inconceivable to think that perhaps we’ve hit the ceiling, reached the end of the road. In Luke 21 Jesus gives some details of what it will look like right before the time of the end, and with every passing day, not even passing week, we’re down to daily developments of things happening, our world seems to line up more and more with Jesus’ description. We can’t know for sure if this is that time or not, but the Bible does promise it will come. Regardless we don’t know what tomorrow holds in our own lives. It’s important to be ready and look at the symptoms.
The Symptoms
Our world suppresses the truth of God, filled instead with man’s “truths”. A world filled with those who don’t believe in such a God, a Creator of all things. They don’t want to hear it, they don’t want to be on the hook for their actions and they don’t want to face the reality of punishment for immoral choices and actions. But Romans 1 tells us that the existence of God is fully evident, because He has shown it to us by what He has made, all of creation. Those against Jesus want to pit science against Him, but science is the discovery and understanding of the things of this ordered universe — which God has made. Sit and think about the science we have, the knowledge of cells and how they work, the very real coded-structure of DNA, the perfect alignment of our solar system, which is so precise, that if it was off even by a fraction, life could not exist as it does. God tells us because creation reveals Him to us, we are all without excuse. We know He exists, we can suppress that knowledge as much as we want to, but in reality He is very real and we all know it at some level.
In our lives we all, at least at some point, fail to glorify God or show gratitude for His great and marvelous works, but instead we turn to other things. Lies created by people, for people who’s hearts detest the very God who lovingly created them and Who is willing to accept them into His kingdom if they turn to Him. We put our faith into government, into people, into money, things and nature. Not a single one of those will do anything for you when the world is tearing itself apart. In fact they can quickly become your enemy in times of disaster. The very state of this world bears the symptoms of a horrible disease.
The Cause
So what happens when your city, your state, your country, this world is filled with people who don’t want anything to do with Jesus Christ? As it states in Romans 1:24-32, God delivers them over to the desires of their hearts. He allows them to run to the things they want. All those sinful things they desire, which lead to the condition in which our world is in. Over the past few decades alone we’ve seen a very noticeable increase in behavior that goes against the very Word of God. Acts and lifestyles which are in complete and total rebellion to His laws, the very laws which are meant to protect us, not hold us down. The causes are clear as day, seen everywhere you turn, even when you look in the mirror.
And what do you see in the mirror, someone good? Maybe you even consider yourself a Christian. You condemn those who steal, lie, murder, commit homosexuality, etc. While you fill your computer and TV screens with pornography, you cuss people out in traffic, you steal, you fornicate, you lust after your co-worker or neighbor’s wife. If that is you, then the Bible describes you as self-righteous and a hypocrite. I’m not writing this to condemn anyone, but to help you understand that we’re all sinners who can do nothing on our own to save ourselves from our sin. Creation shows us that there is a very real God, the Bible has the track record to show us that this God is Jesus and He will judge everyone according to what they have done. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (
The Diagnosis
So what’s the diagnoses, what is this disease? The disease is death. A spiritual death which will keep you away from the presence of God for eternity, in a place the Bible describes as hell. And not only that, it can lead to a premature bodily death. Murder and theft can lead to you getting killed or given the death penalty for your crimes, sexual sin can lead to death-causing diseases or violent disputes, greed and selfishness can lead to murder. The fact is without a cure, we are lost, done for and the world is extremely symptomatic. Everything horrible we see in this life is a direct result of our sin either through direct sinful actions or as a punishment from God for them. Nations guided and filled with majorities of people who despise Jesus Christ will face judgement in some form, at some point, just like ancient Egypt, the Canaanites, Sodom and Gomorrah, and all who reject Jesus.
The Cure
Fortunately there is a cure and that cure is from God. Romans 5 says it better than I ever could:
Despite all the horrible things we’ve done, God loves us so much that He made a way, a cure from death. He took on the form of a human being, in Jesus, He took on the punishment of sin for all of us and looked death in the face and defeated it. Would you give your life for someone? How about for a criminal? Jesus did, that’s exactly how much God loves us. The sad reality is not everyone will take the cure, this free gift of life, but it’s there for all, God does not withhold it. He would rather you had accepted, then not (
Listen! Jesus may be reaching out to you now, saying “come on! take my hand”, all you have to do is repent, which is to turn away from your sin and self-righteousness, turning to Jesus and taking a hold of His hand, trusting your very life to Him alone. Act now, because you don’t know what tomorrow holds.