He didn’t wade too deeply in to meteorological theory but did point out how we easily can discern weather patterns and recognize when a change is coming. He emphasized their ability to do this right after calling them ‘Hypocrites!” (3). That’s when He rebuked them for their apparent inability to ‘discern the signs of the times’.
The ‘signs of the times’. Who has never heard that expression before? ‘Signs of the times’ is staple jargon in most ‘bible-believing-churches’. It usually has to do with our almost obsessive interest in the ‘end times’ and trying to figure out when the return of Christ will occur, despite Jesus’s own admission that nobody knows that day or hour. (Matt. 24:36) But we sure persist in trying to nail down an approximate time.
I have plenty of memories of my conversion back in 1980 and getting hooked up in a church where that was the only thing we ever seemed to discuss. A popular ‘end times preacher’ had come out with his newest book chronicling how the 80’s were the countdown to Armageddon. As a young 20 year old covert, I was absolutely convinced that we’d all be out of here long before the turn of the century and the idea of ever having to put kids through college? Ha...no worries there. Have I mentioned to you that today I am a very proud Papa to two darling twin grandsons? ;- )
I smile thinking back on those early years of having it all figured out. I mean, we were moving full steam ahead to having a ‘one world government and church’ and everyone was going to have microchips embedded in their hand or forehead and the Illuminati were plotting and a one world currency was coming. And if that was not enough to fill your imagination, we had all these natural disasters occurring at an alarmingly increasing rate with earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes. This was before global warning and climate change was a ‘thing’.
There was always some bible prophesy conference you could attend in most any city on any given weekend where charts and graph and a boatload of data was provided as confirmation that we were nearing the final days before a rapture whisked all the saints out before God lowered the ‘Boom’ on this sinful planet. Those could prompt interesting debates as folks argued as to when exactly this ‘exodus’ would occur...prior to, midway, or post tribulation. Hence the phrase, “Pre, Mid, or Post-Trib” believers.
I’m not here to argue as to whether all these things will or will not occur at some point in the future. But there are two points I can share that is a given. Nearly every generation of believers have had strong inclinations that they were living in the ‘end times’. Paul mentions in one of his letters how the ‘ends of the ages has come’. (1 Cor. 10:11). Heb. 1:2 uses the expression how God has spoken to us in these ‘last days’, and John even takes it up a notch by writing “Little children, it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18) then talking about ‘antichrist coming’. Why Paul even had to calm the nerves of some believers who feared they had ‘missed the rapture’. (2 Thess. 2:1-2)
The other point I wanted to make, regarding weather, is there have always been changing weather patterns, and global warmings, and cooling’s, not to mention untold numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and hurricanes and tornados, etc. Our world has always faced droughts and ‘historic’ flooding’s. I can remember back years ago every time I heard a news report about another major earthquake, there was that sense of excitement that rose up in side thinking, “see...the end is near”!
You do realize that every generation experiences their own personal ‘end times’, yes?
So where am I going with all this today? Glad you asked. I just want to ‘plant some seed’ for your consideration about ‘signs of the times’ and discerning weather patterns or other ‘natural’ occurrences that take place in our world today. And let’s go to the gospel of Mark where we read his account of the parable of the sower. It is in 4:13 where we read where Jesus asked His disciples, whom He was now alone with,: “Do you not understand this parable? How then...will you understand all the parables?”
I also like to always mention a key point in this conversation He had with them sharing that understanding the ‘mysteries of the kingdom’ are only reserved for those who have come to Him with their whole heart. (vs. 11)
Jesus had just shared a rather simple story with the multitudes talking about a man who went and had some seed to sow. The seed, we are told, fell amongst various soils, like a trodden down path, and stony ground and among thorny bushes and such. He makes mention about how in some cases, birds swoop down and devour the seed so obviously, nothing ever grows from it. But when alone with His disciples, he begins to expound on this story offering further insight. I would even use the term, ‘spiritual insight’.
While the ‘birds of the air’ seems like a perfectly natural occurrence that we have all witnessed at one time or another, look what Jesus says they represents there in vs.15: The birds represent “Satan” who “comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts”. (You might also make note of Luke 8:12 for even further insight to this occurrence)
So Jesus used a very natural example to suggest something ‘spiritual’ was taking place. He equates the ‘birds of the air’ (Mark 4:4) with our spiritual enemy, the devil. This one insight can ‘open up’ many more verses in the bible in both OT and NT. I don’t believe we should assume that every single mention of birds in the bible represents demons/the devil, but you might start seeing some more dots connected when you do come across various passages. And not only with birds but also ‘beast of the field’. Peter likened the devil as a ‘roaring lion’. (1 Pet. 5:8) Jesus referred to false teachers being disguised as ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’. (Matt. 7:15). He also draws a link to ‘serpents and scorpions’ when talking about the power of the enemy in Luke 10:19.
I have used the term ‘serpent food’ in repeated postings drawing our attention to the curse that was placed on the ‘serpent’ back in Genesis 3:14 where he was to ‘eat dust all the days of his life’, then pointing out how man’s ‘flesh is made from dust’. Why does Jesus lead us to ‘put to death the flesh nature’? Because it is what the devil feeds on and how he operates in our past sinful nature/lives. (Eph. 2:1-3). When we operate or act out in the ‘flesh’, we ‘give place to the devil’. (Eph. 4:27). As I said the other day, the best way to get rid of roaches is to remove their ‘food source’.
Now look at Deut. 28:26 where just one, of many curses, are spelled out for those who transgress God’s laws (sin- 1 John 3:4). Their ‘carcass’ becomes food for all the birds of the air and beast of the earth’. Might go peek at Ps.78:2 as well. Do you know what a ‘carcass’ is? It’s a ‘dead body’. And here is where this gets interesting. Jesus had been teaching about the days leading up to His return and he talked how it would be as in the days of Noah and how a ‘flood’ would come and ‘take people away’ to ‘destruction’. (Matt. 24:39; Luke 17:27)
I can remember back when hearing how there would be ‘two in the field and one would be taken and the other left’ having that explained, erroneously, as the ‘rapture’. Jesus was asked where they were being taken to by some disciples and Jesus replied: “Wherever the carcass/body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” (Luke 17:37)
When you are out driving around and you see a large group of buzzards swarming together, it’s pretty easy to conclude what is nearby....a dead body(animal). So what does Paul say will happen if we continue to live for this flesh nature in Rom. 8:13? We will surely ‘die’. Now turn to Revelation 3:1 where Jesus confronts the church at Sardis and tells them that even though they have a name or reputation of being ‘alive’, they are, in His eyes...’dead’. Jesus was telling them: ‘You, church at Sardis, are a dead body’.
Fair warning...we are going to ‘stretch’ here for a moment and IF there is anything to this, God will confirm it to you. Don’t jump to conclusions unless the Spirit makes it real to you. We know that in the last days, many people will be taken ‘captive’ by ‘other gospels and follow ‘other Jesuses’ while receiving ‘another spirit’. (2 Cor. 11:2-4). Any gospel other than the one Jesus taught will not lead you to be conformed to the nature and image of Christ. (Rom. 8:29). It will merely teach you to live out a ‘form of godliness’. If this flesh is not dwelt with, you cannot experience the ‘life’ Jesus came to offer us all. (John 10:10). You remain dead because of the sins of the flesh. (Eph. 2:1).
The Book of Revelation speaks to a false church system in the last days and the case could be made that this is what ‘Mystery Babylon’ represents (Rev. 17:5). Yeah...I also remember years ago being told that was the Roman Catholic Church. IF by chance, God was calling people out of their deadness, their ‘state of sleep’ and/or deception, a ‘remnant’ by chance...then Rev. 18:1-2 offers up some interesting food for thought. Go take a look at that now.
Probably not a great place to leave you here with today, but simply consider this: What if...all these ‘fires and floods’ and ‘earthquakes’ and ‘whirlwinds’ that we see on the news all the time, were simply just that...natural occurrences in the world environment. But...what if they were merely outward signs of a ‘spiritual’ unleashing of something even more destructive. We read throughout scripture how God’s ‘wrath’ (which is being revealed even now Rom. 1:18) is likened to ‘fire and floods’ and whirlwinds and earthquakes’.
If we are just preoccupied with the natural occurrences, like the Pharisees were in Matt. 16, then we are missing out on what might really be happening in the ‘spiritual world’ as Jesus taught His disciples regarding those ‘birds in the air’. And while people want to wage war against a swarm of ‘locusts’, is it possible they represent something else as well? (Rev. 9:1-3). Go finish up reading Daniel 12 and Lord willing, I’ll see you here tomorrow.
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