WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

Today I had a good conversation with my professor/mentor Dr. Charles Talbert. Our text for today's class was Matthew 24. Matthew 24 talks about the End of the Age and it has some strong apocalyptic imagery.

See, there were common notions of what would take place before the End. Some of these things are anti-Christ figures and a time of tribulation or suffering. John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, and even Daniel to an extent follows this theology. But they applied these to the people of their own day. Daniel saw the one who opposes God as Antiochus IV Epiphanes. John saw anti-Christ as Nero. Jesus tells his disciples that the time of tribulation was about to begin.

I chatted with Dr. Talbert today about the theologcial implications of all this. We both came to the same conclusion: that before the End of the Age, people will experience yet another a time of suffering and those who oppose Christ. I saw Adolf Hitler as anti-Christ, and there are more to come. And still yet, a time of suffering. There will be more wars and rumors of wars.

People look at what's going on in N. Korea and around the world. Does it mean that the end is near? I don't know. We can never know. But we can be sure that people make war against one another and always will - until the day our Lord comes back. So we can still expect more anti-Christ figures and a time of tribulation, as Christians anxiously await the return of our Lord.