Friday was VE Day which marked 75 years since the formal end of World War 2 in Europe. When we look at the horrific impact of WW2 – 60-80 million people died, 6 million of those were Jews – it’s hard to see any positives. Currently, we’re in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic where so far over 255,000 have died worldwide. Whatever events we see in the world around us it’s important to put our trust in God as we can easily let world events distract us from our creator. God’s plans will not be stopped as we see the stage being set for the coming King.
With global events, big or small, we have to try and see it from God’s perspective. WW2 brought an end to a number of barbaric regimes, most notably the Third Reich and Imperial Japan which helped make the world safer for democracy. It also showed the need for the Jewish people to have their own country, which led to the recreation of the State of Israel in 1948. With Jesus Christ returning and the Bible speaking about Israel’s existence at that time, we can see how WW2 helped forward the process for Israel to become a nation again. WW2 was God shaking the nations for His purpose, at the centre of His plan is his son, Jesus Christ, so nothing is going to stop God’s plans from happening.
In the midst of the current pandemic it’s hard to see why this is happening, we have to trust this is part of God’s plan. It is also a time for us to check our priorities and ensure we are focusing our attention on the right things.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the Lord. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’ (Haggai 1:7-11)
In this passage we can see the people of Israel are being selfish and looking to provide for themselves instead of putting God first, this resulted in punishment. As we are at a critical place in God’s timeline, it’s essential our efforts are lead by Him and not our own self-interests otherwise they will come to nothing.
Also, knowing what Scripture says about the future, what we see around us has to be preparing the stage. As mobile apps are ready to record our details to help track the virus, the hunt for a vaccine is moving quickly forward. We can see the fear that has come upon our societies as people are desperate for a cure. New legislation could be brought in requiring everyone to have this vaccine which will lead to even more need to control who has and hasn’t. Some suggest that a vaccine could be used to administer some kind of chip in the body, aligning us to the One World System and the mark of the beast as Scripture says. Whatever the mark of the beast turns out to be, we believe everyone taking this mark will be aware of the gravity of what they are doing so we feel it is less unlikely it will done deceitfully. However, we are living in times when we need to be alert and watching.
One thing is for sure, we have an amazing God who knew that we were going to be alive at this point in time, nothing can stand against His plans so we have to find out where we fit in.
Steve went into more detail in a recent sermon for St. Andrews Baptist church, feel free to listen below:
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