By Ashlie Miller
Headlines, social media, even at church – you can’t escape talk of recent events in the Middle East or the natural disasters that have made 2023 a record-setting year. Your local pastor or the one you tune into via podcast, radio, or television may have brought it up as a prayer point, interrupted a sermon series to speak from Revelation, Daniel, and other Old Testament passages, or brought Christ’s words to warn or encourage Christians. Why all the fuss? As well as being the world’s religious center, God also sees Israel as the geographic center (Ezekiel 5:5).
At my church, our pastor (my husband) shared Christ’s words about days like these, which you may have heard Christians refer to as “end times.” The highlights of Christ’s message to his disciples, when they asked about the timing and signs of Christ’s coming and the end of the age, come from Matthew 24:
Be careful who you listen to (verses 4-5). Warnings of false teachers who had already crept into the church abound in the epistles (letters to the first-century Christians). If you wonder if false teachers pose a threat today, tune into your favorite podcast, streaming network, or social media. TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms are the new pulpits and podiums where many can say too much and hardly anything. Charisma leads the way, where anyone with enough charm or resources can influence the masses. Open your own Bible and read along while you hear someone preaching. Examine the scriptures they quote in the context of the whole passage. Are they using human reasoning or only current social contexts while ignoring specific scriptures? Warning flag! It may be time to keep scrolling or unfollow.
Do not be alarmed (verses 6-8). Rather than panic or despair as the world groans even physically through massive earthquakes, droughts, fires, floods, and nations rage (verses 6-8), we can remember that God is still good despite the evil in the world. Joni Eareckson Tada, a Christian author, artist, and speaker with quadriplegia, once said, “Sometimes, God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves.” Christians can remember that God is faithful, fulfills his promises, and accomplishes His plans despite and sometimes in spite of how man chooses to operate. The world may seem to be falling apart at times, but the end is not yet (verses 9-13).
Trust God to keep you (verse 13) – “those who endure to the end will be saved.” Remember the Sunday school song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands”? Consider also Colossians 3:3, if you believe in Christ as the way to God, dying to yourself, “your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
How kind that our Savior would remind us of these things to calm us down in times like these. That seems like enough, is it? Christ says more than that. If you want the “spoiler alert,” read verse 14 of Matthew 24. Next time, an incredible challenge and charge to Christians.
Ashlie Miller is wife to her pastor, Chad Miller, and mother to five children, all residing in Concord, NC.
