Birth Pangs?
By Allen Epling
We have all been affected by the Corona Virus pandemic and wondered how something so small could have effected the world in such a profound way. We have been forced to worship in our homes, seen our economy shut down, and all activity in the outside world has come to a halt. Some Christians are asking, “Is this the beginning of the end?".
Jesus prophesied in several places what would take place in the “End of Days”. One such prophesy that seems related to this event is given in the New Testament in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5.
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
How does this passage relate to what’s happening in the world today?
Before the child is born, the expectant mother goes through “birth pangs” which are regular contractions that come in a series of timed events that are each more painful than the previous. We have come to take for granted the regular occurrence of “Flue Season" each Fall and early Winter. What is different this year is the severity of the disease. Worldwide, it is expected that more than a million deaths will be attributed to this disease.
What is scary is that many scientists and doctors expect a recurrence of the epidemic come this Fall. Will it be more severe the second time around, and will it be that way EACH Fall for the near future, perhaps each time, more severe because of increasing resistance to our medicines?
Does this remind you of the passage above? Each occurrence if it happens will be regular and painful, perhaps more than each previous one.
Does this signal “The End of Days"?
Maybe not, but it is very similar to the prophesy mentioned above. Jesus said, “No man will know the day or the hour, not even the angels in Heaven, except for the Father". This is referencing the ancient Galilean wedding custom of the return of the bridegroom to take his bride back to the house he has built for her.
The hour and day of his return was determined only by the Father of the groom.
Even the groom didn’t know when it would happen. It was expected that after the house was built, that one night at midnight, the father would tell the groom, “Go take your bride", and he would do what he had been waiting for.
The bride-to-be was supposed to be ready for his return at any day or hour.
Everything in the New Testament leads up to Jesus taking a bride to Heaven with him. The bride of course is the church. Every Christian is supposed to be ready for his return to retrieve the church. That event is commonly called “the Rapture”, and it is the time when the Holy Spirit will leave the Earth with the church, in whose hearts it dwells, as apposed to the Pentecostal event where the Holy Spirit came down to Earth, entered the hearts of believers, and the church was created.
The question each of us must consider is this. If this is a sign of the final days, are we ready for the return of Jesus to take his bride, the church, and us with it? The severity of the crises we now experience is like nothing we have ever seen in our lifetime and such events must be considered as a possible sign. Jesus told us to look for signs of the season and this is one sign that is definitely determined by the “season”.
