Success and Failure Blog

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan has raised fears. This is not only because – until the last decade and the awful Indian Ocean one – the word “tsunami” was rarely mentioned. Nuclear power has also come under scrutiny, with worries now even about rain water.

Some claim that a major North American quake is imminent, while others are more worried about the present – after all, people have been saying one was imminent for years now.

In one way, nothing can be considered totally safe. While people don’t slip on banana peels like in the cartoons every day, enough accidents happen in our work places, transportation, and other things that we can say with certainty that anything can happen. However, what most people are concerned with is the probability of nuclear accidents – and they claim that the probably is too great.

A closer look reveals, however, that there are quite a few nuclear plants that have never had an accident. Is it a good idea to build a plant right on a fault line? No. However, with so many earthquakes happening in different places, places where there have not been quakes for a long time and where scientists rarely expect them – exactly as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 – without an understanding of the future, without knowing what will take place, one is left with only doubt and worry.

Do we have to live this way, though? Of course not. There is an alternative.

Jesus didn’t just predict earthquakes in diverse places. He predicted wars and rumors of wars, many false Messiahs, and other things. He predicted they would increase in severity, as they have – just like birth pangs. Jesus also promised that He would protect His people.

This protection is not protection from things of this world, of course. He says in John 16:33, “In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We might be protected from evil in this world, of course; but this is a sinful, fallen world that was created to be perfect, only to have people corrupt it through their free choice.

“Choices,” you might say, “like using nuclear power?” Maybe, maybe not. That is for each of us to decide on our own. However, the fact that Japan did not immediately suffer a Chernobyl-style disaster after several major system failures shows that it can be pretty safe unless the most *severe* of natural disasters occurs.

More to the point is the fact that human choices have thrown this world into chaos. Whether or not you consider nuclear power to be one, you have to admit things are pretty bad int his world. Thankfully, there is a way to have peace.

God’s Word calls it the “peace that passes understanding,” and says that we shouldn’t worry (be “full of care”) about things but that with everything by prayer and supplication we should make our requests known to God. (Philippians 4:6-7) Even in the midst of this incredible turmoil, people can have peace. How?

See, we’ve all made bad choices. No, we haven’t all done things that have led to many people suffering, but we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God. See, we’ve all said, thought, or done things that cause us to fall short of God’s mark of perfection. We’d love to have a perfect world, but sadly, we have all gone astray and turned each one to his own way. And, the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

In other words, God did send a Messiah, someone to save the world. He came Himself, in form of a man. He had a job to do at His first coming, though; that was to take the punishment for all of our sins. He did this when He died on the cross and rose from the dead the third day.

It doesn’t help just to know those facts, though. You have to make it personal. See, you, like me and everyone else, wants justice, right? Someday, there will be justice for everyone. That justice will come when God looks on us and sees one of two things.

Each one of us has sinned, and that causes us to fall short of the glory of God. So, that means we must be born again, because the way we were born the first time, we were born sinners. Each person msut call on Jesus Chrsit to come and save them by changing them on the inside.

That way, God can see a person who has been changed. It is a person for whom Christ died, the just for the unjust. When He sees that, he knows the debt for that person has been paid.

When Jesus comes into a person’s heart, He gives peace. Sometimes they will fail, of course. I know I was probably overly worried about the Gulf oil spill last year, but I still knew Jesus could take care of it, and He did. The ecosystem is damaged, but not nearly as badly as it could have been. Had I kept my eyes on Jesus totally, I would have had perfect understanding. However, nobody can do that all the time, because we are sinner. We still have that sin nature.

Jesus saves us from the punishment for sin, though, and then He saves us from the power of sin, so that when we are tempted, we can turn to Him for help.

Thankfully, one day, Jesus will save us from the very presence of sin.

Is nuclear power safe? Probably. The chances of the accident that happened occurring again are faine. However, there will be a major earthquake at the end of the Tribulation period that makes the Japan one seem small by comparison. However, at that point, everything will be shaken, and a nuclear disaster will be the least of mankind’s worries.

Don’t think it can’t happen – this last earthquake moved a whole island several feet! And, it also moved the planet’s axis slightly!

Do, however, realize you can be safe in the arms of Jesus just by calling on Him by faith to save you from your sins and by repenting, letting Him change you on the inside. For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Don’t put it off. Yes, we could be safe from another one for a long while. But, we also know that anything can happen. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. And, the way to avoid worrying is by knowing your futgure is secure in Jesus, through believing that His death and resurrection for you personally, and calling on Him to save you from your sins.

First Haiti has a devastating earthquake. Then, a large quake hits near Japan. Now, Chile has one of the largest in recorded history, at 8.8! The number of major quakes in recent years seems to be increasing. These three came in just 2 months. An enormous 2004 quake not only caused the Asian tsunami, it sped the earth’s rotation momentarily. It’s enough to make people wonder if the end of the world is near.

Earthquakes are scary, as unlike bad weather, they come without warning. Aftershocks can occur for days, weeks, sometimes months. They cause terrible destruction. The increase in intensity in recent years is much like that of birth pangs that a woman feels before giving birth. Interestingly, Jesus uses the same analogy when he speaks of the end. And, “earthquakes in diverse places” – very different places, some of which don’t normally have them, thouhg some will – are one of the signs.

In Matthew 24, Jesus tells his disciples of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. They ask Him several questions. First, they ask when that destruction would happen, and then they ask about the signs of the end of the world. Jesus takes much more time on the second question than the first. He knew He would inspire His Word to be written, and that it was much more important to answer the second. Matthew 24-25 and Luke 21 each cover different aspects of what Jesus said.

Notice, first, that He answers the part about the destruction of Jerusalem in Luke 21:9. This is important because it gives us context to assure us that Matthew 24-25 is about the future, His coming and the end of the world. There are false Christs now, but there were also false Christs back then. There was lots of commotion, but the end – that is, the end of the world – did not come in 70 AD. Luke 21 talks more about the end, but also says that “before these things” – before the great earthquakes, famine, etc. – the disciples would be persecuted, and there would be a time of great trouble in Jerusalem.

However, the destruction of Jerusalem was horrible, but it was not the worst ever in history, as Mat. 24:21 says the end will be. That event in 70 AD was a picture of something that would happen in the future. We know because Matthew 24:15 says that before the end – during the Tribulation – there will be another temple. An abomination – a horrible, blasphemous thing – will be set up in the temple. That didn’t happen in 70 AD. Quite the opposite, in fact; no stone was left upon another. (The “Western Wall,” or “Wailing Wall,” now in Jerusalem is from an old Roman fort built after that.)

There’s another reason we know Jesus is speaking of the end of the world in Matthew 24. the first word of Mat. 25 – “Then” – shows Jesus is talking about the same subject. He’s drawing an analogy to situations in the end times. Yes, the parable of the talents later in that chapter has numerous spiritual applications for the Church, but there is a plain, literal meaning to Scripture, too.

“So, wait,” you ask, “you mean these earthquakes in diverse places are a sign we’re definitely near the end of the world?” Not quite. We are close – I don’t know how close. It is not given to us to know the day or the hour.

But, other signs also point to us being near, if not in, the end times: Famines, pestilence (major diseases), iniquity (lawlessness) running rampant, the love of many becoming cold (we talk about love, but that true, unconditional love isn’t there), and so on. These things are increasing more and more, just like birth pangs. There is, in fact, a site called “Rapture Ready” with a “Rapture index” that measures all of these. (The entire site is filled with good material, and forums, for those who wish to know more.)

“So, wait,” you ask, “are we really that close to the end? How do I prepare?” Like Jesus with His disciples’ questions, I will only gloss over the first, because the second is most crucial. Yes, we are getting close, but unlike a sonogram, these “birth pangs” can only be estimated. We just know they keep growing.

As for how to prepare, be confident that the Church has not replaced Israel. There will be another temple – in fact, Israelis have been preparing for it for years. God will once again deal with his chosen people as a nation, not just as individuals. Before He does this, though, something will happen which you can prepare for: The Rapture. “For the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds, to be meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:16-17)

To know you’ll be caught up with Him, it’s as easy as ABC.

Admit you’re a sinner, that you fall short of God’s perfect glory. When sin was brought into the world through man’s disobedience, it spread everywhere, and caused all things to start decaying. We all fall short of His perfection through our sin. We don’t’ always mean to sin, and some people try really hard to be nice al the time. But, we can’t; we’re not perfect. That sin keeps us out of Heaven, except a price was paid to get us in.

Beleve that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead. He is God in flesh, and he paid that price to get you into Heaven. It was the perfect sacrifice, the just for the unjust. He took the punishment you and I and everyone else deserves for our sin – for the fact we fall short of God’s perfection.

Choose to receive Him as your Savior by simple faith. That means heart knowledge, not just head knowledge. Call on Him to save you from your sins, receiving what He did by simple faith, as being for you personally. Because, He died for each of us personally. He had each person on mind who ever lived when he died on that cross, and frose again. All you have to do is receive Him.

If you do, He will come into your heart and change you on the inside, helping you be more like Him in His love, compassion, goodness, peace, and so many other wonderful things. He’ll give you peace so you wojn’t have to worry about all the problems of this world, and so you can get through them with His help. Because, we don’t know how long it will be before He comes for us. But, whether we rise first, or meet Him in the air, we have His promise that He will come for us before things get as horrible as it will in the Tribulation.

These things we see here, these massive earthquakes and such, are only the beginning of sorrows. But, Jesus has promised to help us through, if we just trust Him – with our souls, and then with our lives. And, if He says it’s our time to leave this world, by knowing Him as Savior, we can be certain that we will be forever with Him, in that awesome place where there is no pain, no suffering, and no tears.