This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affections, trucebreakers… despisers of those who are good… lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (selected passages)

This is an evil generation; they seek a sign, and there shall be no sign given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. Luke 11:29b

I'm not real good at reading signs. When I'm traveling down the road in the car, I have to be almost on top of a mileage sign to see what it says. The big overhead signs are OK, but even with those I have to be closer than most people do to make them out. Inside a large building, like a hospital, I sometimes have to stop at corners and stare to make sure I'm seeing what I think is there. Airports are even worse, especially the large ones like that in Atlanta.

Other signs are a bit clearer. I can recognize a red sky in morning or a red sky at night. I can see leaves turned inside out on the trees, often a sign of impending rain, or dark, threatening clouds. Stop signs are no problem, and neither are traffic lights or turn signals. Still, I'm prone to miss things, or see things that aren't really there. Many Christians with 20/20 vision have the same problem, but with different kinds of signs.

The Bible has a great deal to say about signs. God gave Noah a rainbow as a sign, a reminder of his promise not to destroy the world again by flood. Our Lord said he would not give signs to prove the truth of who he was, other than that of Jonah. Just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of a great fish, so Christ spent three days in the belly of the earth. He mentioned the sign given Daniel, the "abomination of desolation" in the temple, as a sign that the great tribulation had come (Mark 13:14). His own Second Coming, he said, would not be subtle or hidden, but a great light in the clouds, plain for all to see (Matthew 24:27).

Paul also had some things to say about the signs of the end times. In his letter to Timothy, he mentions characteristics of people in the last days. Anyone familiar with the world as it is now could hardly miss the parallels between the list he gives and what we see in the headlines and in our day to day lives. Just as one example, in no other time in history have people devoted so much time, money, and energy in the pursuit of pleasure. Consider the amount of time we spend in front of TV, the billions we spend on movies, and the millions who flock to pleasure palaces in Las Vegas and other tourist meccas. If you're a bankrupt country like Cuba, where do you turn to bring in lots of ready cash? Tourism, of course, which has replaced sugar as Castro's chief source of revenue.

Rebellion against parents? Not only is it commonplace, but many of our television shows and movies glorify it, or even condone it. Part of what our youth-oriented culture involves is a decrease of respect for older Americans. Once looked to and respected for their wisdom and experience, the elderly are now shunted aside and ignored, left to associate with others of their age. We have no time for our parents once they get old, and big corporations make every effort to nudge, or push, out employees as they draw closer to retirement.

Lovers of themselves? This is the Loreal generation, the successor of the "Me" generation. Not only am I number one, but I'm worth all of the money and attention I want to lavish on myself. The question isn't just "What's in it for me?" but "If it's not for me, who cares?" It's interesting to consider all of the hyphenated "self" words we use; to name just a few: self-actualization, self-awareness, self-confidence, self-consciousness, self-destructiveness, self-improvement, and self-sufficiency. There are a myriad of "self-help" and "do-it-yourself" books out there. The New Age movement is centered around the idea that man is his own God, and that's what worship of self ultimately involves.

For a generation, and more, especially since the founding of modern Israel, many Christians have believed, and proclaimed, that the end is indeed near. Every Biblical sign that points to it has been fulfilled, they say. Whether you believe in the "Pre-Trib" rapture of the church, as most do, or the Mid or Post positions, we can't bury our heads in the sands like so many ostriches and pretend that all is well, and that this world will endure forever. If we choose to believe the Bible, and not insist on believing only selected parts of it, we must concede that there will be a definite point in time when time itself comes to an end. Even if we take comfort in believing that the church will be gone when the Tribulation comes, we can't dodge our responsibility as believers. "Occupy," Jesus said, "Until I come." (Luke 19:13) That doesn't mean just taking up space; it means fulfilling our role as his witnesses. The things we say and do have an eternal impact, not only in our own lives, but in those of others. "Go ye therefore and teach all nations," (Matthew 28:19) and "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25) We must take time to stop and read the signs, to be sure we're headed in the right direction.

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JESUS IS the Bridge Ministries

Beneath His Wings Devotionals - Vol. 2