I hope this week was a good one for you! I don't know about you, but I've started seeing signs here and there. Hence the topic for this week! This subject has always interested me, ever since I was a young kid trying to sort out all the events described in Revelation. I was not very successful then! But I think I'm getting closer as the Holy Spirit leads me in my studies.
In fact, that's exactly where we're going to start: Revelation. But to allay any disappointment, unfortunately I don't have any shiny nuggets of knowledge from there yet! We're going to just glance there and see that there are signs prophesied for the end times. When we look, we see things like a great earthquake, the sun being black, the moon being as blood, stars falling to heaven (Revelation 6:12, 13)...and the list goes on. These signs are also referenced by Jesus when telling His disciples what we should expect at the end (Matthew 24:29).
If we jump over to Revelation 8:10 an even bigger sign is given: a star (meteor) falling into a third of the rivers and on the fountains of waters. When you think about that, it's pretty amazing, isn't it? Meteors don't just materialize out of thin...space, do they? Now, don't get me wrong, Yehovah could do that if He wanted to. And honestly, mankind wouldn't likely know if He did or not. Even with all our observatories, space telescopes and technology, it almost takes random happenstance to be looking in the right place in the right area of the sky with the right magnification to find asteroids of the size that could cause serious damage to the planet. And even then, it depends on whether or not it's reflective enough and the sun is in the right spot relative to it to reflect the light in our direction so we could see it.
But either way, we know Yehovah follows rules. In fact, as the King of the Universe, He made all the rules! So we know He follows the rules set out that govern the universe He created, and that means the meteor prophesied, called Wormwood (Revelation 8:11), is floating out there somewhere on a trajectory that will meet our planet at some point in the future. Let THAT sink in! He tells us that signs are one of the reasons He created the heavens we see (Genesis 1:14, Daniel 6:27). And the motion of Wormwood was set in place who knows how long ago such that it will arrive at the exact time that it is supposed to according to His plan!
Well that's on a very macro level, isn't it? What does that all mean to you and me? I mean, we might not even be here when all that stuff happens. Well, let's take a look at some historical events to try to bring it closer to home. First, I have mentioned the book of Jasher in a previous writing and I just wanted to point out that this book is referenced in scriptural texts (Joshua 10:13, 2 Samuel 1:18) since I neglected to mention that before. Now when we take a look at Abraham (who was Abram at the time), we see that God blessed him (Genesis 12:2). And when we take a look at a more detailed account of his life in the book of Jasher we see that when Lot, his nephew, was taken by the enemy he got his 318 trained servants together and got his nephew back, killing about 800,000 of the enemy (Jasher 16:2-7, also in less detail in Genesis 14). That's a pretty big sign to me! A sign of being blessed by Yehovah.
Now, I don't propose that you and I are nearly at the level of Abraham! But my purpose in pointing this account out, is Yehovah did not tell Abraham to go do this. Yet, he was successful in defeating 800,000 men with only 318, a seemingly impossible task. This was clearly an effort he initiated himself, and God blessed him with a victory based on His promise in Genesis 12:2. Remember, Yehovah is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), meaning he does not play favorites.
I'm not taking 318 men to attack 800,000, but I do face challenges day to day, and I can tell you that I see His help and blessing in my life as well, even in the little things. I have seen my schedule conflicts at work resolved without any action on my part, events planned by others that I happened to need as well, and just the other day a torrential downpour stopped just at the right time, and just long enough, for me to be able to dryly walk from my car to the house! These things happened when I was just thinking they might be nice to happen, not even from praying about them. These are what I consider "good gifts," and all those come from Him (James 1:17).
There are a few things that come to mind about His signs. First is as my old self I would see these occurrences as just happenstance. "Luck," if you will. But more and more I'm realizing that it's Him, and one of the reasons for that is the piling evidence that mankind has no clue what's actually happening in the universe. They make up theories about dark matter and black holes to explain what they can't figure out and then pass them off as facts. It's the same with our bodies. They just came out with a study that shows our white blood cell count is affected by changes in the sun and geomagnetic activity. Never even theorized or proposed before, yet doctors and scientists claim to know enough about how we work that they can produce medicines and injections to give us for various reasons and tell us they're safe. I believe this is part of the strong delusion we're warned about (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
The other thing that comes to mind is the amazing love He has for us. So much that He would not only give us signs to look for in order to prepare us for things, signs that he has set out long before they occur, but also work in our lives in the big and little things to bless us.
But it is important that we remember to be blessed we must do everything to the glory of Yehovah (Matthew 5:16, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Corinthians 10:31) and in Jesus' name, giving thanks to Yehovah (Colossians 3:17). So keep this in mind in everything you do, day in and day out, and look for those little signs He gives you to know He's there in your life blessing you!
God bless you and have a great week!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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