Whatever Will Be, Will Be
It has become popular among professing Christians to adopt an almost Zen-like detachment from reason and study, along with a fatalistic belief that everything and everyone is destined, scripted, or otherwise being moved like chess pieces through life and history. They believe in some vague purpose or goal, but deny any who disagree the right to be specific about it-- especially if it is based upon scripture, and even more so if it involves Bible prophecy.
I’ve written before about how difficult it has become to explain the gospel to many professing believers, but it is equally difficult to wake them up to the incredible events of our time in the light of prophecy. And just as they will point to the many interpretations of scripture to claim that anyone confident in what the gospel is must be arrogant, so also they will point to even the most carefully researched interpretation of prophecy and take it as proof that such a person is both arrogant and foolhardy. But this is what God has to say about it:
Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.That is “what will be”! The Bible is not just another book of lofty sayings and cryptic guesses, but the deliberate, planned, and executed will of God. All that God has said will happen, will happen exactly as stated long ago. There are many good prophecy websites (such as this one) tracking current events that are setting up in uncanny detail the final chapter in the age of corrupt human/satanic rule. The “birth pangs” Jesus talked about in Mt. 24 are doing exactly what literal birth pangs do: increase in frequency and intensity, to the point where one event doesn’t stop before the next one begins.Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness. I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
-- Isaiah 46:8-13
So at one level there really is a chess game being played-- the level of nations and the laws of nature. Yet individually we always have choices, because that’s what the gospel and the final judgment are all about. It’s a matter of choosing sides, of pledging allegience either to God or self and Satan. Many wish for whatever is behind “door number three” as in the old TV game show Let’s Make A Deal, but the number of choices is not up to us, though our pride would have it otherwise. Yet as I’ve said many times, it shouldn’t be a difficult decision at all, because all God asks is for us to reconcile to Him via faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. The only difficult thing about it is that it means letting go of our pride.
One of the reasons some people no longer believe Bible prophecy is because they have decided that the wrath of Satan and mankind are “hell on earth”, such that there is no need for any eternal hell. But neither of those are the wrath of God on a defiant and evil world. God will judge the wicked; this should (but amazingly isn’t in many cases) be what the suffering have to look forward to, since the tables will be turned. They who lash out at anyone that “judges” (what they call it when others dare to express their convictions) have imagined themselves to be the only ones who know the character and will of God. They are confident that they have it all figured out-- while they flame those who are equally confident but disagree.
But I trust God; I know that there will be both justice against the perpetrators and mercy for the victims. God alone will judge who had opportunity to grasp the gospel and who knowingly rejected it. Yet this is most definitely NOT an excuse to refuse to spread the “narrow way” of the true gospel. Whether we know how God will sort it all out or not, our mission is to tell everyone that they must turn away from self-pride and be reconciled to God through faith in the risen Jesus (Acts 17:30). It is NOT arrogant to obey this divine mandate! And when we judge whether someone has understood the gospel but rejected it, we are NOT “playing God” because this judgment is only for this life, to keep the church pure and safe. There is nothing that sickens Jesus more than people who are so passive and devoid of convictions that they are “lukewarm water” (Rev. 3:16). Well, they DO have convictions-- but only that other people shouldn’t have any!
We are on the cusp of divine retribution on this evil world, the likes of which has never been seen before (Mt. 24:21). Walk confidently along the Way, stand strong in the Truth, and follow the One who gives Life. Don’t be a mocker like those described in 2 Peter 3, who are like brides that would prefer that their groom would not come for them and even revile those who can hardly wait. Earn the crown given only to those who long to see their Savior (2 Tim. 4:8), while you keep busy doing the work of the Kingdom of God by spreading the gospel and being “salt and light” in the world.