Faith in Signs and Wonders
Mark 13:31-33 KJV - 31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 32 But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Yea, hath God said? No one but the Father knows the day or the hour? Yes, God has said.
Be careful what you put your faith in. Is your faith in some sign or wonder? Is your faith in some un-Biblical prediction of His arrival? (v.32) Or is your faith in His Word? (v.31)
We need to engage with prophecy by faith, not by seeking signs and wonders.
It’s not the prints in His hand, and the piercing in His side that makes prophecy valid, it is God's character. He cannot lie.
John 20:29 KJV - 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.
"Blessed are those who have not seen," be it Old Testament saints (Hebrews 11:13), or saints to come (John 17:20-21), "and yet still believe." Thomas wouldn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he saw Jesus in the flesh.
Luke 24:45-46 KJV - 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
The Scriptures predict Christ's resurrection (Acts 2:27, Psalm 16:10). But the disciples didn't see it until after the fact. Those who had believed in Christ were disillusioned. They did not see the promise of His resurrection. When their sight failed them, so did their hope.
Like Thomas, there are many who will not believe prophecy from God's Word unless they see physical proof in their lifetime. Rather, the hope that we should have is in something that is unseen.
Romans 8:24-25 KJV - 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it].
If you see something, what is there yet to hope for? So, hope becomes dulled by constant claims that, oh, I can receive it by sight, by signs, rather than by faith. Rather, we ought to have our hope in God built up through endurance in affliction.
Romans 5:3-4 KJV - 3 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
The trying of our faith deepens our relationship with God. That is where our hope ought to be anchored.
Don’t rejoice in mere loaves and fishes—in signs and wonders—but that God has spoken. Yea, God has said.
Matthew 4:4 KJV - 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
"Man does not live by bread alone," be it a staple or a sign, "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is the same God Who upholds all things by the word of His power, and has given us His promise, that He will come again.
Taking it into our own hands to fulfill the prophecies found God's Word is like commanding stones to be made bread. If it is by God's Word that we receive the obvious, how much more is it the work of God to reveal the mystery? (2 Peter 1:20-21)
Whose timeline is it anyway? This isn't some improv prophecy show. Who is supreme? It is God Who provides the true fulfillment of prophecy.
It is not God's desire that man fulfill God's Word in his own strength and by his own devices. Such effort, at its most compelling, results in forgery. That is the deceiver's work and it will have his help. It smells of the Tower of Babel, and the breezes of Babel carry the scent of the Anti-Christ.
Foreshadowing or Fulfillment?
One of the prime issues with prophecy is that people get fixated on the foreshadowing, calling it fulfillment, and make mad folly of their faith. Those who come behind them believe the truth less and less for their false witness of it. And others, seeing how mad their caricature of faith is, mistake madness for faith and double down. Between the cynical and the caricatures, between the disillusioned and the delusional, when the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the Earth?
Titus 1:2 KJV - 2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Foreshadowing is meant to raise our awareness of the works of God. But to claim counter-biblically that I know when God’s going to do what He’s going to do is to make God a liar.
John 13:19 KJV - 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am [he].
I like the phrase “when it is come to pass.” Scripture speaks prophetically numerous times, "it shall come to pass." You will see that God speaks the truth, and you will clearly see the results. In hindsight, we will have known that prophecy was fulfilled, as I believe the case was with the foundation of the modern state of Israel.
But it is dangerous to say more than "this could be" a foreshadowing of the event until afterward. Hope in God's Word, but do not lie. To say that there is definitive proof of a Scripture about to be fulfilled, particularly when that Scripture regards Christ coming again, is to tread on dangerous ground.
Mark 13:32 KJV - 32 But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Near, Or Here?
“Near“ but not “here“ is, I believe, the best course of action, when it comes to speculation regarding signs in the sky.
Luke 21:28 KJV - 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Scripture says that when you see these signs, rejoice for your redemption draweth “nigh.” It says it is “near” not that it is “here.” We can rejoice in its nearness without calling God a liar, without saying that it is actually here.
So keep looking up, keep looking for signs, and when you see them, know that your redemption draws nigh, but do not tell humanity, “Oh Christ is coming here or Christ is coming over there.” This is an early iteration of an end-times deception.
Matthew 24:23-24 KJV - 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, God further explains that there will be lying signs and wonders to convince the world of the validity of the Anti-Christ.
Romans 10:17 KJV - 17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If your faith is in signs and wonders recorded in the Word of God, rather than in the Word of God itself—that He will come, and no man knows the day nor the hour, but that He will be faithful—then you will be in danger of being deceived by the Anti-Christ.
Do not contribute to the confusion. Do not be false witnesses of God.
Speculation may be okay so long as we are saying, "Oh, this event, come to pass, fulfills the Scripture...or it may just be a foreshadowing of that fulfillment." But we cannot say, "I know for certain on a calendar when God’s coming to bring us home."
There are fine lines between speculation and lies, between perspectives and lies, and far too many people cross that line and become false witnesses of God and His character, respectively.
Do not trust that it is "here," that man can predict Christ's return, or fulfil it by force of will. Trust that it is "near," that what God has promised, He is also able to perform (Romans 4:21).
Hope Unashamed
Romans 5:3-5 KJV - 3 And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
"Hope maketh not ashamed." But what is that hope founded on? Is it founded on speculation, on exercise of my wishful thinking, or is it founded on the Word of God in practical application?
The hope that we are not ashamed of begins in tribulation. It begins in suffering, and as we walk with the Lord, through that exercising our faith, we have a hope that does not make us ashamed.
Now, speculation that does not bear fruit might be embarrassing. But spreading the lie, that I know things that God says is impossible for me to know, brings false hope. That is a hope that will be ashamed.
Rather, let your hope be anchored in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. Through the trials of our faith, that hope, that expectation will not be cut off.
Luke 18:1, 7-8 KJV - 1 And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; ... 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
"Shall He find faith on the earth?" Yes. Will you be in that number? ...because it will be few (Matthew 24:24, above). Or are you contributing to the scarcity, to the lack and the loss, of faith? In God we trust Who cannot lie. But are we lying, and destroying people’s trust, their faith, their hope, in God?
Practical Steps
If there be speculation that something is "near," let it be labeled speculation, and let it not be said that it is "here." When we see these signs in the sky, we can rejoice that our redemption draws near.
Until then, are you walking with the Lord? Until then, are you calling people to be reconciled to the Lord? And are you doing so honestly? ...not being false witnesses of God and destroying faith.
Are you true witnesses of God in your word and in your character, so that when He comes, you will be ready, and more and more other people will be ready?
Anticipation is a good thing. We are called to look up and see that our redemption draws near. But if all that marketing is spent on lies about the second coming of Christ, whose agenda does that promote? It promotes the agenda of the father of lies.
So I'll say it one more time. Do not claim to know what God has said is impossible for you, or any angel, for that matter, to know. Not even Christ knows, but the Father does.
And the way that the Father reveals when Christ returns, is by sending Him. When it is "come to pass," in hindsight, it will make sense.
The point is, will He find you faithful? Will He find faith on the Earth?
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