“When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red;’ and in the morning you say ‘it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of thy sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2-3
What a beautiful sky! The clouds were thick. Huge, white and billowy, they moved across the sky like boats on the sea. The sky was streaked with gray and black, a sharp contrast to the clouds quickly passing. The wind was blowing harder, shaking the leaves from the branches and bending the weaker trees low to the ground. A storm was coming – thunder rumbling low in the distance, lightning flashing across the faraway sky. I couldn’t resist. I had to stand on the porch, the wind blowing my hair and biting my skin. It wouldn’t be long before the sky opened and released its fury.
Within minutes, I was racing to take the hanging plants from the hooks on the porch and rescue our American Flag from certain ruin. Leaves and dust were blowing in mini-cyclones across the yard as the lightning flashed closer and the thunder became louder. I still didn’t want to go inside. I wanted to watch it move in.
Rain pounded the flower garden and started a river flowing down my sidewalk. Lightning was flashing incessantly, the thunder so loud it made my eardrums hurt. That’s when I decided to go inside and watch from the living room.
Such incredible power! Trees up and down the road were broken down, the power knocked out and side streets impassible. I had seen the warnings. I knew it was coming, but I remained outside, feeling the wind’s temper rise and witnessing the lightning strikes.
Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew chapter 24 “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My Name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Our world is filled with precisely those things Christ described. Wars rage around the globe; earthquakes tear the earth apart; storms flood towns and cities; fires consume homes and acres of land; hunger ravages entire regions. Tyrants dictate whole nations. False religions are rising up, their followers killing in the name of false gods. False prophets control communities with lies and abuse. The list goes on.
It will happen in an instant, in an hour no one knows (Matthew 24:36-44). The signs are here. Our Lord is coming soon. Don’t be caught unprepared. Give your heart to Jesus today. He loves you and died for you that you may be saved.
Be ready, He is coming. The signs of the times read that it is soon.
