|
|
|
|
The Earth is Filled with Violence
The Character of the End of an Age.
July 21, 2012 - Audio, 5.13 MIN
(Links at bottom of page to download free viewers.)
The news this week has been packed with stories of senseless and dreadful violence. A shooting at a cinema in Denver Colorado left 12 people dead and 59 injured. A bus was bombed in Bulgaria killing 5 Israelis. Civil war continues in Syria with its massacres of countless civilians, and others have been killed in various assassinations, murders and gruesome acts of horror.
Hello, this is Paul Billington bringing you this week's edition of the Bible in the News – a week of carnage and brutality. Any comment on it all would fail to match the words of Scripture as they applied to the end of a previous age – way back in the book of Genesis. Let the words of Genesis chapter 6:11-13 speak for themselves:
"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."
Are we not at another point in the history of the world when those words apply yet again? There is an underlying character to society today which parallels that of which we read in Genesis chapter 6. Note verses 5 and 6 of that chapter:
"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
In that case a great flood destroyed all life upon the earth – except for the few who were saved in the ark with Noah. It is the apostle Peter who draws a parallel scene for us in 2 Peter 3:3-14. His words are:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
When we see the character of the world today and the dreadful violence and wickedness that is practiced in this world-wide Sodom and Gomorrah – what could be the purpose in preserving the present system any longer?
Surely it is the end of the age. It is time to bring things to an end so that the dawn of a new age may begin – the age of the Kingdom of God, when as we read in Acts 17:31, God now commandeth all men to repent:
"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
That is the call to each one of us. There is little time left – we need to act. We need to turn completely to God now. Let us not linger – soon it will be too late.
Join us again next week, God willing - www.bibleinthenews.com
Bible in the News provides a weekly analysis of world politics and events
in the light of Bible prophecy — the Bible in the News!
|
|
|
|
Listen in MP3 Format 
Print
