02-Intensity of Wars

Matthew 24:6-7,

6)”And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7)For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places.”

It is impossible to correctly understand these verses without connecting the previous statement made by our Lord. Jesus warned His disciples that as the end of the age draws near, many people would call themselves Christians. But Jesus said they would be deceived. How are they specifically deceived? What lie are these people believing that endangers their souls? The lie that says that there can be true God-given peace among nations apart from the return of Jesus to rule the nations. Most of organized Christianity today is working feverishly with political leaders to secure a threatened planet. Unless they repent they will usher in the antichrist and deny the real Christ. Remember the two-headed serpent.

How one believes about peace on earth and how it will come to pass will indicate which church he is part of. Those who are born again and look to the government of Jesus at His Second Coming are part of the true church. Those who look to the government of men are part of the harlot church of antichrist.

Notice in verses 6 and 7 that Jesus says wars are inevitable and that Christians should not be shocked and dismayed. As His children, we know that the unregenerated will always fight to the end. He´s saying that from now on, the world will be besieged with wars and revolutions. Expect for the short false peace under the antichrist, there will always be conflict in the world until He returns as the ruling Prince of Peace. Even under the antichrist there will be conflict; not so much between nations, but between the nations and God. These verses imply that men and nations will try to bring outer peace to a beaten, battered world, but that true worldwide peace can only be accomplished by His return. For it is then that Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit where he can no longer deceive the nations, (Revelation 20:3).

The true Christian will not be troubled with wars to the point where he compromises the truth to accomplish a so-called peace between men and nations. He certainly would not disobey the Lord´s command to love ones enemies by taking up arms and going off to war. The Spirit-led Christian continues to preach Godly sorrow, repentance, and faith in Jesus and His coming, as man´s only hope for peace. If peace among men and nations is not based on this foundation it will surely fall.

Jesus said that men and nations would find themselves perplexed and confused as the end of the age draws near. Trouble and crisis will fill the headlines across the continents. Crisis after crisis will occur until the world´s people are literally terrified by the threat of a nuclear exchange that could extinguish mankind. These troubles will intensify to such a point that a western political leader, aided by a deceived church system, will reach his pinnacle of glory and honor by solving the political and economic problems of the world, especially the Middle East. We´ll discuss this in the next chapter, “The Antichrist.” Simply put, wars and rumors of wars culminate in a cry from religious and political leaders for world unity and peace. The tragedy is that nations will find outer peace among themselves, under the antichrist, but still be at war with a holy God. That´s why the international peace will collapse. Its foundation is as sand.

These continuing wars and revolutions will be major news events until the last world war among the nations. We´ve already had two examples this century of what is to come. World War I was the first war where most nations and kingdoms on the earth fought against each other. World War II was a dramatic intensification of this particular sign that Jesus gave us. World War III will be 30 times more destructive than World War II. Some 600 million people have died as a result of wars in the last 2,000 years. Of these, 300 million have died in the last 70 years. Is that intensification? The Bible, in Revelation 6:8, 9:15, reveals that one-fourth, then one-third of the earth´s population will be killed during Daniel´s 70th Week, (Daniel 9:27). This week is the last seven years of history before the 1,000-year rule of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Revelation 6:8,

“And I looked and, behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Revelation 9:15,

“And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month and a year, to slay the third part of men.”