Don’t fall down at the first hurdle

Are we at the end?

Nick Hough, competing at his first Olympics in Tokyo 2021, hit every one of his hurdles in the 110 m hurdles semi-final.  He came in 7th and still did a relatively good time of 13.88 sec.  This got me thinking about all of the trouble in the world at the moment with Covid-19, the mental health toll on the never-ending lock-downs in Australia, the 7.2 earthquake in Haiti where over 2200 deaths have occurred, bush fires, floods, and the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.  It’s like the proverbial hurdles in the 110 m hurdle race that Nick competed in where he hit every hurdle and knocked down most of them.  As we move towards the very end of this dispensation of grace, the church age, 2000 years after the death of Christ and 6000 years after creation, we are going to see more and more hurdles in life, troubles, and tests to get over if we are going to complete the race that God has set for us.  Many people are becoming quite dismayed at what is happening in the world at the moment with seemingly no end to the turmoil and restrictions on life.  Even in the church, we have seen huge disruptions with restrictions on worship services, restrictions on congregation numbers, and restrictions on funerals and weddings.  It has meant that people have not been able to do their normal celebrations.  It has led many to ask what in the world is going on?  Is this a sign of the end?  Is this the so-called beginning of birth pains predicted in Matthew 24:8?

Lots of hurdles yet to come

One thing is for sure–this doesn’t feel normal.  Something is up but I believe that we are only at the beginning of disruptions to the way we have lived up to March 2020.  I hate to say it but things are going to get a lot worse if indeed we are heading for the end.  There are many ‘hurdles’ to overcome yet.  You could say that these hurdles will come in a series of seven each: seven hurdles called the seven seal judgments; seven hurdles called the seven trumpet judgments; seven hurdles in the form of the seven bowls of wrath. These three lots of seven judgments testify to the main heptactic structure¹ in the book of Revelation but there are literally hundreds of ‘sevens’ in John’s book. These judgments overlap and are only sequential in their own series of seven.  The seven seals span the whole final seven years, the first four trumpet judgments occur in the first 1260 days with the 5th trumpet signaling the revealing of the Antichrist/beast at the halfway mark.² The 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpet judgments are called the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd woe or disaster and these span the second half of the seven years known as the Great Tribulation. The final seven bowls of wrath occur in the last ten days after the rapture of the church culminating at the Day of Atonement when Christ returns in glory and defeats the devil in the Battle of Armageddon.

Don’t fall over at the first hurdle

The point being, I believe, is that each one of these judgments is worse than the one before and increases in intensity but we need to keep going like Nick to the very end.  We don’t want to fall at the very first hurdle or sign of trouble.  As Christians, we are exhorted by Jesus in His letters to the seven churches to be overcomers.  This is stressed at the end of each letter and keeps getting emphasised.  The reason for this is that it’s not going to be easy to be an overcomer, to not be psychologically and mentally worn out by all the things that we see happening around us or even to us.  The stressful events that we are seeing at the moment are all listed in the Bible as being events that will occur either as the beginning of birth pains or as one of the judgments.  Wars are listed, pandemics are listed, earthquakes are listed.  These are all hurdles that we must overcome if we are to make it to the end.  Don’t fall at the first hurdle even as tough as it may be.  The tendency is for us to relent and just do exactly what the government is telling us to do because we are reacting out of panic or fear and we want life to get back to the way it was.  I hate to be negative but my gut feeling is that our life will never get back to the way it was.  Most importantly we must assess everything in the light of the Word of God and stay the course.  I want to successfully navigate every hurdle that is in front of me even if I am battered and bruised because I want to make it to the end.  Some fall at the first sign of trouble, others will make it for a while yet and others might even fall at the final hurdle.  There are many more yet to come and the highest hurdle will be for those Christians who are faced with the choice of taking the mark of the beast and surviving in a system that allows them to buy and sell or refusing his mark and maybe having to be martyred.  This will be a tough choice but one test that needs to be successfully overcome in the race to the finish line.

Ignore the news and mainstream media

One might argue with me that Christians won’t have to face these tough choices or hurdles because we will be raptured before it all happens.  Well, you are facing hurdles and tough choices right now–don’t rely on a rapture to avoid persecution and trouble.  My studies have led me to see that Christians will have to go through at least the first half of the Tribulation unless, of course, the Lord calls you home beforehand.  At the halfway mark or just before there will be an escape plan where the woman of Revelation 12 escapes to the wilderness on the wings of an eagle just like Israel did when she escaped from Egypt 3500 years ago.³  She will be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time (1290 days) in relative peace and protection.  The obedient church will rest out of reach of the claws of the beast and the serpent.  Do you want to go there?  I do!  But first, there are a few hurdles to get over before it’s time.  Don’t fall over yet but keep going and live life one day at a time with godliness and contentment.⁴

My advice: ignore the news and mainstream media and the propaganda that is spewed out day after day.  It will only lead to fear and perhaps making choices that you may regret later on.  God has many ways of providing for us as His children.  He just wants us to trust Him.  We are being tested and the good news is that it is forcing us to make a choice.  No longer can we sit on the fence.