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If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
Woody Allen (b. 1935), U.S. filmmaker. article originally published in New Yorker (Nov. 5, 1973). “Selections from the Allen Notebooks,” Without
Scripture: None
A natural example of this point can be found by looking at the two seas in the Holy Land. The Sea of Galilee freely receives and gives out water. It has an abundance of life, nurturing many different kinds of fish and plant life. The water from the Sea of Galilee is carried by way of the Jordan river to the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea only takes water in and does not give out. There is nothing living, no fish or plant life in the Dead Sea. The powerful life giving waters of the Sea of Galilee become dead when mixed with the hoarded waters of the Dead Sea. Life can not be sustained if held onto.
The Truth of the matter God does make signs of his existence therefore we have an obligation to seek him!
one of those signs was the eclipse we saw yesterday!
The solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band covering parts of North America, from Mexico to Canada and crossing the contiguous United States. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the Sun.
the next one won’t occur until 2045!
. A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Moon, and Earth are aligned, or in syzygy.
The Moon, directly between the Sun and Earth, casts a shadow on our planet. If you’re in the dark part of that shadow (the umbra), you’ll see a total eclipse. If you’re in the light part (the penumbra), you’ll see a partial eclipse.
so what do sign s in the Heavens mean in scripture ?
God will use supernatural signs in the heavens to signal the beginning of His intervention to punish humanity for our sins—and rescue us from self-destruction.
Signs in the heavens before the Day of the Lord
Through the prophet Joel, God spoke of astonishing signs in the heavens before “the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.”
God gave this message to Joel for those living in the last days, saying: “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:30-31).
The prophet Isaiah also described these same events: “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine” (Isaiah 13:10).
The sixth seal in the book of Revelation
The prophecies of Joel and Isaiah match the events described by the apostle John in a vision of the end time:
“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place” (Revelation 6:12-14).
Signs in the heavens announce the wrath of the Lamb
When this sixth seal is opened and these heavenly signs are revealed, it will have a dramatic effect on those who see them.
“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (verses 15-17)
The focus of this article is on the events included in this sixth seal, which is the prelude to God’s wrath on the earth.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb, opens this prophetic scroll with seven seals to reveal the events to occur before His return. To learn more about all seven seals of Revelation, be sure to read the article “Seven Seals.”
The reason God will orchestrate these signs in the heavens is to announce that He will now intervene in human affairs in a very visible way.
Jesus mentioned that the heavenly signs would follow right on the heels of another prophesied event: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).
Tribulation precedes the signs in the heavens
What was Jesus referring to when He said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days”? The Great Tribulation will be a time of terrible trial for the modern-day descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later renamed Israel). These people will suffer famines and pestilence, military invasion and enslavement.
Additionally, the Tribulation will be a time of widespread persecution against the saints of the true Church of God at the end of the age. This group of people is called “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).
The “tribulation of those days” and “the time of Jacob’s trouble” spoken of by the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1) also refer to this Tribulation spoken of by Jesus.
To learn more about how the Great Tribulation will affect Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob, we encourage you to read the article “Jacob’s Trouble: What Is It?”
Summary of the signs in the heavens and on earth
If one were to look at a combined list of the cosmic events prophesied by the prophets Joel, Isaiah, Jesus and the apostle John, it would look something like this:
“f peace and righteousness.
”Immediately after these stunning cosmic disturbances, a series of great plagues will quickly follow, each accompanied with the sound of a trumpet (Revelation 8 and 9). These plagues will precede the return of Jesus Christ to earth in glory and majesty to establish a kingdom of peace and righteousness.
Who will control these signs and wonders?
When these signs in the heavens and the earth occur, scientists and weather forecasters may attempt to explain them away as extreme, cyclical events, rather than signs from God. To be sure, Bible prophecy clearly shows God will be the author of them.
These signs will constitute the beginning of what the prophet Joel called “the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31).
It is hard to imagine, but large numbers of unconcerned people are likely to dismiss these signs as being random occurrences. But those who are watching and praying will discern the reason for the signs (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4).
The power of God
Throughout the Bible, God says that He controls all the elements of His physical creation and that He uses them either to bless or to curse mankind. The book of Job reveals God’s authority over nature:
So, we clearly see that God controls all the powers of the heavens and the earth—from climate conditions to earthquakes and volcanoes to the orbits of the planets and the positions of the massive constellations in deep space.
Biblical descriptions
The ancient languages of the Bible didn’t have the modern scientific definitions we give to atmospheric conditions today. Consider the following: God speaks of the sun, moon and stars being darkened; and this has happened at various times on smaller scales. A dense, dark cloud of smoke can certainly block light to the earth over an area of land.
For instance, in June 1991 the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century (in terms of the amount of material spewed out) took place on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The volume of ash emitted from the June 15 peak eruption was about 1.2 cubic miles (five cubic kilometers). The giant, umbrella-shaped eruption cloud was 250 miles (400 kilometers) in diameter and 21 miles (34 kilometers) high. By mid-afternoon, areas around the volcano were pitch-dark (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, article, “Volcano/Mount Pinatubo”).
Mount Pinatubo is just one in a series of more than 450 volcanoes along the ring of fire circling the Pacific Ocean. It is certainly possible that a series of simultaneous volcanic eruptions could shut out sunlight for a period of time across large portions of the earth.
“The stars will fall from heaven”
For another example, a passage such as Matthew 24:39—“the stars will fall from heaven”—could describe any number of deep space objects plummeting to the earth rather than actual stars colliding with earth. Meteorites, comets and asteroids are among the objects that could collide with earth’s atmosphere causing the appearance of a shower of falling stars.
Astronomers estimate that between 18,000 and 84,000 meteorites 10 grams or larger impact the earth’s surface each year (Cornell University’s “Ask an Astronomer” website, “How Many Meteorites Hit Earth Each Year?”).
If the heavenly signs to come are caused by natural laws of physics, God will orchestrate these events in an extreme and stunning display. If these wonders are supernatural, God can certainly alter the courses of the heavenly bodies and the natural elements from what has been the norm.
God always sends a message of warning first
Not wishing for any to perish, God’s practice has been to send prophets to warn people to repent of their sins prior to inflicting punishment for disobedience (Amos 3:7). God says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies” (Ezekiel 18:32).
To understand more about what Bible prophecy says about God’s wrath, read the articles “What Is the Day of the Lord?” and “Wrath of God.”
God desires that people repent of their wickedness and acknowledge the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord of all creation before He is pressed to send dreadful woes on the earth. Will God get the attention of the vast population of the earth before that time? Will He find lasting, heartfelt changes in human behavior before He unleashes His anger?
Jesus posed an important question to His disciples and us today: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). He predicted that the latter days would be very evil and that many would simply ignore the signs of the times much like the people in Noah’s day ignored the warning message before the Flood came (Matthew 24:37-39).
After the heavenly signs are witnessed in various parts of the earth, “then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Those who never took heed of these warning signs will be in terror at the appearance of Jesus Christ. But Jesus promised the faithful: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
For those who take heed, God provides a way of escape from His wrath. To understand more about escaping God’s wrath, be sure to read the article “The Wrath of God: How to Survive.” And we also encourage you to read more about what the Bible says about “End Times Prophecy.”
here is a word study from our friend and greek scholar rick renner
In this letter, I want to share with you something from Scripture — and something I’ve learned firsthand — along this very line of powerfully fulfilling your God-given dreams. I learned many years ago that one key ingredient that really fuels the heart and keeps it blazing is a sustained pursuit of soul-winning. Nothing ignites the heart like being instrumental in seeing someone rescued from darkness, delivered from the power of sin, washed in the blood of Jesus, and saved from an eternity in hell.
The Early Church was like a burning inferno that was alight with the fire of the Holy Spirit. That fire was continually rekindled as believers surrendered to the power of God and carried the Gospel to the ends of their known world. And if we are going to burn brightly with the fire of the Spirit, we must be active carriers of the truth and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear it in our own worlds.
When we do our part to take the Gospel to those who are lost, a blazing flame of the Spirit is ignited that continually releases the power of God. With that fire burning inside us, the Gospel will detonate its divine power and spread like a spiritual flame across our neighborhoods and to the ends of the earth — and we will be doing our part to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus gave to the Church more than 2,000 years ago (see Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18).
A study of history reveals a pattern regarding this eruptive manifestation of God’s power. And you can be sure that this power goes hand in hand with the Spirit-led efforts of any person, any church, or any organization committed to proclaiming the Gospel to the lost. This supernatural presence is God’s witness that the message is Heaven-sent.
When a believer or a church is committed to the Great Commission and follows the Holy Spirit’s strategy to reach the lost, God’s power gloriously shows up in that believer’s life or in the life of that congregation. On the other hand, when God’s people withdraw from Christ’s command to reach the lost, the manifestation of His power begins to slowly wane.
God’s power is always present, but the manifestation of that power begins to diminish more and more as believers begin to neglect their responsibility to carry the Gospel to those who need to be saved. This verifiable pattern is proven throughout the course of Church history. Yet God’s heart remains the same for people to be reached through the sharing of the Gospel. And when the Gospel is preached by His people, His power shows up in a myriad of miraculous ways!
Matthew 28:18-20 records that before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He gathered the disciples one last time and told them:
…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
This passage is what is called the Great Commission. In this command, we find important truths about God’s call to every believer and every local church to “go” with the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In Greek, the tense for the word “go” in Matthew 28:19 literally denotes to go and to keep on going. In other words, this was not a command given only to the believers at the beginning of the Church Age, nor was it a special command for those who would occasionally go on a special missions trip. The command “to go” is God’s call to the Church. It is His directive to every Christian and to every local church for all time.
God expects His children to be committed to taking the saving message of the Gospel to the lost as a lifestyle. And He promises that those who obey this command will experience amazing supernatural power to fulfill the appointed task. This is why miracles are more consistently manifested where the Gospel is being preached beyond the four walls of a local church — because the Gospel is the very power of God (see Romans 1:16).
A church — or an individual — that ignores this command to reach the lost will experience fewer manifestations of God’s power in their midst. They may have started out with a strong focus on reaching the lost, and they may have experienced great power as a result. But if they then begin to draw back from this divine directive to share the Gospel with the unsaved, they will inevitably notice God’s manifested power begin to recede in their midst.
The demonstration of divine power is promised to those who go and keep on going, continually taking the Gospel to the lost. This includes sharing the message with family, friends, and neighbors, as well as to strangers whom believers meet in daily life, on mission trips, and in every arena of life, to the ends of the earth.
It’s also important to understand that part of “going” is for believers to do their part in funding the missions efforts of churches and organizations, special evangelization projects, and missionaries themselves who are going to other parts of the world to take the message of Christ to the unsaved. Many churches today are focused on reaching their cities with various outreaches, and this is a correct thing to do. But too often churches curtail their financial support for those engaged in missions work in order to focus solely on reaching their local communities.
We have a responsibility to do both. We must share the Gospel with the lost in our neighborhoods while at the same time retaining a firm commitment to financially support those who are reaching the unsaved in foreign countries. Our hearts must burn with the fire of God to see the unsaved brought into the Kingdom of God both near and far. It is our glorious task to rescue the spiritually perishing as God enables us.
But in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, the Lord made an astonishing promise to any person or church that will go and keep on going with the Gospel to reach those nearby and those who are abroad. Jesus said, “…And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (v. 20). Those who take this promise to heart and obey it will be ignited and will remain ignited with the blazing power of the Holy Spirit!
The word “lo” in this verse is actually an exclamatory promise that Jesus makes to anyone who will “go” with the Gospel to the lost. In Greek, the word “lo” would better be translated, “And, WOW, will I ever be with you — even to the ends of the earth!”
In essence, Jesus was saying, “If you will go and keep on going — doing all you can, in every way possible, to preach and teach the Gospel — WOW, I promise that you will experience My amazing presence in the doing of it!” In other words, the “lo” belongs to those who “go”!
Christ promises that His powerful presence will be experienced by all believers who are going to the lost with the message of salvation. That means if we want to experience the power of God, we must act on what triggers its release. Jesus’ promise is that His powerful, supernatural presence will accompany all who will do their part to take the Good News of salvation to others!
We must have the power of the Holy Spirit to reach the lost. Then as we go with the Gospel, our obedience ignites the Spirit’s power to be released mightily upon us and through us!
Sometimes Christians hear of amazing signs and wonders that occur on the foreign mission field and wonder why they don’t see more of those supernatural happenings in their own churches at home. That’s a legitimate question. Why does it seem mighty deeds that astonish believers often occur where missionaries or frontline preachers are taking the Gospel to territory where the Gospel has never or rarely been preached?
Manifestations of God’s power aren’t supposed to happen only on the foreign mission field. The Holy Spirit wants to move right in your own family and neighborhood! If you’ll obey His leading to go and share the Gospel whenever He prompts you, God’s power will show up wherever you are!
Just as Jesus promised, His powerful presence will manifest when you share the Gospel with those who need to hear it. The miraculous is guaranteed to occur anywhere the Gospel is being shared or preached. This is God’s promise — that His power will show up when you do your part by His leading and direction to reach the unreached. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus promised His powerful presence would be demonstrated in the life of any believer or any church that would “go” to the lost as a matter of priority!
When a church (or an individual) shrinks back from making souls a priority, it is a decision that will result in the power of God waning in their midst. Although God’s power is available to all believers, that divine power is consistently manifested in the lives of those who are actively “on the go” in obedience to Christ’s Great Commission.
The “lo” in Matthew 28:20 — that is, Christ’s promise of His powerful presence — is promised to those who “go” with the Gospel message to others. So if you are experiencing powerlessness, it’s time to assess whether or not you are doing what you must do to qualify for the “lo” that Christ promises to those who would “go.”
Never forget that God’s power works like metal attracted to a magnet. When you reach out to the lost in obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission, God’s power works like a magnet that is attracted to what you are doing. God’s power always shows up and all kinds of miraculous events begin to take place where the Gospel is being regularly communicated to the lost!
If you (or your church) have unintentionally drifted from reaching out to the lost, you can make an adjustment and get back on track again. When that happens, what was turned off can be turned on again! The power of God will once again erupt in your midst. The act of sharing Christ will put spiritual fuel back on your fire, and God’s power will be reignited to produce signs following the preaching of the Word.
So if you are hungry to see God’s power and signs and wonders, do what triggers the release of those things! Share the Gospel with the lost or do your part to give financially to individuals or ministries that are doing it. God’s power simply shows up where people are reaching beyond themselves to reach others
so what does it mean or point to the beginning of the End times or the return of christ!
If you are not a believer then God. is warning you tha you need to repent and believe the Gospel!
If you are already a born again believer but have not been faithful to pray,read your bible and attend a local church! Again Repent and find a local church that believes the bible! if there is none in your area become a participating member of Rock Family church online!
email us for information on our church members programs! email or send at bradfordhoel@yahoo.com or contact us through messenger!
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