The newest President of the United States, Barack Obama is a good man and his purpose for the world is commendable. One of his noblest and greatest goals is having a world without nuclear weapons. This dream is a dream I believe of majority peace-loving people of the world. Last Thursday, it was the 64th Anniversary of the dreaded Hiroshima atomic bomb attack.
As Obama envisioned that dream in his heart, ironically, controversial nations like North Korea and Iran are building nuclear weapons. India and troubled Pakistan are already boasting of nuclear weapon capabilities. Latest news we have India’s nuclear-powered submarine launch and the patrolling of Russia’s nuclear submarines near to the coast of the United States.
The closest nuclear war that could have turned the world upside down was during the then Soviet Union and the United States over Cuba’s crisis in 1962. The worst nuclear accident was the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986 that killed hundreds and then went on killing thousands through diseases affected by the fallouts of radioactive materials (Incidentally, Chernobyl means Revelation’s ‘wormwood’ in the Russian language). The tragedy has triggered a world response towards nuclear weapons proliferation. A nuclear war eruption can cause the world to turn instantly back to medieval age.
The world will never learn whether it is Cuba’s crisis or Chernobyl’s disaster. History will not only repeat itself but exacerbate. All of us have heard of terrorists wanting to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction and also leaders wanting to annihilate countries they hate with nuclear weapons. And that day may be inevitable, the detonation of nuclear bombs.
What does the Bible say?
Both the Old and New Testaments describe an event that seems to resemble a nuclear war.
Revelation 9:18 - “A third part of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur”
Revelation 8:7 - “A third of trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”
Joel 2:30 - “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.”
Zephaniah 1:14-15 - "The great day of the LORD is near-- near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.."
Zechariah 14:12 - "This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths."
Why is “that Day” so devastating for mankind?
It is referred to as the Great Tribulation (Rev. 7:14) or the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth (Rev. 3:10).
All of us have tribulations in our lives but that Day is not a normal earthly tribulation but an intense judgment of the heavenly on all those who rejected Jesus, a Saviour sent to save mankind.
In Matthew 24:22, Jesus spoke of this terrifying ordeal and that if God did not stop it by His mercy, the whole world would be consumed.
In God’s judgment, there is always a purpose to it that greater good can come out of it. But the greater mercy of God is being shown here, that God always forewarns everyone of the impending judgment!
Jesus forewarned those who lived in Jerusalem during His time to flee so that they would not be killed but most chose to stay. Noah preached of impending flood for more than a hundred years. The prophets of old forewarned that the Assyrians and the Babylonians would come and destroy the Israelites. All these warnings went unheeded till they were swept away by the judgment of God!
I repeat, history will not only repeat itself but exacerbate. Jerusalem once again will be the place to watch in end-time biblical season. This is because prophecies concerning Jerusalem have yet to fulfil. That’s where all the actions are at this point of time. There will be a time of great distress for the people in Jerusalem...
(Dan 9:25-27) "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Cf. Matthew 24:15)
When Jesus died on the cross, the devil thought he got rid of Jesus but he never realised that was the greatest victory for Jesus Christ! In the same way, when the devil, controlling the Anti-Christ gained an upper hand on Jerusalem, Jesus will come back the Second Time and defeat him. This time, Jesus will reign on earth as King of kings, Lord of all lords!
Zechariah 14:1-4; 8-9 - "A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.......On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name."
The Bible is such an adventurous book. It is so coherent that it thrills me to bits! I hope readers can take heed what was written in it!
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