What Is This World Coming To?
Issues – January 2009 – Grace & Truth Magazine
What Is This World Coming To?
“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV
Terrorism, child kidnappings, murders, rapes, earthquakes, forest fires, floods and political unrest are all making the headlines every day. What is this world coming to? The Bible says things are going to get worse before they get better. Where does that leave those who have trusted in Christ for salvation?
In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians we read that the Christians in the area were worried about believers who had died before the promised return of the Lord (Jn. 14:1-3). Paul assured them that whether dead or alive, they would be “caught up ... to meet the Lord in the air” when He returned for His Church (1 Th. 4:13-18). Thus Paul gave them hope for a bright future.
Then we read in Second Thessalonians that some came and tried to convince them that the Lord’s return was past, and that they were already in “the Tribulation.” Satan was trying to take away their hope again. So Paul reassured them that they might be going through “tribulation” but they weren’t going through the prophetic period called “the Tribulation.” That day, he said, will not come until there first comes a “falling away,” or an apostasy (2 Th. 2:3).
No, the Thessalonians were saved from the penalty they deserved, and they were saved from the earthly judgments that will one day fall on all who have rejected God’s Son. The verse above (2 Th. 2:13) says that believers are saved from the Tribulation because they have believed the truth and have been sanctified, set apart by the Spirit to be delivered from that coming wrath.
God gives us promises and Satan tries to get us to question those promises. He uses circumstances, friends, political situations, etc. to get us to question God. But God’s promises are true. We are saved “to the uttermost” (Heb. 7:25).
By Bruce Collins