What our Lord is doing these days

 
Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. John 13:6-7

I suppose that as one looks back on 2020, words like "Crisis" or "Chaos" or "Strife" might come to mind. In seemingly no time, we have gone from a time of prosperity unrivaled in modern times to the edge of an abyss. For many, this has been the most trying year of their lives. 2001, with it's fabled 9/11, was terrifying and many were wondering how we would overcome. As bad as 9/11 was, we only lost a few thousand lives and were able to rebuild most of what fell that day. Not so with 2020. Even if there is a successful vaccine to slow the progress of COVID, we've allegedly lost 250K lives, and it's not over yet. Unlike 9/11, we will not be bouncing back from this crisis to go merry on our way. To anyone looking back to the past for comfort, thinking we will ever go back, my counsel is to think again. We are going to be tested in ways that will make us long for the days when 9/11 was front page news for many months. 

God is not dead, my friends. If all hell seems unleashed on the world, and we face a crisis that will cause many to despair of life itself, He is still sovereign. God does not read the newspaper headlines and say to Himself, "Whoa, I sure didn't see that one coming". He tells the prophet Haggai, "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of Hosts". 

Now, I am not at all sure whom God is referring to as "the desire of all nations". This could well be the coming of antichrist, who will step in and stop the bleeding, but then proceed to persecute the saints on an unimagined scale. If so, God is still sovereign, still in control, even if it might seem to us that He has lost it. In Revelation 7 we find a crowd that cannot be numbered, of every tribe, tongue and nation on earth. They have come out of the great tribulation as martyrs. So severe will the Beast's rule be, it will appear that the enemy has won. BUT IT WILL NOT BE. The sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the clouds, those of us still alive will be raptured away, and God will pour out His wrath on the inhabitants of the earth. 

Like Peter, we will long to ask Jesus what He is doing. As the tribulation breaks upon us, many, perhaps most, will fall away, according to Jesus. So severe will the deception be, He warns us that even the elect, were it possible, would be deceived.These are times that call for great preparation. In Matthew 25, all the virgins were asleep when the bridegroom came for them, but only half were ready. Let us therefore "press on to know the LORD, whose going forth is as certain as the dawn". For when we know Him, and He knows us, we shall be ready.