Signs of His Coming

In my last article, I wrote about the current coronavirus pandemic and how such events can strengthen our spiritual lives and deepen our walk with the Lord if we approach things the way God intends us to. To that end, I keyed on the apostle Paul's thunderbolt "To live is Christ, to die is gain" in the book of Philippians, and delved into how Paul could make such an amazing statement. It was a bit more of a reflective, touchy-feely look at things, and I mentioned that I intended to return to the issue of the coronavirus and look at it from an eschatological angle at some point in the future.

Well, the future is now.

First off, a confession. I was really tempted to write this last month. I mean I was champing at the proverbial bit, ready to dive into the deep end of the end-time pool about the birth pains and all that, but...I just couldn't pull the trigger. Now, that's not an unfamiliar feeling for me—I know from experience that it means the Holy Spirit has a few more things to show me before I tackle a given topic. Not all the horses are in the barn, you might say.

I was convinced, like many people it seems, that this virus was yet another birth pain, just like Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse. Major pestilence, yessiree. Wars and rumors of wars? Fuhgeddaboudit. Oh, and in Africa, a looming famine to boot! And then a 6.5 earthquake in Central Idaho!!

Cha ching!! Are we talkin' birth pains, or what?!

But the Holy Spirit said wait.

"Not yet."
"Yeah, but...Idaho...6.5!!"
"I said not yet—back burner, hoss."

So wait I did. I put it off, anxiously wondering what nuggets the Holy Spirit was planning to reveal to me. And I can't say I was disappointed...just surprised. As it turns out, the Holy Spirit did have a few nuggets for me, only they were nuggets that convinced me of something I wasn't expecting:

They convinced me I was wrong.

Many people are casting this coronavirus as a major birth pain as per the Olivet Discourse, and I can certainly understand why. But the Holy Spirit brought me face to face with the following interpretive issue:

Are the signs that Jesus refers to in the Olivet
Discourse the events we see today and have been
seeing for many years, or are they a specific group
of such signs that will occur during the Tribulation?

There are many biblically knowledgeable people for whom I have great respect who lean toward the former, and many other equally biblically knowledgeable people for whom I have equally great respect who lean toward the latter. Obviously this question has been percolating more vigorously than usual with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, and in my last article I indicated that I agreed that the coronavirus was indeed one of the birth pains Jesus speaks of in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

C'mon, this is a major birth pain! Gotta be, right?

But I admit that I had never really studied this point out in any degree of detail before, and so my opinion on this particular detail was a bit more of the off-the-cuff variety. After all, it's not what most believers would think of as a major issue, and certainly not something worth getting into heated doctrinal arguments about. But as I was preparing to write this article, I began to see some things that slowly but surely changed my opinion, and now I am convinced Jesus was only referring to the events of the Tribulation proper as He spoke to His disciples on the Mount of Olives.

In the rest of this article, I want to share with you some of the reasons why I think that way, as well as share a few thoughts on the true significance of the coronavirus. Now, if you agree with me, glory to God. If you disagree with me, glory to God. I mean that sincerely—no matter what opinions any of us hold, may God be glorified.

What shall be the sign of your coming?

First of all, let's take a look at the pertinent passage of Scripture, and that would be the opening section of the Olivet Discourse. I typically go to Matthew's version as the default, although we will be referring to others:

This is one of the things the Holy Spirit brought into sharp focus for me, and that is the simple, obvious fact that the "sign of your coming" refers to the events that will tell people that they are in the run-up to the physical return of the Messiah (i.e. the Second Coming)...that His coming is right around the corner. That is, not centuries or even decades in the future. Of course, there is no obvious time gap suggested in the way the disciples asked the question, since they knew nothing of the Church Age or of any substantial gap between the events of their day and His return.

For all they knew, His coming was right around the corner.

The rendering "end of the world" is flat-out misleading because, with all due respect to the KJV (and the AKJV), this is an unfortunate translation. The word in Greek is a form of aion or "age," and is where we get the English word "eon." The disciples are asking about the signs that would portend the end of the age, which to the Jews means the end of the current (pre-Messianic) age and the corresponding launch of what they refer to as the Messianic Age, or what biblically knowledgeable Christians understand as the Millennial Kingdom on earth ruled by Christ.

In other words, in modern evangelical parlance, the disciples were clearly asking about the Tribulation period that would lead up to the Second Coming...not the entire indefinite period of time that would transpire between then and the beginning of the Tribulation.

Then Jesus proceeds to launch into one of His longest uninterrupted teaching that appears in Scripture—the Olivet Discourse.

In all three versions of the Olivet Discourse, the first thing Jesus mentions is deception, and Jesus explains that it is deception perpetrated by many who will claim to be the Christ. Although we have seen a smattering of such deluded individuals over the years, we certainly haven't seen this on a level that would qualify as "many."

I've written about this before, but I am convinced this will come to full fruition following the Rapture and primarily during the first half of the Tribulation. Satan's New Age, alien-infused narrative that he has spent over seven decades carefully crafting to explain away the Rapture will quickly go mainstream in its wake, and he will successfully convince billions of people that mankind is set to undergo some type of spiritual ascension process. And not long after Satan's slick, compelling narrative goes mainstream, there will be plenty of deceived New Age devotees who will pass themselves off as individuals who have "ascended" and attained the so-called "Christ consciousness," and who can assist others in doing the same.

The point I want to emphasize here is that even though we have long seen examples of this type of deception to a limited degree, this part of Christ's prophecy is something that will reach its final fulfillment during the first half of the Tribulation—not in the centuries or even decades preceding it.

Then Jesus continues with more signs that will indicate the world is rapidly approaching His physical return:

Note: Interestingly enough, if you examine the Greek of Matthew's version, you discover that he doesn't actually use a form of the Greek word loimos, which is the word typically translated "pestilence" (nor does Mark)—the KJV translators just stuck it in there. Luke, however, does use loimoi (the plural form of loimos), and so pestilences are officially part of the signs:

Notice that Luke also chips in fairly nondescript "fearful sights" and "great signs from heaven," but the other signs are specific and readily identifiable.

Also, when Jesus says "All these are the beginning of sorrows," Matthew records the word as odinon—the plural of odin, or a woman's birth pains.

Batter up: Notice that Jesus says the signs He's talking about are "the beginning of sorrows." Now, stop and think for a moment: That doesn't mean these signs come many years before the sorrows—it means they are part of the sorrows...the beginning part. The "sorrows" are the signs that His coming is rapidly approaching, and that places them in the Tribulation. For example, the first batter up is the beginning of a baseball game—but it's still part of the game. This supports the idea that the signs Jesus is referring to don't come before the Tribulation, they are part of the Tribulation.

So in addition to deception, we have wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. But Jesus isn't finished:

Other signs include the widespread persecution and martyrdom of believers, the rise of many false prophets, a great hardening of society, and the gospel being preached to all the world.

"And then the end shall come."

"The end" can be none other than the final salvo of God's wrath that He unleashes on an unrepentant world during the Great Tribulation, or the second half of the Tribulation period. That would clearly suggest the signs Jesus mentions all occur during the first half. The fact that "the end" (v. 14) refers to the pyrotechnics of the second half of the Tribulation is supported by the fact that in the very next verse Jesus talks about the abomination of desolation, which is what kicks it off:

Some people seem to be of the opinion that Jesus meant that all wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, etc. throughout history qualify as part of the birth pains Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse. I teach English for a living, and so one point that occurred to me as I pondered this question pertains to simple grammar.

Let's take a moment to review some of the highlights of the conversation between Jesus and His disciples, shall we?

Disciples: "What shall be the sign of your coming?"

Jesus: "Many shall come...shall deceive...you shall hear...nation shall rise...there shall be famines...earthquakes shall be...great signs shall there be...then shall they deliver you...and shall kill you...you shall be hated...then shall many be offended...shall betray...shall hate...shall rise...shall deceive...shall abound...shall wax...shall endure...shall be saved...shall be preached...then shall the end come...when you therefore shall see...

Did you catch it? Sorry for being facetious, but obviously the entire conversation is cast in the future tense. And that means the argument that all such events in general qualify as Olivet Discourse birth pains cannot be true, because Jesus is only talking about the future.

OK, so some shift gears and argue that maybe Jesus is only talking about wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, etc. that occur after His earthly ministry. Maybe He's only talking about such events that have occurred during the last two thousand years.

Or maybe just the last century or so. For example, I've heard people confidently assert that the birth pains Jesus spoke of began in 1914, presumably with the outbreak of World War I. I've heard people pin the beginning of the Olivet Discourse birth pains to different points of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, typically in conjunction with some major war, famine, earthquake, or pestilence.

But this doesn't make a whole lot more sense. Do you really think that all the wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, and so forth that occurred before Jesus' earthly ministry were not the birth pains He was talking about, but all such events after His ministry up until now are? Or is it just such events that have occurred in the last 100 years or so, because at least some of them seem to be more intense than before, like the two World Wars, the Spanish Flu, and so on and so forth?

The fundamental problem with this whole line of reasoning, however, is like I said in the previous section: The disciples are clearly only asking about signs of His physical return at the Second Coming, and nothing else. (Notice also that they are expecting to see these signs with their own eyes in their lifetimes.) It's right there in black and white, and it's amazing that I managed to overlook the significance of precisely what the disciples are asking. They are asking specifically about the signs that would portend His physical return to establish the kingdom. They are focused on one thing and one thing alone:

THE. SIGNS. OF. HIS. COMING.

Most of the signs Jesus mentions—wars, famines, earthquakes, diseases, and so on—are relatively common events, and the disciples are not asking about common events that would occur fairly regularly until that prophesied period of time arrived—they only want to know about that specific prophesied period of time. They're not interested in signs that would occur in the years, decades, or centuries prior to that time.

That's one thing the Holy Spirit got me to notice that made me lean toward seeing the signs Jesus mentions as only occurring during the Tribulation. But there's another, and it's also right there in black and white, waiting for schmoes like me to wake up and pay attention.

And it explains why these signs Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse might have a familiar ring to them.

From signs to seals

As you read over the signs that will lead up to the Tribulation that Jesus describes to His disciples in His discourse on the end times, it's hard to miss the parallels between these signs and the judgments He unleashes on the earth as He opens the seals in the first half of the Tribulation (Rev. 6). For example:

First seal—a false peace:

It's not difficult to imagine that during the tenuous, temporary peace that initiates the Tribulation, there will be no shortage of rumblings and rumors of impending war as the Antichrist wastes no time in setting forth to establish his global rule. This would correspond to the rumors of wars in Matthew 24:6 (see also Mark 13:7).

By the way, in Luke 21:9, the apostle mentions wars and "commotions." The word translated "commotions" (akatastasias) isn't exactly the same as "rumors of wars" (akoas polemon), but they sure live in the same neighborhood.

Second seal—war:

The false peace with Israel won't last long, and the Antichrist will take peace from the earth as he wages one war after another in his ascent to world domination. Just as verses 1–2 suggest rumors of wars, these verses correspond to the wars themselves mentioned in Matthew 24:6 (see also Mark 13:7 and Luke 21:9).

Third seal—famine:

Terrible famine will devastate the earth, no doubt aided to some degree by the advent of war. This parallels the famines Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:7 (see also Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11).

Fourth seal—death:

Note that this is death from the previous two seals (war and famine) plus death from "death." This figurative reference is understood by the great majority of commentators to refer to pestilences and related problems. Also included is death from wild beasts, who are apparently running amok and attacking people during the Tribulation.

Note also that these four forms of death correspond to the four judgments God promises to unleash on Jerusalem in His final judgment:

So there's the parallel to the pestilences Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:7 (see also Luke 21:11).

Fifth seal—martyred saints:

Those who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation will face an excellent chance of being martyred by the forces of the Antichrist, who will go on a murderous rampage to cleanse the earth of these blasphemous heretics who are doing nothing but holding the rest of the world back in the ascension process. This parallels the persecution and martyrdom of saints Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:9–10 (see also Mark 13:9–13 and Luke 21:12–19).

Sixth seal—earthquakes:

Finally, a huge earthquake strikes (v. 12) and John says "the stars of heaven fell to the earth" and "the heaven departed as a scroll" (v. 13–14), which parallel the earthquakes of Matthew 24:7 (see also Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11), and possibly the cosmic disturbances of Luke 21:11.

I think it's important to notice that these seal judgments are not just more wars, more rumors of wars, more famines, more earthquakes, more pestilences, more whatever. These judgments are unleashed in an intense, concentrated manner that is sufficient to convince men that divine wrath has come (vv. 16–17). And the grammar of the last verse suggests that the wrath has already been present for some time—it didn't just suddenly arrive with the sixth seal. By the time the sixth seal falls, mankind will know they have been experiencing the wrath of a holy God—and that they foolishly spurned each and every warning.

Now, many good Bible expositors say that God's wrath is only the bowl judgments in the second half of the Tribulation, but I am inclined to disagree. I am convinced the entire Tribulation is God's wrath, which ends with the bowls. In other words, His wrath begins with the seal judgments, builds up to a crescendo, culminating with the bowl judgments—which Scripture clearly states finish His wrath (Rev. 15:1). The bowl judgments aren't the totality of His wrath—they're the final, furious stroke of it.

That's above your pay grade: Many pre-wrath proponents (and no doubt many post-tribbers as well) are among those who claim that God's wrath only comprises the final bowl judgments coming near the end of the Great Tribulation, while earlier spates of judgment are the wrath of Satan, or the wrath of the Antichrist, or the wrath of the Wicked Witch of the West, or the wrath of whoever.

Sorry, boys—that dog don't hunt.

Now, is Satan angry during the Tribulation? Oh, you bet he is, because he knows his time is short. Is the Antichrist angry? Well, he goes on a murderous rampage to wipe out the Jews and the Tribulation saints, so I'm guessing yes. Yeah, they're angry...but that doesn't mean they warrant having a special period of wrath attributed to them as opposed to it being rightfully attributed to a sovereign God. In numerous places in Scripture, God uses human agency as well as Satan himself to carry out His wrath and judgment, and the Tribulation is no exception.

For example, we are told point blank that in the end-times the Antichrist will be the rod of God's anger (Isa. 10:5). He's just a tool in the hands of a sovereign God. Oh, and a quick pop quiz: Who opens the first seal—the Antichrist or Jesus Christ? Scroll back up the page and have a look at Revelation 6:1 to refresh your memory.

This whole notion of "the wrath of Satan" or "the wrath of the Antichrist" gives Satan and his poster boy way too much credit. From the very first seal to the seventh and final bowl, it's all God's wrath, and that means it's way above their pay grade.

I think the reason for this incremental intensification of His wrath during the seven years of the Tribulation should be clear enough:

God has a few other things on His
to-do list besides global destruction.

You know, the Tribulation isn't all about wrath and destruction. For one thing, there is evangelism going on. He's got 144,000 Jews to seal so they can take the gospel to the post-Rapture world, not to mention two witnesses to send to preach the truth. He has the Jewish remnant to redeem and protect. Millions of people are getting saved during the first half of the Tribulation. After all, that is God's paramount desire, isn't it? God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4), and God is slow to wrath and abounding in mercy (Num. 14:18).

But the bottom line is that when Jesus described to His disciples the signs that would herald His physical return to establish the kingdom, He was essentially giving them and us a synopsis of the seal judgments of Revelation 6 that He will unleash during the first half of the Tribulation. It lines up point by point, and strongly supports the idea that the signs Jesus was referring to, although they are common events that have been happening ever since the Fall, are in fact a specific group of such events that will occur during the Tribulation.

Speaking of the Fall...

But still...what we are seeing today are kind of like birth pains, ya know? I mean, I certainly can't fault those who see the events we are seeing now and have been seeing for some time now as Olivet Discourse birth pains that are slowly beginning to increase in intensity and frequency and are alerting mankind of the nearness of the return of Christ. I thought along similar lines until I sat down to write this article.

So, if Jesus is only referring in the Olivet Discourse to one particularly intense round of such events that will fall upon the earth in the form of the seal judgments of Revelation 6, and I am convinced that is the case, then what are we supposed to do with the wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences, etc. that we are seeing today? Where do we put them? How do we categorize or characterize them? Do we ignore them?

Good question, and I believe another little nugget the Holy Spirit gave me has the answer.

As I said, there have always been wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, and so on. These things have been a common feature of life on earth since the beginning of human civilization...that is, since Adam and Eve got evicted from the Garden of Eden and went out to "be fruitful and multiply."

In other words, many of the signs Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse have been occurring on a regular basis ever since the fall of man up to the present day, and all such events that have occurred in human history up to now have obviously not served as the signs that the world is in the immediate run-up to the physical return of Christ to the earth to establish His kingdom, which is exactly what the disciples were asking Jesus about that night.

And we aren't quite there yet.

So what can we say about these signs that have been occurring since the Fall? Well, what's been happening ever since the Fall?

Paul is talking about our future glory, and describes how Creation "waits with eager expectation" for Christ to return and reveal us, the sons of God, who will rule with Him in the Millennial Kingdom. The kingdom will be a period of time when the earth will finally be free from the curse of sin and death—the curse that the earth, nature, and all of mankind have been under since the Fall.

As result, what has all of Creation—the earth itself, all of nature, and mankind—been doing ever since the Fall up to the present day?

Groaning and travailing in pain together.

And just to be clear, the Greek word Paul uses is a form of sunodino, which contains the root odin. I mentioned earlier this refers to a woman's birth pains, and the prefix sun-/syn- merely emphasizes the idea of experiencing these things together. In other words:

Six thousand years of birth pains and counting: Paul is saying that ever since the fall of man, all of Creation has been experiencing and continues to experience birth pains in anticipation of the day when Christ would redeem it and us from the curse of sin and death, and finally take possession of the earth and establish His kingdom with us, the children of God, at His side.

So, can you legitimately and scripturally call the wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestilences that have occurred throughout history and continue to the present day "birth pains"?

You sure can, because Scripture tells us straight out they are legitimate birth pains in every sense of the word.

The only stipulation to keep in mind is that they're just not the specific round of such signs Jesus refers to in the Olivet Discourse...those are special. Those constitute a particularly concentrated and intense round of such signs that take the form of the seal judgments of Revelation 6, and are unleashed by Christ Himself during the first half of the Tribulation to let the world know that they are officially in the run-up to His physical return to establish His kingdom.

That's what the disciples asked Him, and that's what He told 'em.

So, feel free to call the events we see happening in the world today "birth pains" all you like, because God's Word tells us that's exactly what they are. Just keep in mind that what Jesus refers to in the Olivet Discourse is a distinct round of such events, and we're not quite there yet.

As I was preparing to write this, I came across an article about real birth pains that I believe gives us some insight into this whole topic.

Although different sources describe things in slightly different terms, when a woman is about to give birth to a baby, one of the most common descriptions of the event divide the birth pains into three distinct phases: early labor, active labor, and transitional labor.

1. Early labor.

According to the article, during early labor (aka latent labor), a woman can expect to experience the following:

In other words, it is the longest, least intense phase of labor. A woman can normally at least do light, routine things around the house, if not her full, normal work routine, at least up until the last two to six hours. In the last two to six hours, the contractions of early labor typically begin to intensify and this lets the woman know that the next phase is arriving.

I believe this clearly corresponds to the "groaning and travail of Creation" birth pains of Romans 8:22 that we have been experiencing since the Fall, and are still experiencing now. However, since these do seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity, we know the next phase is about to begin.

2. Active labor.

The article had this to say about the second stage, or active labor:

Now it's time to head to the hospital, because the baby is almost ready to begin making its way through the birth canal. There is a major increase in the frequency and intensity of the labor pains, and the woman knows the beginning of the actual birth is rapidly drawing near.

I believe it is this second stage of birth pains that correspond to the birth pains Jesus is talking about in the Olivet Discourse. These are a concentrated, intense set of birth pains that take the form of the seal judgments of Revelation 6, which let the world know the wrath of God has officially arrived (Rev. 6:16–17) and indicate that the physical return of Christ is rapidly drawing near.

3. Transitional labor.

Then comes the final and most intense (and mercifully shortest) round of labor pains, the pains that immediately precede the actual arrival of the baby—transitional labor:

Transitional labor is the last blast, when the cervix stretches out those last three centimeters to clear the way for the baby to begin its transit through the birth canal, and the next thing you know you have a new bouncing bundle of joy.

This final stage of birth pains clearly corresponds to the final and most severe rounds of judgment that fall in the form of the bowl judgments, and they lead right up to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth.

Incidentally, the trumpet judgments—which sound suspiciously like the results of a series of asteroid strikes—are a bit harder to categorize; but I am inclined to see them as a rapid intensification of the active birth pains that start in the form of the seals, and which form a bridge from the seals to the transitional birth pains of the bowls. As I mentioned earlier, Revelation 15:1 clearly states that the bowls finish God's wrath, and so it seems that the bowls alone constitute the transitional birth pains mentioned above. Either way, it's just my two shekels.

And since I'm giving out shekels, I'll toss out one more. I believe it is these final transitional birth pains Paul is referring to when he says:

Note that Paul uses the word odin in the singular since he is referring to birth pains as a concept, whereas Jesus uses the word in the plural (odinon) since He is giving His disciples a laundry list of specific items.

"They shall not escape." Note that none of these are getting saved—none of these are being protected in the wilderness by the hand of God. I believe these are the victims of the Antichrist when he launches his murderous campaign against the Jews who remain after the believing Jewish remnant heads for the hills following the abomination of desolation, along with any other unlucky Tribulation believers who happen to be in the way.

So...make that three shekels.

The Jewish connection

I would be remiss if I didn't mention one last thing I came across that tends to support the notion that the birth pains Jesus refers to in the Olivet Discourse occur during the seven-year Tribulation, and it comes from a centuries-old rabbinical teaching.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says that the Messiah will come after a seven-year period of trials and troubles that will serve to refine and prepare the Jews for the advent of the Messiah. This seven-year period is called "the birth pangs of the Mashiach," and the teaching is that the Messiah will arrive in the eighth year, after the conclusion of this seven-year period.

This teaching is based on an interpretation of the following passage:

According to eighteenth-century rabbi Chaim (ben Moshe) ibn Attar:

Now, I'm not going to comment on his interpretation of Leviticus 12:1–3, because my opinion counts for nothing here. The point is that many Jews believe this. Many Jews believe that the advent of the Messiah will be preceded by seven years of "purification" that will prepare them for the Messiah's arrival and the beginning of the Messianic Age.

Clearly this rhymes with New Testament teaching on the subject:

There will be a seven-year Tribulation characterized by birth pains during which Israel will be purged and a believing remnant of Jews will come to faith in their Messiah—a Messiah who will arrive at the conclusion of that seven-year Tribulation to usher them into their promised kingdom.

H-e-l-l-o...it's about Russia: I like to joke that reading the Old Testament and missing the fact that it points directly to Christ as the Messiah is like reading War and Peace and missing the fact that it's about Russia. While that may be true, don't make the mistake of assuming the Jews are wrong about everything, because they're not. It's true that over the last two thousand years the Jews have invented truckloads of fanciful, allegorical interpretations of Old Testament Scripture to help them weasel around the inconvenient fact that they rejected their Messiah and had Him executed, but you'd be surprised how often they come up with legitimate insights that actually line up with New Testament Scripture.

Are we there yet?

So, if the current coronavirus pandemic is not one the Olivet Discourse birth pains, what is it? Is it just another disease like legions of others that have come before, one that we'll learn to deal with? Will we experience a few months of inconvenience before a vaccine is available and then see life go on as normal? Will things reopen soon as the economy begins to quickly blossom back into what it was at the end of last year? Will people get their jobs back and return to work? Will the world shake this off and get back to business as usual?

There is an awful lot that could be said, but a couple of things are clear to me at this stage of the game.

First off, I genuinely don't care who started it or how. Did it come from somebody eating a bat sold in a traditional market in the Wuhan area? No, almost certainly not. Did it escape from a research laboratory near Wuhan? I admit there seems to be evidence that points in that direction. Or did Americans actually set China up to take the fall for it? Who knows.

But again...I don't care, because it ultimately doesn't matter. Many people are claiming this is a staged event, but either way it's God who allowed it to happen according to His sovereign will.

But if it is a staged event, why? For what purpose?

One obvious possibility that leaps to mind is the ongoing effort to torpedo President Trump's chances of being re-elected, an eventuality that ranks at the top of every globalist's short list of worst nightmares. They would happily sacrifice a few million innocent lives to prevent four more agonizing years of Make America Great Again (not to mention Let's Support Israel Again), even if it means electing a man who literally has trouble remembering if he's running for president or for the Senate.

But I think that's just a small piece of the overall puzzle. This is much bigger than Republicans vs.  Demorats  Democrats. This is going global.

I am convinced this is a major step forward in a process—a process that will culminate in the eventual establishment of a system of global government. That's the dream, and it always has been. There is an undercurrent to this coronavirus pandemic that is steadily growing, although it's still skulking about in the shadows. I mentioned it in my last article, and it goes like this:

If only we had been able to muster a global response to this deadly virus, it never would have threatened the entire world like it is now. If only we had the ability to marshal our global resources and coordinate our actions on an international scale, we would have been able to beat this virus and save millions of lives and millions of jobs. It will only be when we have a powerful, benevolent global government in place that is uniquely capable of taking control of such global problems that our lives, livelihoods, and way of life will truly be secure.

(Excuse me while I stand up and salute.) But you know as well as I do where the push for a global government is heading—its destination is the 70th Week of Daniel, and the world is currently in the process of taking one big step closer to it, thanks to the coronavirus.

Of course, God is sovereign, and we should remember that He allows events such as the coronavirus to occur to carry out His divine plan that will culminate in His righteous judgment of both His people and of those who dwell upon the earth, and the establishment of His promised kingdom. And all of the globalists in the world cannot change God's ultimate plan—they cannot win, because they are mere pawns being pushed across the board by the ultimate loser, and that would be Satan.

The signs Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse haven't started yet—signs that will occur during the Tribulation in the form of the seal judgments and that will indicate the world is officially in the run-up to His coming to establish His kingdom. These are signs we won't be here to witness, but the current coronavirus isn't part of them.

Again...we aren't quite there yet.

Current events such as the coronavirus—events that inexorably push and shove the world into the form in which it will exist during the Tribulation—may not be the specific signs Jesus spoke of that will tell the world it is officially in the run-up to His return to set up His kingdom.

But they are signs that we are officially in the run-up to His return to snatch up His bride.

And we are almost there!

Greg Lauer — APR '20

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