[Steve Myers] In Matthew 24, the disciples came to Christ. They asked Him, "Tell us when will these things be. What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" In the previous BT Daily we talked about the end of the age—the end of man's rule, when would Christ return. And so the disciples asked specifically about a sign. What would be the indication that Jesus Christ would be returning? How would they know? And so they posed that question and in fact Christ answered it in pretty stark fashion.

[Darris McNeely] He did. He actually mentioned some very specific events. He talked about deception. He talked about war in the intervening verses there. He talked about famine. And He talked about pestilence. And we'll come back and we're going to talk more about these in future episodes of this series, but Jesus came down to verses 21 and 22 of Matthew 24 and He made a statement here that in a sense sums this very critical period up. He says, "For those, there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22). And so He talks about all of these events leading up to a time of a great trial called the Great Tribulation upon the earth. This is referred to in many other verses, but it is a very, very troublesome time for the world.

[Steve Myers] And it was a time that wasn't possible to be fulfilled in the time of the disciples. None of this could have happened at that time because it wasn't until the 40's that there was a nuclear bomb that mankind even had the ability to destroy itself because this is pretty specific that no flesh would be saved alive, mankind would be annihilated. And so when you talk about chemical warfare, you talk about nuclear warfare, you talk about all the different challenges that we face in the world today, none of that was possible until recent times. And so now we live in this era. This is the era that we live in just before the return of Christ. So when you talk about biological weapons, chemical weapons, all of those things, human life now can be destroyed. And so it's going to take Jesus Christ to intervene so that doesn't happen.

[Darris McNeely] The prophet Daniel really specifically talked about this same period of time back in chapter 12 of Daniel verse 1, where just jumping into the middle of it where he says, "There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time and at that time your people shall be delivered" (Daniel 12:1). And so Daniel himself pointed to this very event Jesus reiterated in chapter 24 verses 21 and 22 of the Great Tribulation—a time of trouble that no nation has seen to this time and in the future. And you know, when we stop and think about these terms like the tribulation, and again the time of the end of the age, and the day of the Lord—another concept we'll get to at a later time, these are very worrisome, fearful events that Christ Himself talked about. Jesus Christ was a prophet. And He was also a very astute, shall we say, judge of human nature. And He understood that fear was a great motivator. And, yes, these are very fearful events. These are awesome events of war, famine, pestilence, and deception that comes upon the world. Bible prophecy does contain some very, very hard teachings that is important to understand, but, also to be able to put into context because when Jesus used these great events to talk about what would be coming upon mankind, He did so not just to scare the living daylights out of people, but to put a certain fear into us that would motivate people to turn to Him and to put hope and faith and trust and ultimately love into a relationship with God and to change our lives. And that is one of the key matters of understanding the purpose for Bible prophecy, not to get all scared, not to get all worrisome, but ultimately to put our trust, confidence and faith in God and understand His all-encompassing love for His creation.  

[Steve Myers] And I think he shows that in a parallel passage when you look at Luke chapter 21 it parallels Matthew 24. And when you look to the very end of that particular chapter in verse 36, He talks about that motivating factor, that with all this terrible situation that is on the horizon it should motivate us to do something—look forward to the hopeful return of Christ but then He says in verse 36, "Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36). And so there is hope, that when we follow Christ, we draw near to God we can stand with Him and look forward to that sign of His coming.

[Darris McNeely] Bible prophecy should motivate us to change our lives in this age prior to the coming of Christ and the dawn of a new age and to live a righteous, godly life today. Understand that, we'll keep coming back to it in this series, but it's one of the most important principles to learn about Bible prophecy.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.