[Darris McNeely] One thing you learn when you watch world events, study history, and that is things can happen very quickly, suddenly, overnight when it's least expected. I was reminded of this in reading some articles about the anniversary, the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, which took place on November 9, 1989. 30 years ago. The Berlin wall was the wall that the Soviet Union has erected to divide the city of Berlin into east and west and to symbolize a larger divide during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the western nations led by the United States.

Ronald Reagan, then United States President during the 1980s, had given a speech before this wall and in which he said famously, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". Mikhail Gorbachev being the leader of the Soviet Union. Well, the wall came down, but it came down when nobody was really expecting it in the fall of 1989 through a series of events. And suddenly, Berlin was open. And the entire Cold War in a sense, ended eventually with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some call that the end of history. It really wasn't the end of history. There have been a great deal of conflicts and wars and proxy fights going on between nations ever since. And we really haven't yet learned that lesson that the end of the Cold War, and the stand-off between the Soviet Union and the west really continues in many a different other forms to this day.

But with the sudden fall of the Berlin wall, it does remind us as we seek to understand our world, history, and especially Bible prophecy that things can happen very quickly.

There's a scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5 where the Apostle Paul in one of his rare comments about prophecy gives us this outstanding principle. Beginning in verse 1, he says to us, "Brethren, concerning the times and the seasons you have no need that I should write to you, for you know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." Thief in the night comes sudden, nobody's watching. "For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they would not escape."

Then he goes on to talk about the fact that we are not in darkness but we should be in light, that is, we shouldn't be ignorant. We should be understanding, spiritual principles, as well as the world in which we live, recognizing as he said that events can take place quite suddenly, unexpectedly in the flow of history, and especially as they're connected to Bible prophecy.

So if you think about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, let these words of Paul from Thessalonians remind us that things go along, but as some point as God conducts and directs history, things happen. The day of the Lord is something that we don't want it to catch us unawares, sleeping.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.