In the words of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the anticipated signing on (Lebanon today, Israel tomorrow)of the U. N. Security Council's cease-fire proposal hopefully signals a "first step" in resolving the present Israeli-Hezbollah conflict.
One should not bet the family farm on any supposed lasting solution to long-standing problems involving an Islamic culture frequently characterized more by uncontrolled hatred, manic hysteria and emotional instability than rational objectivity (e.g., the recent Danish cartoon madness typifying an all too common quality of mindset and response).
In his Olivet Discourse, Jesus spoke of an end time state of intensifying turmoil and confusion. Despite the popularity of the late C. I. Scofield's eschatology (doctrine of last things as expounded in his Scofield Reference Bible), Jesus warned the Disciples (as representative of the believing community) regarding difficult times to come.
In detailing various evidences ("signs") of the end time, our Lord refers, first of all, to profound spiritual confusion accompanied by "wars and rumors of wars." Rather than assuring the Disciples that believers had nothing to fear in light of his coming to transfer the Church to heaven, Jesus rather advised those of the end time to, in effect: "Brace yourselves." We have often missed a vital point here.
Jesus' Discourse was in response to the inquiry of the Twelve: "What shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matt. 24:3). To the Disciples, Christ's coming and the end of the age were concurrent. That Jesus did not correct them on this point can little be seen as other than confirmation of the concept. Hence the significance of two statements:
1.) "The end is not yet... all these things are but the beginning of birth pangs" (Matt. 24:6-8);
2.) "When you see all these things [including universal persecution, vss. 9-10; "the Abomination of Desolation," or Antichrist, "standing in the holy place" (vs. 15); false Christs and prophets with massive followings (vs. 24); darkening of sun and moon and frightening meteoric display ("falling of stars," vs. 29); etc...
"...then know that He [Christ] is near, right at the door" (vs. 33). It is Christ's answer to the question of verse 3. Despite Scofieldian eschatology, Jesus made no mention of an intervening "Rapture," nor did he change the subject mid-course from Christian believers to "post-Rapture Jewish converts." Do current events and growing global turmoil represent the early stages of coming "birth pangs"? More than a few are beginning to ask.
Permit us to suggest that the vulnerabilities at this point are two-fold: 2.) indifference and/or naivete; 2.) blinding following those who "have it all figured out."
Burl Ratzsch
