Believing Jesus or not …

If you ask the first person you meet on the street, “do you believe in Jesus, or not?” chances are you may get an angry stare. Or worse than that. Some may not be that uptight and will simply answer, “of course.” After all, we’re the only “Christian” country in Asia. But when we admit we believe in Jesus, do we really mean it? Jesus said he is God, and God is absolute; Jesus said he is the Truth, which means everything he said is absolutely true. Everything. Do we believe that?

Oftentimes there is a disconnect between what we profess to believe and how we react to the reality in the world around us. We have our religious beliefs, but we separate them from our secular view of life. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example. How does God play in all of this? Does he know? We answer yes, at once. Why did he allow this? We pause to contemplate and sometimes dismiss the thought when it becomes hard. Or did he cause this to happen? We balk, because it’s difficult to imagine a kind, loving God causing millions of people to die…

We read the statements of Jesus in the Bible but oftentimes we don’t connect them to current events. Why is there a pandemic? Maybe, one explanation is because he already said there would be. Speaking about the end times, we read in the fifth chapter of the book of Matthew in the Bible, “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” (vv. 6-7).

We read in the Scriptures a consistent warning of tribulations and hardships --wars, hunger, earthquakes, pestilence, and other kinds of calamities. And these become worse and worse, preceding the second coming of Jesus. There’s a threat of a huge war in Ukraine even as there are actually more wars now all over the world, not necessarily between nations but between tribal and ethnic groups within nations. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, too. In short, calamities. As Jesus said. If we believe in Jesus, then we have to admit – COVID-19 is not the last pandemic --there will be more, and worse. The Bible clearly talks of a worst tribulation at the end.

Why is this important? Because we can’t continue to claim we believe in Jesus and yet disregard what he said. COVID-19 is still here and there’s threat of a war in Europe. There will be worse in the future. But for those who believe in God, we can rest confident in God’s assurance and promises. Of his help and protection. For Christians, the signs of the times are here upon us, it’s a litmus test of self-examination whether we really believe in God and Jesus Christ or not.

For after the end times is the 1,000 years reign of Jesus here on earth. And endless, everlasting eternity after that. If you believe in Jesus.