Earth Pains

How does God feel about suffering? I think our best clues about how God feels can be found in how His Son handled hardships on this earth. In His time on earth, Jesus wept when Lazarus died, and He was consumed by what He knew Jerusalem was going to suffer after His death. Jesus felt things very deeply. Perhaps one of the reasons was that death was never supposed to be a part of His creation, and such suffering may wound His Spirit even more than it does ours. He alone can envision what life would have been like-indeed, should have been like-had we not sinned and brought evil into the world. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit and disobeyed God, they didn’t just throw a wall up between themselves and God. The world itself changed. Illness and pain came. Weeds and devouring insects came. Paradise was lost. And God was not happy about it, just as He is not happy when we face storms today.

"For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." - Romans 8:22

Things just aren't what they're supposed to be. Consider man's violence against man, the animal kingdom's survival of the fittest, or pollution poisoning our air and streams. And it's incredible how the earth, with all its beauty and wonder, can become a destructive force against itself through earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and floods.The Bible says, "...the whole creation groans and suffers the pain of childbirth." See, in the beginning before man sinned, everything was in sync. There was such peace on earth that even man and animals were vegetarians. There was no killing of any kind. But now the earth has entered into a period that God likens to a mother giving birth, and, like childbirth, things will get worse before they get better. I believe the more sin and the worse sin gets, the more “pains” the earth will feel. There will be more earthquakes, floods, disease, famines, wars. But it also means Christ’s coming is closer.


Signs of the end of the age.

Matthew 24
1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

All creation longs for things to be made right, and one day it will be--the day when Jesus returns. It will be a time of salvation and judgment. Judgment will be for those who are not right with God, and salvation for those who are. His arrival will usher in a new age of harmony and peace on earth. Won't it be great? If you're ready, yes. If you're not, no.The key question for you is, will you be ready? The only way to be ready is through faith in Jesus Christ.