I did not even mention yet – and it’s not for this message – the rising number of earthquakes. Israel, in the last 12 hours, had two. The rising number of natural disasters, of eruption of volcanoes; there’s so many things that this world is going to go through. And I’m not saying that to scare you. I’m quoting the birth pangs that Jesus Himself talked about.
“These things, I tell you. That in Me, you will have peace.” He says that in this world, you will have what? Tribulation. “But be of good cheer. I have overcome this world,” He said. He said, look, in this world, if the only thing you have is to rely on the things of this world, it’s getting worse and worse and worse. But the believers switched those serious long faces with the smiley ones. He said, “Be of good cheer for I have overcome this world.”
Something we don’t often think about is that when Adam fell, creation fell, too. It was never God’s desire that we live in a climate of fear of natural disasters, shifting tectonic plates, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.
Genesis 3:17-19
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Life in a fallen world is far different than life in the initial created world. Adam and Eve went from walking in the garden in the cool of the day with the Lord, to being barred from that very garden. An angel with a flaming sword guarded the way to the tree of life which was in the center of the garden, lest man’s fallen condition become eternal.
Romans 8:22
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
We live in a time when the travails of the earth are increasing in frequency and intensity in a labor-pain-like fashion. Earthquakes are increasing, weather phenomena are getting more intense, and plagues are sweeping the globe as it seems that another comes as soon as the previous one subsides.
How do we keep from being overwhelmed at such a time as this? Remember that Jesus has overcome the world and will someday create a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells. No earthquakes or hurricanes, no famines or plagues. What man caused in the garden, Jesus cured on the cross!
Revelation 21:27
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 22:1-5
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
In this life we will have the experiences that come with living in a fallen world. When Jesus reminds us in John 16:33 that He has overcome the world, He used the word “tribulation” which means “burdens, anguish, and afflictions.” He followed this by calling us to be of good cheer because He has overcome this world.
So as the world groans and travails as it awaits its deliverance from the curse, let’s remember that same curse that came with the fall of man is going to lifted someday and what is in store for us in the next life is this:
Psalm 16:11
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!