What the Bible says about
Drought
Judges 2:11-19
God has endowed His creation
with a self-adjusting mechanism that, unless altered by cataclysmic forces,
brings things back to a state of equilibrium.
For instance, the South recently endured four years of significant drought until finally the skies darkened, the rains fell, gutters and drains filled, flashfloods came, creeks overflowed, and fender-benders increased. The drought was declared over, and the region is busily making up for the lack of precipitation.
The natural balancing laws have worked again!
This is not only true over the short term but the long term as well. What environmentalists gloomily call
"global warming"
is nothing more than the planet's built-in mechanism to bring temperatures back to a mean. Several hundred years ago, the earth endured a "mini ice age," and since then, global temperatures have been rising ever so slightly to balance matters. We can expect these temperatures to rise and fall by a few tenths of a degree over our lifetimes, with more drastic changes of climate occurring only once or twice in a millennium.
This kind of equilibrium also occurs in other areas of nature.
For example, in any ecosystem the ratio of predators
to prey remains relatively constant.
If in a bountiful year prey species multiply rapidly,
predator births also increase.
However, once the prey population declines to a point that it cannot support the large number of predators, competition increases and deaths of predators also increase, establishing equilibrium once again.
The law also functions among human activities, though the relationships may be harder to spot and substantiate. However, we can perhaps see this best in economic patterns. We have all heard of economic cycles or stock-market cycles. Generally, free markets are self-correcting. Booms are followed by busts, bulls by bears.
A nation also has a moral cycle that maintains equilibrium so that things infrequently get so bad that God must intervene directly and spectacularly.
This may be most easily seen in God's record of the
Israelites during the period of the judges.
After Joshua died, a cycle began that lasted for about four hundred years, as described in
Judges 2:11-19.
This cycle of idolatry-subjection-deliverance-prosperity
is still at work today,
though it may be more difficult to see in our modern world.
Were it not, mankind would never have lasted this long; he would have committed genocide long ago.
We can be thankful that God
has included
this self-correcting mechanism within
His creation so that there is
a promise of a brighter tomorrow.
However, a time is coming—and maybe soon—that the natural cycle will not be enough to bring humanity back to equilibrium. Jesus Christ will have to step into world affairs to stop mankind from killing all life on earth (Matthew 24:21-22, 29-31). He warns us, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him" (verse 44). The question is, then, have we stepped outside the natural cycle of moral equilibrium and committed ourselves totally to righteousness?
1 Kings 17:1-7
The severe drought got to the point that this wadi completely dried up. Elijah went and lived with the widow in Sidon, which is also interesting because she was probably a Gentile (see Luke 4:24-26). When he lived there, the bread and the oil were not exhausted. His was an extended one, for, as we find out in James 5:17, this drought continued for 3½ years.
1 Kings 18:32-35
This occurs in the midst of a 3½ year drought.
Elijah wastes, as it were, all this water—to soak the sacrifice and the wood and to fill the trench. What is he doing? First, he is making sure that everyone understands that, when this sacrifice gets burned up, it will not be any man's doing. No man can cause a sacrifice with this much water on it to burn—a sacrifice that is essentially drowning in water.
Only God could do such a thing.
Second, he is showing how much God can supply. If Elijah is willing to "waste" that much water, then he must be certain that
God will supply the people
with the water to break the drought.
Water was pretty precious stuff at this point! All the brooks had dried up. The countryside was brown with dead vegetation. Even on Mt. Carmel, the greenest part of Israel, it was dry and dusty.
Yet, Elijah poured out
vast quantities of water on the sacrifice.
What faith!
Jeremiah 14:1-16
Notice what is happening.
The land is suffering from a
drought.
Did the people connect drought with
obedience to
the message of a false minister?
Probably not.
The spirit that was speaking to them was not divine, but it was supernatural. The people submitted to it because they did not put the prophet to the test to see whether or not his teaching was in harmony with what had already been revealed through God's messenger, Moses.
God blames the plight of the nation
(the drought mentioned in verses 1-6)
on the false prophets to whom the people listened
(verses 13-16).
What did the prophets do?
They lulled the people into
complacency,
which led them to believe that
all was well
when it was not.
They preached to them smooth things
because the people had itching ears.
They liked the things that were taught to them,
but it was
not the
Word of God.
God says
They preached
Lies in His Name
If one listens to them, then it is the same thing
as the
blind leading the blind
and
both falling in the ditch.
The land was in drought.
How many carnal people would
connect a drought with
obedience to a false minister?
Not very many because they would be thinking carnally and say
, "It's just part of the cycle of things. It happens every so many years."
They are not thinking that there might be a
spiritual cause for it:
that God is concerned about the well being of His people,
and that
He had brought the drought to make them think about
why it is happening.
The cause for concern is spiritual in nature.
Would any modern U.S. President or presidential candidate make an appeal to American citizens that the cause of our problems are spiritual in nature? If a national figure today said before a group of people that the reason we are having troubles in the United States is that we need to repent and get back to our God, they would be laughed into shame and contempt.
The reason we are seeing the immorality
in the United States is
the effect of listening to false ministers!
Amos 4:6-12
Behaviors have consequences.
Actions have reactions.
Causes have effects.
This is a
law of nature
that many moderns have sadly forgotten,
or in their
hubris believe that they can mitigate.
We perhaps see this most starkly in the world of health. A young man in his rebellion lives a wild life, drinking, carousing, and sleeping with multiple women throughout his college years. Soon, he finds he has contracted a venereal disease. "No problem," he thinks. "I can just go down to the clinic, and the doctor will prescribe something to cure me."
He thinks he has just defeated cause and effect,
but in reality,
he has just treated a symptom.
The compound effects of his earlier lifestyle may
not reveal themselves for years—in fact,
they may ruin his entire life!
Because of this kind of rationalization and short-sightedness, God works on a far larger canvas when it comes to teaching humanity lessons, and sometimes even the destruction of whole nations and millions of people fail to impress the truth on some.
We can see this in His dealings with Israel and Judah over 2,500 years ago.
He called Assyria to invade Israel several times, carting off hundreds of thousands of slaves, and they
still did not make the
connection
between their sinfulness,
particularly their idolatry, and
their destruction
(II Kings 17:5-23).
A similar series of events befell Judah just over a
hundred years later.
Through Amos, God shows us that He uses natural disasters to show His displeasure (Amos 4:6-13).
These "acts of God"
occur on a scale so immense that man's activities have little or no effect on their outcomes. Who can stop the earth from shaking?
Who can hold back the howling wind and driving rains?
Who can "prime the pump" to make
the rain fall and break a drought?
Who can plug the magma vents of the earth? Man is essentially powerless against the awesome forces of nature, and if
we believe that God is nature's Creator, we should
ask ourselves why such things occur.
Our current
drought affects upwards
of
40% of the nation,
and the problem is not just lack of rain anymore.
Drought conditions cause
other "natural" consequences.
Earlier this summer, we witnessed one of the most spectacular effects of extended dry weather: forest fires. As the drought continues, however,
new problems begin to crop up.
\
As a result of the parched conditions, beetles are boring through forests, invading farmlands and chomping on crops, making an already bad season worse. This includes the attacks of bark beetles, grasshoppers, Mormon crickets, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. On the grasshopper front alone, some infestations are the worst since the Great Depression, costing millions of dollars.
In addition, drought drives wild critters into the suburbs.
We occasionally hear of bears wandering down from the mountains into populated areas, but this "invasion" is far more diverse, including snakes, bighorn sheep, ducks, and rats as well. Experts believe scarce water and the resulting food shortage is forcing these animals to extend their range. Nationally, out-of-bounds wild animals cause an average $22 billion in damage each year, drought or not.
We have still not encountered what may be the worse result of drought: famine. However, it is prophesied for the end time. It is the third seal of Revelation 6:5-6, interpreted by Jesus in Matthew 24:7. Even a wealthy and productive nation like the United States can be brought to its knees by famine—and our vaunted pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality could do nothing to stop it. And that is where God wants this nation—on its knees, but in repentant prayer, not despair.
Amos 4:6-13
In the book of Amos, God shows that He uses "natural" disasters to teach people lessons, to bring them to repentance, to correct their ways. In this passage, He also admits that most people fail to make the connection between the disaster and their sins.
Secular Americans snicker at insurance policies that refer to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and other natural disasters as "acts of God," when they, in their scientific arrogance, prefer to call them "acts of nature" or "weather events." Even those who are moderately religious, like the Deists of the Enlightenment, do not believe that God is active in earth's events, whether natural or human. To them, He may be watching, but He certainly is not involved in human affairs.
This points out how utterly blind to God most people are, even Christians. For starters, because they are not looking for God's hand of intervention in their lives, they are certainly not going to see it. Having become so secular and scientific in their outlook, the miraculous is totally off their radar. They consider those who report of miracles to be medieval in their thinking and the miracles themselves to be mere coincidences of natural phenomena or overstatements of what actually occurred. To them, miracles are impossible because, by definition, they are unverifiable by scientific methods and therefore do not and never have happened.
Today's thoroughly modern Christian does not derive this negative view of God's intervention from His Book. In the Bible, divine involvement in human affairs occurs from cover to cover—in fact, it is the central fact of human existence, which the Bible takes great pains to reveal. At every critical point in man's history, God has been involved. At Creation, before and after the Flood, at the dispersal of the nations from Babel, in the history of Israel, among the great empires of ancient history from Egypt to Rome—God was instrumental. God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, came to this earth and lived among us, bringing us the good news of His Kingdom and dying for our salvation. Then He sent His apostles to the four corners of the globe to spread the word among those He would call.
That sounds as if God is active and involved in human affairs.
As Creator, He certainly has
power over the various elements of His creation.
Manipulating the weather is like child's play to Him.
He can send rain or drought anywhere, anytime.
He flooded the entire earth to a depth greater than the height of the tallest mountain of the time, so flashfloods, coastal floods, and river floods are easy. Spinning tornadoes is like breathing to Him, and earthquakes rumble and tumble at His command. The Bible makes many claims about His power over the elements (Job 26:7-12; Psalm 147:15-18; Nahum 1:3-6; etc.).
Jesus Himself calmed the storm with a word
(Matthew 8:24-26).
He also says that in His Millennial Kingdom, He will send drought on areas that refuse to keep His feasts (Zechariah 14:16-19). Are we to assume that, for some reason, He does not punish for sin now?
Haggai 1:7-11
This is quite pointed. When our ways do not please God, He says that He sends drought. These people were practicing a form of idolatry: They were worshipping themselves, their houses, and the works of their own hands. Basically, they were ignoring God by putting His work second or third or last.
They were getting the finest materials for themselves and not giving a hoot about God's House, which still lay in ruins after Nebuchadnezzar and his army had come through many years before. The ruins of God's House were still there, and nothing was happening on the site. It is not clear how long the people had been back at this point, but they should have done His work first, since that was the reason He had sent them back. The original command from the king was to go back and build a House to God. They should have tackled this job immediately, despite it being a command of a foreign emperor. The command was ultimately from God. So God took affront to it and really gave it to them to motivate them back to work.
Zechariah 10:1-3
Those who ask for it—sincerely—will get the rain that God promises. These people were obviously worshipping God. He would not have heard them or answered their prayers if they were idolaters. This shows that God does not just withhold rain when sin prevails; it works the other way as well. If we do right, if we ask Him in sincerity and humility, He will give rain in due season.
At the end of verse 2 and the beginning of verse 3, God promises to punish the shepherds—a type of either the religious or civil leadership—for leading the sheep into idolatry, ungodly ways, and lies that will not produce any good for them either now or in the long run. He will make His point, and one of the ways that He does so is through drought, lack of rain.
Revelation 6:5-6
This is a picture of scarcity of grain during a time when olive oil and wine are abundant. The grain must be measured very carefully, and it is sold at about twelve times its normal price. At the same time, growers are commanded not to reduce the production of oil and wine, items which most would consider to be luxuries. It seems that the common folk would spend all their living on grain to fend off starvation and have nothing left over for the finer things, while the rich would continue to live comfortably and make money on the inflated grain prices. The Third Seal describes scarcity in the midst of prosperity; the rich get richer as the poor get poorer.
Such a situation is not hard to imagine in our fast-paced, greedy world. Amos shows the rich "[selling] the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals" (Amos 2:6). Many businessmen have no qualms about taking advantage of a situation, as long as they are guaranteed to make a profit. We should not be surprised when food prices escalate sharply after a mediocre harvest.
God is not capricious; He does nothing without a purpose. He says that He sends these droughts, floods, diseases, insects, and famines to warn us and cause us to return to Him (Amos 4:6-9). Our God wants us to receive blessings, not curses, but sometimes He must get our attention and point us in the right direction when we go astray.
But Israel is stubborn and rebellious
(Jeremiah 5:23).
The people fail to see
that their sins
have caused these curses to fall upon them
(verses 24-25).
In fact, Israel loves to dwell in sin (verses 26-31)! Thus, God must punish them to make them obedient to His laws—laws that will
make them prosperous and happy.
Hunger is a method that hits home quickly, and
God will try to use this curse effectively:
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination?
Shall I count pure
with the wicked?
For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you,
by making you desolate because of your sins.
You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
hunger shall be in your midst. . . .
You shall sow, but not reap;
you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
and make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
(Micah 6:10-15)
Revelation 11:6
Like Revelation 11:4-5, verse 6 has obvious references to the Old Testament. The first miracle—no rain falling in the days of their prophecy—refers specifically to Elijah's 3½ year drought (I Kings 17-18). The second—waters turning to blood—is an obvious reference to the first plague that Moses brought upon Egypt (Exodus 7:14-25).
This seems to be a return to the way God's servants worked before Jesus Christ came—specifically focusing on Elijah's and Moses' works.
The word "power" appears three times in the description of the Two Witnesses, once in Revelation 11:3 and twice in verse 6. When somebody says, "These have power," we think in terms of energy or force or strength to do something. However, the implication of "power" here is authority. God gives them the authority, or the right, to cause these things to happen. In a way, they are given carte blanche to do what needs to be done.
In studying the lives of Elijah, Moses, and others of the prophets, we do not often see them going to God and saying, "Now, what should I do at this point? God, you know our enemies are coming, and I'm not sure what I should do." No, they just do whatever needs to be done. In II Kings 1, when the groups of fifty men and their captains come upon Elijah, the prophet was not sitting there and praying at the top of a hill, saying, "Oh, they're getting close. God, tell me what to do." He just called for fire from heaven and destroyed them. So, the Two Witnesses are given much the same authority at the time of the end. These two will have been trained and prepared by God to such an extent that they will know what to do. They will call upon God, and He will answer with power.
We do not find Jesus, for that matter, beseeching God for instruction about what to do. If someone came to Him for healing, He healed him. If someone needed a demon cast out, He cast out the demon. Once one has God's Spirit—and is in line with God's will—then these decisions are easier to make because, as Paul says in I Corinthians 2:16, "We have the mind of Christ." As we grow, we develop more of that mind of Christ, and we should be able to make decisions as Christ would make them.
So these Two Witnesses will be very much like Christ. They are witnesses of Him, as it says in the literal translation of verse 3. They are, in a way, some of the best representatives of Jesus Christ and His character that will have ever walked this earth. They will act like Christ as much as any two men can, and people in the world will see these two people as like Christ—and eventually treat them as they treated Christ.
Revelation 11:6
Although the
Two Witnesses can do other miracles,
two particular curses are highlighted here:
lack of rain and water turned to blood.
When looking at the Old Testament record where
these same curses are present, we see them
in context with
idolatry,
not knowing the true God,
and the
need for forgiveness.
These are subjects that the world needs to hear about, and these miracles will be used to illustrate them.
These miracles show just
how far
the world is from God
and why the judgment of Christ as
He returns must happen.
Remember, these men are witnesses,
sent to warn the world,
to give them the knowledge they need
to understand what is happening,
so that they are without excuse before
God's throne
when they are finally
judged.
The Witnesses tell them—by these signs, as well as through words—that they are utterly rebellious against God. They tell the world's people that they do not know Him and that they need to know Him—and quick! The Witnesses provide evidence to prove the people to be utterly defiled and sentenced to death unless they make some drastic changes.
It is a very scary scenario. The Witnesses are given carte blanche authority to do whatever is necessary to get these points across. The three years of their ministry will not be fun times, especially if they must make curses like this happen around the world with any frequency.
It is also notable that both of these plagues concern water,
which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
One curse points to a lack of water, and the other is the defiling of it.
In a way, these signs show the spiritual state of mankind.
They either reject God totally—corresponding
to the lack of rain--
or they twist and defile what they
know of His truth,
turning it into an
abomination--
symbolized by the water
turned to blood.
Water is present, but it
is defiled.
2 Timothy 3:1 ESV / 356 helpful votes But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
Luke 21:11 ESV / 264 helpful votes There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV / 263 helpful votes But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Romans 1:27 ESV / 260 helpful votes And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Luke 21:31 ESV / 260 helpful votes So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Matthew 24:39 ESV / 258 helpful votes And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Zechariah 14:8 ESV / 249 helpful votes On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
2 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 243 helpful votes For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Luke 21:36 ESV / 242 helpful votes But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Daniel 12:4 ESV / 236 helpful votes But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
2 Peter 3:10 ESV / 231 helpful votes But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
2 Peter 3:3-10 ESV / 228 helpful votes Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ...
Daniel 12:10 ESV / 222 helpful votes Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.
Genesis 8:22 ESV / 217 helpful votes While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
2 Peter 3:3-4 ESV / 191 helpful votes Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Matthew 24:14 ESV / 175 helpful votes And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
2 Timothy 4:3 ESV / 174 helpful votes For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
Matthew 24:1-51 ESV / 173 helpful votes Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ...
1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 164 helpful votes Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
2 Timothy 3:4 ESV / 163 helpful votes Treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
Matthew 24:21 ESV / 162 helpful votes For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning o the world until now, no, and never will be.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV / 158 helpful votes Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
2 Timothy 3:1-17 ESV / 157 helpful votes But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ...
Ezekiel 38:22 ESV / 153 helpful votes With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur.
Galatians 5:21 ESV / 150 helpful votes Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Matthew 24:7 ESV / 148 helpful votes For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Revelation 20:7-10 ESV / 145 helpful votes And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Luke 21:25-26 ESV / 143 helpful votes “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mark 13:1-37 ESV / 138 helpful votes And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. ...
John 3:16 ESV / 136 helpful votes “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Zechariah 14:12 ESV / 134 helpful votes And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Jude 1:7 ESV / 129 helpful votes Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Luke 21:28 ESV / 123 helpful votes Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Luke 21:25 ESV / 122 helpful votes “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
Mark 13:10 ESV / 122 helpful votes And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
Revelation 6:8 ESV / 121 helpful votes And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
Luke 21:1-38 ESV / 115 helpful votes Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, ...
Matthew 24:6-7 ESV / 108 helpful votes And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV / 106 helpful votes For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Matthew 24:12 ESV / 106 helpful votes And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Matthew 24:34 ESV / 105 helpful votes Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
Daniel 12:1 ESV / 99 helpful votes “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
Revelation 16:8-9 ESV / 97 helpful votes The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
2 Peter 1:20 ESV / 94 helpful votes Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
Revelation 21:8 ESV / 92 helpful votes But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:4 ESV / 92 helpful votes He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Luke 21:26 ESV / 89 helpful votes People fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Matthew 24:9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Matthew 24:33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Luke 17:28-30 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all--
so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Matthew 24:30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 3:10 ESV / 80 helpful votes Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
Matthew 24:3 ESV / 78 helpful votes As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Joshua 10:11 ESV / 77 helpful votes And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
Revelation 16:21 ESV / 71 helpful votes And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 ESV / 70 helpful votes For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Haggai 1:11 ESV / 65 helpful votes And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
2 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 64 helpful votes Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
1 John 2:18 ESV / 63 helpful votes Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 ESV / 63 helpful votes And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
Mark 4:39 ESV / 63 helpful votes And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Joel 2:31 ESV / 63 helpful votes The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Matthew 24:31 ESV / 61 helpful votes And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Luke 18:8 ESV / 60 helpful votes I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jonah 1:4 ESV / 60 helpful votes But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.
Luke 21:34-36 ESV / 59 helpful votes “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:27 ESV / 59 helpful votes For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Joel 2:32 ESV / 59 helpful votes And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
Matthew 24:37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:32-33 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Revelation 6:7-8 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
John 10:10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Ezekiel 38:1-23 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great host, all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia, Cush, and Put are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ...
Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Acts 2:19-20 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Ezekiel 30:3 For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Mark 16:1-20 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ...
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Romans 9:28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
Mark 13:20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
2 Chronicles 7:13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,
1 Thessalonians 5:3While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 But test everything; hold fast what is good.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1 John 3:2 ESV / 48 helpful votes Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 Corinthians 15:51 ESV / 48 helpful votes Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Matthew 24:24 ESV / 48 helpful votes For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 16:3 ESV / 46 helpful votes And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Ezekiel 13:13 ESV / 46 helpful votes Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.
Jeremiah 33:20-25 Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.” The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. ...
1 Kings 8:35-36 When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
Luke 17:28Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
Amos 5:18-20 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
Acts 1:6-7 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has
fixed by his own authority.
ESV / 41 helpful votes For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Ezekiel 38:16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.