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Has
the Time Come to “Run for the Hills?”
From time to time
the staff receives phone calls and emails asking,
“Has the time come to “run for the
hills?” I have no doubt that many people
would like to escape the stresses and demands of
life by “running for the hills,” but
this article will focus on the serious side of
this question. A growing number of
Christians (and non-Christians) are worried about
the future. Looking ahead, they see a huge
catastrophic meltdown coming. They believe
the U.S., in particular and the world in general,
cannot continue on its present course much
longer. They are convinced that a series of
calamitous events will occur and the result will
be indescribable chaos, suffering, and
death. Given this looming destiny, people
are actually considering the idea of “running
for the hills.” For purposes of
discussion, let us identify this coming time
period as “The Great Tribulation,” a
time when survival will be far more
difficult.
The Bible confirms a
coming global meltdown and in fact, the books of
Daniel and Revelation reveal much about this
topic. Jesus also spoke about The Great
Tribulation when He was on Earth. When
asked about the signs that would indicate His
return was near He said, “For then
there will be great distress, unequaled from the
beginning of the world until now – and never
to be equaled again. If those days had not
been cut short, no one would survive, but for the
sake of the elect those days will be
shortened. At that time if anyone says to
you, ‘Look, here is Christ!” or, ‘There
he is!’ do not believe it. For false
Christ’s and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and miracles to deceive even
the elect – if that were possible.
See, I have told you ahead of time.”
(Matthew 24: 21-25, italics mine)
When Jesus spoke these
words in A.D. 30, He indicated that the number of
days allotted for the Great Tribulation had been
cut short (notice the past perfect tense). This
means The Great Tribulation will be shorter than
originally planned. I believe God reduced
the number of days originally allotted for The
Great Tribulation redundant when He devised
“Plan B” and He revealed the reduced
number 1,335 days to Daniel during the sixth
century B.C. (See Daniel 12: 11,12.) (For a
discussion on Plan A and Plan B, please see
Appendix D in Jesus’ Final Victory which can
be downloaded from: http://www.wake-up.org/Commentary/Daniel_Revelation%20Final.pdf.) I have come to this
conclusion for several reasons.
First, Jesus used the past perfect tense to
indicate action completed in the past. The
time allotted for The Great Tribulation was
reduced before the meeting occurred in Matthew
24. Second, 65 years after Jesus ascended
to Heaven, Jesus met with John on the Isle of
Patmos (about A.D. 95). The information
revealed in Revelation contains several prophetic
time periods that harmoniously align with the
1,335 days recorded in Daniel 12. This
raises an important question. How could Jesus say
The Great Tribulation had been shortened in
Matthew 24 and then 65 years later, Jesus told
John that the time allotted to the Two Witnesses
was 1,260 days and the time allotted for the
composite beast was 42 months? In fact,
Jesus showed John several prophetic time periods
that perfectly align with the 1,335 days in
Daniel 12. This leads me to ask was the
time cut short before the book of Daniel was
written or will time be cut short after The Great
Tribulation begins? I conclude the number
of days was reduced before the book of Daniel was
written because (a) Jesus used the past perfect
tense in A.D. 30 to indicate the number of days
had been reduced, (b) in A.D. 95 the prophetic
time periods given to John harmoniously align
with the 1,335 days given to Daniel, and most of
all, (c) God’s Word means what it says. The
prophetic time periods will be fulfilled as God
declares. Of course, I would be very happy if the
Great Tribulation was reduced to 35 days or less,
but I believe the Bible says otherwise.
During the Great
Tribulation, desperation and anxiety will
overwhelm those who do not know how to live by
faith. Even those who walk with God will
tremble! Circumstances will be dire and
extreme. Survival will be a day to day
struggle. The Bible teaches that God will release
Lucifer (the Antichrist) and his demonic angels
from the spirit realm during the fifth trumpet,
about 890 days into The Great Tribulation.
(For additional study on this topic, please see
Prophecy 8 in my latest book, Jesus’
Final Victory http://www.wake-up.org/Commentary/Commentary.htm or “The Greatest Deception
of All Time” http://www.wake-up.org/daystar/ds2006/Feb.htm).
After Lucifer and his
angels are released from the spirit realm, they
will appear physically before the people of
Earth. Compared to mankind, they will be
giants who far exceed human stature. They
will have physical, mental, and miracle-working
abilities that will make everyone in their
presence tremble. The devil himself, will
masquerade as Almighty God. (Daniel 11: 36,
37; 2 Thessalonians 2:4) He will be
glorious in appearance. (2 Corinthians
11:14) Millions of demons (fallen angels)
will attend him. (Revelation 9: 1-11)
Acting as magnanimous benefactors, they will
perform all kinds of “good miracles.”
The nations of the world will enthusiastically
receive them because human beings worldwide will
do whatever it takes to survive. The
saying, “seeing is believing” is
applicable, because Lucifer’s extravagant
displays of power and miracles will be impossible
to deny. Because of Lucifer’s
deception, Jesus warned His followers to ignore
rumors or reports saying that Jesus has returned
and He is in this place or that place.
This warning brings up
two points about the Second Coming that everyone
must know. First, when Jesus returns,
everyone on Earth will see Him. “Look,
He is coming with the clouds and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him; all the
peoples of the earth will mourn because of
him. So shall it be! Amen.”
(Revelation 1:7, italics mine) This
text means that if you go out to see “Jesus”
in one place or another, you are actually going
to see a demon! Second, when Jesus appears,
He will not touch Earth! The saints (both
the dead and the living) will meet the Lord
together in the air at the Second Coming because
they will leave Earth and return with Jesus to
live in the New Jerusalem for 1,000 years.
(John 14: 2, 3; 1 Thessalonians 4: 16,17)
Lucifer and his angels will do just the opposite.
They will descend from the sky to Earth and
people will see them in various cities and they
will deceive billions of people with their
miracles, signs, and lies. Lucifer will
claim that he has come to establish a thousand
years of peace and unfortunately, billions of
people will believe him.
Not So Fast!
There is no doubt The
Great Tribulation is coming, but should we “run
for the hills” to protect ourselves and our
loved ones while we can? Before you pack
your suitcase, please consider two things:
First, it would be foolish to relocate unless you
have prayerfully sought the Lord’s will and
you have “providential evidence” from
Him indicating that you should go. Remember
the Christian commitment phrase “go-be-do?”
This little phrase sums up the attitude and
experience of a true Christian. It means,
“Lord, I am willing to go wherever you want
me to go, do whatever you want me to do, and be
all that you would have me to become.”
Second, remember that true Christianity shines
best and accomplishes things that would be
otherwise impossible when circumstances are
difficult. If the followers of Jesus “run
and hide” before The Great Tribulation
approaches, no one will be left to support the
144,000 as they boldly proclaim the gospel.
No one will be ready to share their homes, food,
and water with those who receive Jesus and have
no place to go. No one will be left to
encourage and strengthen new Christians.
When Jesus was arrested
in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of the disciples
fled, except Peter. Peter bravely pulled
out his sword and cut off a man’s ear, but
Jesus rebuked him and a few hours later, Peter
denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter soon
discovered that fighting for survival or
supremacy is not Christ’s way. Peter
was stunned when he finally realized that Jesus
came to Earth to give His life “as a ransom
for many.” (1 Timothy 2:6) The
“run and hide” game is foolish.
When it comes to serving God, saving self is
ego-centric (self-centered), whereas surrendering
our life to others is theo-centric (God
centered).
Leaving or
Loving Thy Neighbors?
Jesus said the second
greatest commandment is this: “Love
your neighbor as yourself.”
(Matthew 22:39) Within the context of The
Great Tribulation, the essential difference
between leaving your neighbors behind or
remaining with your community is love.
Christians should not
join a commune or a militia group to survive
“doomsday.” (Smile) The destiny
of the true Christianity is just before us.
Again, unless you have “providential
evidence” to relocate, this is no time to
leave your neighbors behind. A time will
come when “running for the hills” will
be appropriate, but that day will come near the
end of The Great Tribulation. When
Jesus terminates intercession for sinners and the
door to mercy closes (the 1,260th day of The
Great Tribulation), nothing further can be done
to save sinners. Most, if not all, of the
144.000 will be dead by that time and the time
for sharing the gospel will have ended.
Until the battle for souls is over, each of us
must stand fast and serve at our post of
duty. We must remain loving, faithful, and
active for the salvation of others, even to
death. Jesus has a plan for each of
us: “If anyone is to go into
captivity, into captivity he will go. If
anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the
sword he will be killed. This
[kind of service and commitment] calls
for patient endurance and faithfulness on the
part of the saints.”
(Revelation 13: 10, insertion mine)
There is a time to be
bold and there is a time to evade those who would
do us harm. Paul was beaten three times and
stoned once for his testimony (2 Corinthians 11:
25), but he also escaped certain death when his
followers lowered him in a basket through an
opening in the city wall. (Acts 9:25)
God gives His faithful followers grace and wisdom
to meet the challenges of each day. You can
count on Jesus for He promised, “And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age.” (Matthew28:
20) This is why learning to live a life
based on faith is so important right now.
It is important to live like Paul, even though
Paul thought his way of living was as good as it
gets. (1 Corinthians 7:7) God does
not call everyone to be a pastor, evangelist,
teacher, doctor, or lawyer. (1 Corinthians
12) However, God has a special work for you
if you are willing to love Him and serve Him with
all your heart, mind, and soul and love your
neighbors as yourselves. There is enormous
and endless joy when our place in God’s will
is found.
The Greatest
Examples of Love
Jesus could have easily
played “run and hide.” He could
have aborted His efforts to save sinners by
saving Himself. He did not want to die, but
He was willing to go to the cross in order to
save us. Before we examine His
never-to-be-forgotten words in the Garden of
Gethsemane, consider this: Jesus’
death should not be equated with the death of a
man. Millions of saints have stood firmly
for their faith and with God’s help, died a
martyr’s death, but Jesus’ experience
goes far beyond the death of a
martyr. Jesus suffered extremely as
the Father imposed the guilt of our sins on
Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) The burden
of guilt was so heavy that it would have killed
Jesus before He was crucified! Had it not
been for the angel who strengthened Jesus, He
would not have made it to the cross. Later,
while Jesus was hanging on the cross, the Father
did something that crushed the life out of
Jesus. He turned His back on Jesus
(indicating His rejection of Christ as a sinner)
and this made Jesus forcibly cry out, “’Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
(Mark 15:34) On the cross, Jesus died the
second death – a death without hope of
resurrection. The Father required Him to
experience what the wicked will experience at the
end of the 1,000 years when the penalty for sin
is imposed upon the wicked. This is
important because Jesus is more than a man.
He suffered more than a man can suffer. He
is co-eternal member of the Godhead, and to cease
to exist forever so that sinners could have
eternal life involves more sacrifice than we can
imagine. Divine love does not “run and
hide.” Rather, divine love is willing
to do whatever it takes to benefit others.
Jesus prayed, “’Father, if you
are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my
will, but yours be done.’ An angel
from Heaven appeared to him and strengthened
him. And being in anguish, he prayed
earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:
42-44)
Larry Wilson
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