A Sign of the End Times? | Bittersweet Farm Journal | January 11, 2023

Hope you and yours are well in this New Year. Do you have plans or goals? I’d love to hear about them. I’m going to write two books this year. I am going to organize our basement and carriage house. I’m going to walk or ride my bike six days a week. I have a few other goals to. Last night I was thinking about organizing my basement andI’m developing a set of guidelines/practices for our storage areas:—everything must be stored in a stackable container.—all containers must be labeled.—all contents must be logged on a database and keyed to the container number.—never discard something that does not belong to you without permission of its owner.—periodically sell, donate or discard unused and unneeded items.—store bins in seasonal sections so you know where things are based on the time of year you need them. Shorts. Sweaters. Christmas. Easter bunny collection. Ashes of the red heifer, etc.—never throw away clothing that matches your youngest daughter’s American girl doll that you bought her when she was small on a trip to Chicago years ago. Keep it so you can stand in the basement and clear your sinuses periodically.

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Signs of the Times? 

When the children were small we lived in an old farmhouse on a dead-end road. To get home I would pass where you could see the house in a clearing from highway 36 and then double back on the dead-end road where the house was located. When I came home I would pass the clearing and beep my horn. The kids would usually be playing in the yard knowing I would be home soon. They would run or ride their bikes down the road to meet me. They are all grown up now and live in other places in Michigan or in other states. I don’t get to see them at the end of every day but I cherish the memory of their eagerness and unfiltered love.

I got to thinking about that this morning because recently a video has been going around on the internet with about the end times, the return of Christ, and the drying up of the Euphrates River. It got me thinking about the return of Christ. How much and how often do I look forward to the return of Christ? How eager am I to see him? Do I love to think about the Lord’s return? Do I love to talk about the Lord’s return? Are the many scriptures about the Lord’s return precious to me?

Paul wrote; “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8, ESV)

Christians should avoid discrediting their witness with end-times sensationalism or inappropriate speculation about end-time signs, but we should cultivate a deep love for Christ and his appearing. We all must always battle the temptation to fixate on things that won’t last and don’t matter over the things that will last forever and matter to God.

In a couple places the Scriptures predict the drying up of the Euphrates River. Recently this has been coming up in discussion because the water level in the Euphrates River is low right now. We should pay careful attention to these things and they should make us study the word carefully. We should avoid speculation and sensationalism, but we should also be careful not to be apathetic or indifferent about the return of Jesus.

It has been said that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament and that this teaching occupies one in every twenty-five verses from Matthew to Revelation
About the drying up of the Euphrates, I found a helpful article about this from a reliable, thoughtful source that answers Bible questions. Here is a link. I highly recommend it. It’s a quick read.

 

Bittersweet Farm

January 11, 2023