“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV
I suspect this column will be viewed by many as much more philosophical than my usual offerings, but for some reason that seems to be where the Holy Spirit has taken me the past couple of weeks. Of course, I have often shared that fall is my favorite season, but lately my thoughts have turned to questioning why that is the case and if there may be more to it than simply watching the colors change. As you might expect, as I began to think on these things, my first reaction was to search the scriptures to see what thoughts God has chosen to share with us on the subject of the seasons.
The passage above is probably more well known by many as the lyrics to the song “Turn Turn Turn” made famous by the rock group the Byrds in 1965, but truth be told God actually wrote these words much earlier than that. The first thing that caught my attention as I sat and contemplated this verse was the fact that God said “everything” has a “season”. In other words, absolutely nothing happens in our lives, or in this world for that matter, that doesn’t occur according to its appointed season. While most of the world considers the events of history to be random chance, as believers we are told that God appoints and controls everything to occur in its proper time.
The second thing that I noticed was the fact that everything has a “purpose” in God’s plan for this world. As I thought about that I had to consider the possibility that for most of my life I have more or less looked at the events of this life backwards. While I believed that as Paul told us in Romans 8:28, that all things work together, I realized my perspective was that God reacts to events to cause them to fit into His plan when the truth is He has a purpose for everything before it actually happens. It matters not if God either allows events to happen, or causes them to happen, the truth is that there is a “purpose” intended for all things.
While the question of why things happen has been around since creation, that particular mental exercise has taken on a life of its own in the past two years as we have seen what many of us consider to be the birth pangs spoken of by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ begin to occur. Most would probably agree that these events could, and should be considered to be life changing as far as society is concerned. The pandemic, a questionable election, riots, mass shootings, an unsecured border between the United States and Mexico, the reversal of Roe v Wade, and runaway inflation are just a few of the events we could list which have many wondering just what in the world is going on.
I would answer that what we are seeing is, in fact, God’s plan for this world unfolding in such a way as to get the attention of His creation. In his letter to the church at Thessalonica, Paul said in no uncertain terms that we would know the season of our Lord’s return. Based upon the passage above where we are told that “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven”, I believe that we could accurately say that what the world is seeing at present is the approach of the season of return where the Church will be raptured and the world will enter the day of the Lord’s judgment.
“For
this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world [that]
then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth
[which] are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day
of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
2 Peter 3:5-7 NKJV
What Peter tells us here is simple enough; the world will experience the
judgment of God twice. The first was by water, which was as we know the flood
of Noah, and a second time by fire which will be during the period known as the
Tribulation. In light of what we are discussing, and the
fact that God has said everything has a season, my thoughts turned to when the
flood occurred and exactly what season it was in? Fortunately for us, God in
His wisdom chose to tell us exactly when the flood of Noah began. If we look
closely at the Genesis account we find this;
“In the six hundredth
year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on
that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of
heaven were opened.”
Genesis 7:11 NKJV
This passage tells us that the flood began precisely on the seventeenth of
Cheshvan, the second month of the Jewish civil calendar. Many of you know the
fall feasts occur during the first month, Tishri, beginning with Rosh Hashanah
which will begin late this month around September 27. I say around because the Jewish calendar is
lunar rather than solar, and each month begins with the first sighting of the
new moon. If the new moon is sighted as it should be on September 27, then the
seventeenth day of the second month, the anniversary of the flood, should be on
November 11 this year placing it squarely in the fall season.
Now considering the fact we know that God has allowed many events to occur on
the same day of the year throughout history, and He has clearly stated that He
does not change, is it possible that by knowing the exact day the flood began
we can assume the next judgment of the world could begin on the anniversary of
the first judgment? I believe our answer
to that could certainly be “why not”? It
would also lend itself to identifying the fall season as God’s season of
judgment, as well as following the pattern that God has already established,
and might, in light of other passages of scripture, be logical when we know
that Jesus talked of His return at the end of the age by referring to the time
of Noah and the flood.
“And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.” Daniel 2:21 NKJV
Could it be that God is preparing the world for His judgment? This passage states clearly that it is God who places and removes our leaders. Many have questioned why this country is currently being led by leaders who often have been referred to as “totally incompetent” for the position they hold. A recent article in the Jerusalem Post actually asked the question “is God judging America?” This past week saw the death of Queen Elizabeth II of England, who by all accounts was a firm believer in Jesus Christ. Already we are seeing speculation on the prophetic implications of her death and the possibility that this is an event which will not only remove a potential obstacle to the emergence of the coming anti-christ, but could in fact be the last domino to fall in that process.
Will the fall season prove to be the season of God’s judgment? The news lately seems to be full of dire predictions of what this world can expect in the coming months, and much of what they predict has an eerie similarity to the events foretold in the book of Revelation. I personally believe that fall, while my most favorite season to enjoy, could well prove to be the season where God decides to unleash His wrath on an unbelieving world. The only good news here is that we are told that all true believers will escape this time of judgment by way of the rapture. As the Bible often refers to this event as a “harvest”, and the next few weeks until the Feast of Trumpets is the time of harvest in Israel, I can’t help thinking now more than ever we should be heeding Jesus’ admonition to be looking up.
If you are reading this today and have never made a decision to accept the free gift of salvation offered by our God I encourage you to do that right now and receive the guarantee that you will spend eternity with the Father in Heaven, and escape the evil which is to come. Simply pray a prayer like this; Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.
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