Will You Heed Warnings of Imminent Disaster?
SOME natural disasters cause a disruption in the lives of people; others, great destruction of life and property. Usually, though, such affect only a small part of the earth and its population at any one time. Our present generation, however, is facing a disaster of earth-wide dimensions that will affect all humankind.
No, it is not a nuclear war between the superpowers, although that would be a terrible disaster. Rather, we are speaking of God’s expressed purpose to remove all badness from the face of the earth.
The scope of this disaster was expressed by Jesus in his prophecy pertaining to the conclusion of the system of things: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved.”—Matthew 24:3, 21, 22.
They Saved Their Lives
Jesus compared this worldwide disaster with an earlier world calamity, the Flood of Noah’s day, stating: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matthew 24:37) The Bible states that in the days before the Flood “the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time.” Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground.”—Genesis 6:5-8.
As for Noah, we read at Hebrews 11:7: “By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives were all preserved alive through the Flood.
The rest of mankind at that time, however, ignored the warning given. According to Jesus’ words, people in those days before the Flood were “eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away.”—Matthew 24:38, 39.
In the days of Lot, God determined to bring the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah to ruin because of their gross immorality. Yet, they continued ‘eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building’ as though nothing was about to happen. Though Lot warned his prospective sons-in-law of the danger, ‘in their eyes he seemed like a man who was joking.’ But God directed fire and sulfur to rain from the skies, destroying all of them. Lot and his daughters obeyed the warning and saved their lives.—Luke 17:28, 29; Genesis 19:12-17, 24.
Warning in Jesus’ Day
In Jesus’ day the Jewish people had rejected God’s Word in favor of their own traditions, and they also rejected God’s Son as the Christ, or Messiah. God determined to execute his judgment upon them and their glorious city, Jerusalem, by means of the Roman armies. Jesus gave warning about this and told his disciples how to escape that judgment. He said:
“When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, . . . then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.” And: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:15, 16; Luke 21:20-22) It would be a time for urgent action, a person not even taking time to secure his material possessions. Jesus said: “Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment.”—Matthew 24:17, 18.
In the year 66 C.E., Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman troops under Cestius Gallus, in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. The Romans, who were actually undermining the temple wall and thus standing in the holy place of the Jews, were something disgusting to the Jews. The warning sign was there but no opportunity to flee. Then Cestius Gallus unexpectedly withdrew his troops. Christians began fleeing to the mountains. The majority of the people, however, remained in the city, and other Jews continued to come into it for their religious festivals.
In 70 C.E., when the city was crowded with Passover celebrants, the Roman forces under General Titus returned with a vengeance and laid siege to Jerusalem. In time the walls were breached, the temple and the entire city destroyed, and according to the historian Josephus, 1,100,000 people died, and 97,000 survivors were sold into slavery to Egypt and other lands. This was the lot of those who failed to heed Jesus’ warning. Those who fled from the city, as Jesus had commanded, preserved their lives.
Heed the Warning Now
Jesus’ prophecy, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, was to have a greater fulfillment. Remember, Jesus was also answering the question of his apostles about the sign of his presence, which the Bible associates with the end of a whole world system of things. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 24:3, 21) Jesus outlined that his return, or presence, which would be invisible, would be marked by a sign that would include wars, food shortages, earthquakes, pestilences, increase of lawlessness, persecution of his disciples, anguish of nations, and men becoming faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.—Matthew 24:7, 8, 12; Luke 21:10, 11, 25, 26.
Who can deny that the generation since World War I has experienced an increase in all these pangs of distress? So that people would understand the significance of these things, Jesus prophesied: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) Jehovah’s Witnesses have zealously preached this good news of the Kingdom in more than 200 lands in some 200 different languages, warning people of the imminent execution of God’s judgment. With reference to those who would see the beginning of pangs of distress, which began with World War I, Jesus stated: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”—Matthew 24:34.
The way to heed Jesus’ warning is, not by fleeing to literal mountains or by escaping to some other area of the earth, but by turning to the true God, Jehovah, and learning of his provision for preservation of life. You can do this by contacting those who are giving this warning, Jehovah’s Witnesses, letting them study the Bible with you, and associating with them.
If heeding warnings was critical for some ten thousand Japanese who escaped destruction from a volcano, how much more vital it is for us to act now to receive Jehovah’s protection from worldwide destruction in this time of the end!
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By heeding warnings, Lot and his daughters escaped destruction