The record number of viewers for a Super Bowl is around 115 million-ish. A brief thirty second Super Bowl ad during this event last year actually cost $5 million, a huge expenditure for every second of air time. As an American, you might think this is the biggest TV spectator event in the world, but you would be wrong. The final game of the last World Cup in soccer was viewed by over a billion people world-wide. But probably topping that was a recent India-Pakistan cricket game, and it was not even the final game of that world championship tournament. It drew even more viewers than the World Cup, over a billion, with nearly 300 million watching in India alone. From what we as humans know and observe, this is quite phenomenal.
Could any other world event top these? What about an event which every eye of the world population will view? Is there such a thing? Is it even possible? In homes or shacks with no television? The Scriptures predict such. If this is the case, you can count on it, whether or not you are still alive when it takes place. Come to think of it, all those who have been long dead or have ever lived in human history, along with all those who are currently living, will view it together. Such is, at least, the assured prediction of God’s inerrant Word! Is this merely a two millennia old prophecy by a disciple of an itinerant First Century teacher and alleged miracle worker? How certain can you be of the accuracy of this prophecy by the apostle named John?
The last living apostle of Jesus Christ wrote this in the last decade of the First Century. He received the information by means of a vision he had on a currently-Greek island of tiny proportion named Patmos, very close to the coast of present-day Turkey. I have been there and viewed the cave where he allegedly lived and wrote the book with the name “Revelation or “The Apocalypse, the final book of the Bible. I believe that not only did the Apostle John write this, but I also believe it is fully trustworthy and accurate in its prediction. Billions of others, fellow saints, down through the ages share this same belief.
If this is true, as I believe it is, there is no other comparable event of world history. In fact, it is the culmination of history. All history comes to a close with the return of Jesus Christ, viewed by all peoples of every tribe, language, and nation. No one who is or ever was will be exempt. There is nothing so phenomenal! You will see it! And you will be one of two, and only two, types of spectators. You will either wail and mourn because of Him, or you will receive Him with overwhelming gladness and eager expectation! What no one will do is ignore Him. Such will be impossible! For Scripture says, “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
What does this prophecy do for you when you read it? What do you see in your mind? Can your imagination even conjure up what John saw when this was presented to his eyes? Can the eyes of faith capture this moment that is yet coming? It is surely worth your concerted meditation. It ought to transform your view of the future for certain. But shouldn’t it also transform your life in the present? Especially when the final words of Revelation proclaim, “Surely, I am coming soon! I know this was first said 2,000 years ago. But for you now, not more than a generation, nor more than 10, 20, 30, or 40 years away from fulfillment or your entering His presence through death, will be soon enough. The parables of those who watch and wait, like those in Matthew 24-25, are quite instructive for your present life in getting ready for that earth-shaking, earth-ending event.
The prophetic certainty of what is ahead should be the greatest incentive to prepare for what is just around the corner, sooner than you or I can imagine. When it does take place, in the twinkling of an eye, all preparations are done! This warning is paramount. “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
“Great God, what do I see and hear? The end of things created! The Judge of mankind doth appear on clouds of glory seated! The trumpet sounds; the graves restore the dead which they contained before. Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.
(1st verse of “Great God, What Do I See and Hear, 1802)
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