In this series entitled “What Happens Next?”, I have examined a number of end time signs that are mentioned in Scripture leading up to the return of Christ. We have spoken about “lawlessness”, “deception”, “false christs” and war. Last week we spoke of the signs of “famines, pestilences and earthquakes.
This week, I am continuing the study of Matthew 24 by again looking at verse 7b “And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. I want to specifically look at this pestilence or pandemic prediction and relate it to an Old Testament story.
In the Old Testament, King David came face to face with a plague which was of his doing. He had arrogantly conducted a census or count of his fighting men even though he understood from the word of God that he should not. God had instructed Moses many years before on how to do such a census, only under God’s instructions (Exodus 30). But he boldly went ahead with it and suffered the consequences of a plague as a result. But in God’s mercy, he was instructed by the prophet to go to the threshing floor of Araunah and offer sacrifices there and the plague would stop. When he gets there, Araunah offers him the field but David says these words: 2 Samuel 24: 24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.”
We may not be under the judgement of God in this present situation, but we can learn some things from David’s experience on what our response should be. It should be one of Recalling (the costly price that was paid for our lives by Jesus); Repenting (of any complacent spiritual attitude); Reassessing (the depth of our spiritual walk); and Recommitting (our lives to Him in these closing days.)
Join us at church on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or go to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and click on livestream; for the eighth part of this series entitled: “The Threshing Floor”
Take heart and be blessed!
Pastor Kevin