Matthew 21 records the so-called Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In the following few chapters, Matthew then records the cleansing of the Temple, several parables and some deeply political exchanges between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees. These exchanges prompted the disciples to go to Jesus privately and ask Him about end times events.
24 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:1-8, NKJV)
Although the two world wars in the 20th century were the most devastating in human history and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations were supposed to avoid further conflagrations, war, possibly world war, is brewing again within living memory of WWII.
Early this month, respected charismatic leader, Pete Greig of the 24/7 prayer movement and the Lectio 365 app, reported on a word from God that he preferred not to hear: “Prepare for war.” God spoke these words to Pete in March at a meeting in South Africa. He tried to ignore the word, but on his return to England, he received a handwritten note from someone he had never met. “I had a dream. I saw young men’s bodies piled up, and I was told I must tell Pete Greig, ‘Prepare for war.’” It turned out that this person had the dream on the same night that God had spoken to Pete!
Pete is concerned that cyberwarfare could cause communications failures and disruptions to supply chains with potential for escalation to wider conflict.
Pete reports that he consulted a Christian leader who had recent experience in the UK’s Home Office. This leader said, “During my nine years working in the Foreign Office, we’ve done almost nothing else but quietly, behind the scenes, prepare for war. And in the last two years, it’s become frenetic.”
I, for one, am not surprised by this prophetic word. Although it is beyond the scope of this article to analyse in detail, I believe that western civilisation is in catastrophic decline and forces of evil will take advantage our weakness. And make no mistake, Australia will be caught up in war, whatever shape it takes.
Jesus warned that we would “hear of wars and rumours of wars” before “the end.” He said, “See to it that you are not troubled.” Our response to wars and rumours of wars is to be calm, trusting in God for everything. And to intercede!
During the past week, I have been preparing a sermon on the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians 6:10-18. This passage has motivated many thousands of sermons. I remember well the exhortation in the early 1990s to put on the armour of God daily. I have since come to believe that we should put on the armour and leave it on. We must be ever ready for battle. Furthermore, I now think there is reason to believe that the armour describes who we are as Christians and, ipso facto, as intercessors. Further, furthermore (if that is not too much of a departure from good English expression), we are called to join “the LORD” in Psalm 110 (God) and participate in the great battle that is making “my Lord’s” (Jesus’) enemies His footstool. These enemies are not earthly but are principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Greek epouranios which means the spiritual realm beyond the physical atmosphere).
Because Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father “in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:20) and we are seated together in Him “in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6), if God is in a cosmic battle, so are we.
If we think Pete Greig’s prophetic word is credible, we’ll be stockpiling essential items and preparing for a time when the internet might be inaccessible. We’ll be doing it without a sense of panic because we will not be troubled. As intercessors, we’ll be at war in the heavenly places. We’ll come against the spiritual forces that are behind the decline of western civilisation and the belligerent regimes that see an opportunity to replace western civilisation with the same kind of barbarism that existed before Christians embraced the mind-boggling idea that every human being has value because God loves every person, unconditionally and without exception. This idea eventually made the western world safe for women, children and workers (“slaves”). Of course, Satan wants western civilisation to fail. But we can stand against it and do our bit to make the enemies of Christ His footstools.
An additional thought worth considering is that the “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” referred to in Ephesians 6:17b is not the Bible, but is the Gospel. The Bible did not exist at the time when Paul wrote, but the message of the Gospel was being transmitted by the courageous early Christians. In the closing verses of Ephesians, Paul asks for prayer that “I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
Perhaps, while we are battling in the heavenly places, we should also be taking every opportunity to preach the gospel to every creature on earth (Mark 16:15).
We are going to be busy!
