Wars and rumours of wars

The following headline appears in a UK national daily newspaper on Wednesday, 26th March, 2025.

EU urges ALL citizens to prepare for war with ‘survival kits including food and water to survive 72 hours’ amid fears of WW3

It brings to mind the Saviour’s words in Matthew 24:6.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

The newspaper report states:

“The European Union is pushing for every household in the 27-nation bloc to have a three-day survival kit ready in case of war or natural disasters.

EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the proposals will be formally presented today as part of a broader ‘preparedness strategy’.

Brussels is hoping to ensure every citizen is equipped for 72 hours of self-sufficiency amid the growing threat of continental conflict breaking out.

EU citizens will be told to stock up on a dozen key items, including matches, ID documents in a waterproof punch, bottled water, energy bars and a flashlight, as part of their ‘resilience’ kit.

European leaders have said the invasion of Ukraine could soon break out into a ‘global’ war.

Some Scandanavian (Sic) countries have already stepped up their prepation (Sic) by distributing war survival guides.

The EU has now joined such efforts following a landmark report from Finland’s former president Sauli Niinisto last year on strengthening Europe’s civilian and military preparedness.”

Saviour’s words

To return to the words of the Saviour, quoted at the beginning of this article, it is very clear that as this age draws to a close communal unrest, societal break up and fragmentation and national disputes will increase. We are to expect nations to become more belligerent toward each other.

Headlines like that above, feed the notion that we are on the verge of a catastrophic nuclear confrontation between East and West that will destroy the world and end humanity!

Heed God

We ought to heed the Creator Who brought humanity into existence on the sixth day of His programme of creation, rather than blind and foolish man’s speculations!

I. REMEMBER HOW THIS WORLD CAME INTO EXISTENCE

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day,” Genesis 1:26-31.

Jesus Christ is the Creator

John and Paul tell us that the Lord Jesus is the Creator of all things.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made,” John 1:1-3.

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him,” Colossians 1:13-16.

If, as Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “All things were created by him, and for him,” then the foolish antics of men will NOT destroy what He created for Himself!

Evolution

The balderdash of evolution, taught in schools and colleges worldwide and promoted by men like Sir David Attenborough, who for all his charm and assumed knowledge of the origins of all things, is an ‘educated ejit’, permeates the thinking virtually everybody today!

I never hear of David Attenborough but I feel sad that a man ,who has been privileged to explore the wonders of God’s creation as few others, yet remains utterly blind to the existence of the Creator, despite his examination of innumerable evidences of God’s wisdom and power in creation.

He is approaching his 99th birthday and sadly, this old man, admired by millions who have embraced his atheism, faces a lost eternity as a rejector of Christ!

Renowned Bible commentator, Dr John Gill, observes of the words, “all things were created by him, and for him,” in Colossians 1:16: ‘That is, for his pleasure, that he may take delight and complacency in them, and in his own perfections displayed by them; and for his service and use, as the angels, to worship him and minister to him and for others, he sends them to: elect men are made to serve and glorify him with their bodies and spirits, which are his; and even the non-elect are made to subserve his mediatorial kingdom and interest; yea, the whole world is built and kept in being, purely on his account, until he has finished the great affair of the salvation of his people, in the application of it to each of them, as he has completed the impetration of it; and then he will dissolve the heavens, and burn up the earth and all the works that are therein: all are made for his glory, and that end is, and will be answered by them in one way or another.’

No, man will not bring creation to an end. That will only happen, as Dr Gill says, when Christ ‘has finished the great affair of the salvation of his people.’

The “wars and rumours of wars” of which the Saviour speaks serve God’s purpose.

II. THEY SHOW THAT MAN’S INCREASING SIN AND REBELLION AGAINST THE LORD AT THE CLOSE OF THIS AGE WILL RESULT IN A TIME OF GREAT TROUBLE. 

‘Reports of war’, for that is what the word ‘rumour’ here means, and the accompanying social, environmental and geological disorder and chaos, mentioned by the Saviour in verse 7 of Matthew 24, — “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” — are the fruits of the manifestation of God’s anger at man’s increasing rebellion as the age draws to a close.

The Seven Seals

In the Book of the Revelation, we are told about the opening of the seven seals, which are upon “a book written within and on the backside,” (5:1). This ‘opening’ of the seals results in events symbolised by what is commonly called, ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ going forth to do God’s bidding.

Perhaps I may quote from my book, ‘The Shadow of the Antichrist’, in which I give an explanation of the meaning of the opening of the sealed book.

“An understanding of the significance of this sealing of the book may be had by looking at Jeremiah 32:6-12. In this chapter, Jeremiah is depicting the Lord delivering His people and their land into the hands of the Babylonians as a punishment for their sin, verses 2-5. But Jeremiah also prophesied of the return of God’s people to their own land in verse 15. The prophet was told to engage in the purchase of a field from his uncle’s son and, by so doing, demonstrate that the land of Israel would return one day to the ownership of God’s people and that such a purchase would not be a lost investment. The enemy would not always occupy Canaan. It would return one day to God’s people. What is particularly interesting was the legal requirement to have two deeds of sale, one sealed and one unsealed (verse 11). When the property was to be redeemed, that is, bought back by the original owner or his descendants, then the redeemer would have to produce the sealed deed to prove his right of ownership. Christ the Redeemer of God’s elect possesses a sealed book that is evidence of His right of ownership of a people and all that pertains to their eternal happiness and glory. He made that purchase at Calvary when He offered His blood as the price of redeeming His elect from captivity and condemnation under sin. Christ’s elect are His inheritance.

He has yet to claim His possession and enter into it. He will one day. Presently, each child of God is sealed until the redemption of the purchased possession, Ephesians 1:14. The day of the opening of the seals and the claiming of His inheritance by Christ draws on. ‘And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,’ Luke 21:28.”

(A PDF version of this book is freely available here).

The Red Horse

The second of these ‘Horsemen’ is seated on a red horse. “And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword,” Revelation 6:4.

The “opening of the seals” (chapters 6-8) will mark the beginning of the concluding dealings of God with rebellious mankind. The opening of the seals is followed by the “sounding of the seven trumpets”, (chapters 8-9,11) and then the “pouring out of the seven last plagues” (chapter 16).

These end-time events are what the Saviour is referring to in Matthew 24:7 and of which He says: “All these are the beginning of sorrows”, verse 8.

The word “sorrows” means ‘travailing in birth’ and is used of that in one other place where the Greek word, ‘ὠδίν’ (ōdin), appears. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape,”1 Thessalonians 5:2-3.

Here again we have a time of great ’sorrow’ linked with events surrounding the return of Christ.

III. WHILE THE FIRST WORLD WAR WAS MEANT TO BE THE ‘WAR TO END ALL WARS’ AND IT DID ISSUE IN A TIME OF DIPLOMATIC SEEKING OF PEACE AMONGST THE NATIONS, BUT WAR HAS ACTUALLY INCREASED IN THE EARTH, STARTING WITH THE SECOND WORLD WAR WITH ITS ESTIMATED 70 TO 85 MILLION DEATHS, INCLUDING BOTH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN CASUALTIES!

The ‘’United Nations’ website, which greets you with the egotistical slogan: ‘Peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet’, also sets out the story of the organisation’s beginnings.

‘As World War II was about to end in 1945, nations were in ruins, and the world wanted peace. Representatives of 50 countries gathered at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California from 25 April to 26 June 1945. For the next two months, they proceeded to draft and then sign the UN Charter, which created a new international organization, the United Nations, which, it was hoped, would prevent another world war like the one they had just lived through.’

Sculpture

There is a bronze sculpture, ironically gifted to the United Nations by the USSR on December 4th, 1959, on prominent display at its headquarters. The ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)’ is now called ‘The Russian Federation’.

It is headed presently by one of the world’s most blood-thirsty tyrants — Vladimir Putin. He is a man who keeps hold of his position of power by murdering any who may seek to replace him. He it is who initiated the present conflict against Ukraine by invading it, without cause, in 2022.

This is part of Isaiah 11:2. The full verse reads: “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more,” Isaiah 2:4.

Only One!

While men and nations boastfully believe that they have it in their power to see a fulfilling of this prophecy, in truth there is only ONE Who can end wars! He is the Person referred to as ‘he’ in verse 4.

His identity is revealed in the verses 2-3 of this chapter.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

This depicts a scene following the return of Christ to this earth and His taking up the government of the earth as revealed in Revelation 11:15.  “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

This was what Zechariah the prophet had proclaimed, nearly 600 years before John’s statement in Revelation 11:15!

“And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one,” Zechariah 14:9.

It is in Jerusalem that Christ will be enthroned and from where He will reign over all the earth during His 1000 year reign.

“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion,” Psalm 2:6.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” Revelation 20:4.

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies,” Psalm 110:1-2.

Arrogant man is wrong in all matters, from Attenborough’s ‘evolution’ to the UN’s pathetic claim of ‘Peace-Makers’!

The Earth Defiled

Man has played his part in defiling the earth and corrupting every facet of the planet. The wild animals roam the jungles of the earth since the fall of man but they have not made of them the ruinous debacle that man has made of his habitations on the earth. Man has befouled the lands, the seas and the skies! The floating raft of discarded rubbish in the midst of the oceans named, ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, located between Hawaii and California, is but the largest of many such accumulations of ocean plastic in the world!

Mankind is aware of the corruption of the planet and is becoming alarmed at the possible consequences which he sees looming ahead! But in truth he is as helpless to stop its further pollution as he is to stop the mindless throwing out of car windows, the discarded wrappings of fish suppers and the latest delicacy from the Chinese takeaway!

No matter how many bins, bags and skips are supplied there will always be those who prefer to litter the hedges and grass verges of our roads!

Stops wars? Many cannot even use a broom!

 

IV. THE CHRISTIAN, IN THE FACE OF THE MUCH PUBLICISED FEARS OF MANKIND, MAY TURN TO HIS BIBLE AND THERE READ, IN THE PLAINEST OF TERMS, HOW THIS AGE WILL COME TO AN END.

The Book of the Revelation commences with these words: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John,” Revelation 1:1.

Please note these bold and assertive words: “things which must shortly come to pass.”

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, Article 1, states: ‘There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.’

I have highlighted a most important statement. This is what the Bible teaches us!

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,” Acts 2:17.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh,” Luke 21:28.

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,” Luke 21:36.

Long ago, Daniel the prophet told a very troubled king Nebuchadnezzar: “There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days,” Daniel 2:28.

Secrets

God has revealed His secrets unto His people for them to read and understand and find comfort in the midst of the growing apprehensiveness and consternation spreading amongst the nations.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians this great truth.

“Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,” Ephesians 1:8-11.

Christian, that should annul any fear that arises from the baseless concerns of blind and ignorant men!

We can say with the Psalmist: “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased,” Psalm 115:3.

Comfort

Let us comfort ourselves with the words sent to comfort Daniel, after he was shown events that wayward Israel would experience in the last days of this age.

“And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength,” Daniel 10:7-8.

But the Lord sent words of instruction and comfort to His distressed servant “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days,” Daniel 10:14. Daniel was told that the Lord was in control and working out His great purpose, even through the distressing events that would bring about the humbling of rebellious Israel and their turning in repentance to the Lord.

This is what Zechariah predicted.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn,” Zechariah 12:10.

Hosea the prophet, in equally authoritative terms, declared the same truth.

“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days,” Hosea 3:4-5.

Christian, we need not fear  for:—

God is still on the throne,
And He will remember His own;
Though trials may press us and burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone;
God is still on the throne,
He never will leave us alone;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne.

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

28th March 2025