The End Times, which in Hebrew we call the Acharit HaYamim, also known as the Apocalypse will be a terrible time of destruction and death when the earth and its people will be ravaged with disease, pain, and strife.
And it is necessary.
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
Okay, so the big question is why must this happen?
I am going to tell you why I think it is necessary based on what I have read in the Bible.
I need to preface this with reminding everyone that God does not want anyone to die, and he says so- very plainly- in Ezekiel 18:23. That verse is the foundation for my argument why the destruction is necessary.
Building on this foundation, the framework for my saying the destruction is necessary is that people will not do what is best for them unless they have no other choice.
Yeah, I know, that just can’t be true, but look at history; look at people you know and I think you will begin to see that no one really learns from the mistakes others make. We human idiots just have to try it, even though it has always failed, because we think we can do it better.
Then when we fail, that’s how we learn.
I used to be in Sales, and what I found out was that you didn’t always know what you did or didn’t do that made the sale, but you could always identify without any problem where you lost the sale. When you win, you feel confident that you know what you are doing, even if you may have won because someone else made a mistake.
But when you lose, you only have yourself to blame, so only by failing are we humbled enough to be open to changing how we do things.
We learn best from our own mistakes, and the Bible has shown us that God will cause destruction and tsouris (Yiddish for troubles) in order to get people to pay attention.
One of my favorite chapters in the Torah is Deuteronomy 28, which is the Blessings and Curses chapter. In that chapter, God starts off by telling us all the wonderful blessings we will receive when we obey his Torah, and then (as that culture always did) he followed it up with all the curses he will send if we disobey.
But in Leviticus 26, starting at verse 14, we read what justifies my argument why the destruction is necessary. That is where God says if we disobey him, he will curse our health and our crops. And from there all the way to verse 39 or so, as we continue to disobey, God “ups” the severity of the curses he will send upon us, until we finally get our head back on our shoulders from where it had been (Hint: the sun never shines there) and repent of our disobedience.
This is why the destruction before final judgement is necessary- it is God’s last-ditch effort to get those who still reject him and his Torah (which is one and the same thing) to repent and save themselves before it is too late.
You may be thinking that all God has to do is show a miracle or two and that will convince most people, but it won’t because it hasn’t.
God split the sea, he destroyed armies attacking Jerusalem, the Messiah was miraculously born and later, after he died, God raised him from the dead. God has done hundreds of miracles, and still does miracles every day- we just refuse to accept them as such.
And to this day there are hundreds of religions teaching their followers to reject God’s Torah, which is the same as rejecting God- the very same God they profess to worship!
No, my friends, miracles won’t do it and sending prophets has never really worked in the long run, so what we need is not a gentle leading by the shepherds hook, but a sharp smack to the side of our heads with the rod.
And that is what God is going to do before we are judged.
People take pride and confidence in their own strength, their property, money, etc., so what God will do is to slowly, bit by bit, remove those things from them until they have no other option but to repent or continue being cursed, which the Bible tells us is what will happen to most people. It actually says that the worse things get, the more they will curse God for it.
God will kick tuchas and take names- those who repent will have their names in the Book of Life, and the rest will be on the Hot List.
So, that’s why I believe the destruction before final judgement is necessary. It is designed to wake up those who refuse to accept God’s sovereignty: it is their one, last chance to get it right.
Thank you for being here and please remember to comment, “like” these messages, and share them with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!