“When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth-pangs.”
Much has been written about the event which took place 25 years ago today, so momentous that it’s known now only by its date: 9/11.
The event so jammed all the news that week that at the church I was serving in Exeter, we made a brief departure from our regular series to preach in response. I’ve been looking back at the notes of what I said, with Jesus’ words at the top of this post as our text.
I started by acknowledging how we were all reeling, and then showed how Jesus said:
1. Wars are to be expected. Referring to the whole time between when He was speaking and when He would return, Jesus said “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom“. Looking back at history this is sadly obvious, but back in 2001 we were riding a wave of optimism in the West that maybe the advance of liberal democracies would spell the end of war. But such is human nature that, sadly, this optimism is misplaced.
25 years later, following Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Iran and more, no-one needs much persuasion of this basic truth.
2. Wars should not alarm us. “When you hear of wars and rumours of wars“, Jesus said, “do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” In a way this is a strange thing to say, because wars are very alarming. But it seems likely that Jesus is warning against confusing these wars with the end of the world itself. Some truly dreadful things may happen, but they are not the End. That’s still to come. And it will – God has not lost control!
3. Wars are birth-pangs of the end. “These are the beginning of birth-pains”, Jesus says. Just as labour pains prepare us for a birth, these events prepare us for the great judgment that is to come. There is no trite answer to the question of suffering, but these terrible events were a reminder of the uncertainty of life, and that all is not well between us and God. We need to come to Him!
4. I ended with two questions about living in a dangerous, turbulent world, awaiting the King’s return:
First, what is the church’s great task? Jesus said in v10, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” In view of the lostness of the world and the approaching judgment, this is what we must be doing!
Second, what is the church’s solid anchor? v31: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” In our turbulent, troubled, terrifying world, here is where we can find permanently true perspective and instruction.
