Rapture Part 1: Storm Warning – Extreme Weather and Spiritual Signs:

Nathan Jones: Well, you know, in the beginning, everything was perfect. The Creation was perfect. But then what happened? Sin entered and it corrupted everything. And then God put a curse on the world. And we wait, as Romans 8:21 says, “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” We are waiting for that day when Jesus Christ returns and fixes all this. But in the meantime, nature is in total flux. And because of this great upheaval, extreme weather is occurring all over the place due to our out of kilter weather system.

But it’s interesting that God uses weather to make points. For instance, when He created the Ten Commandments and gave them to the people, it says in Exodus 19 that there was smoke and rumblings and great fire on the mountain. The star of Bethlehem, when Jesus was born, was put up in the sky to tell people where Jesus was born. And when Christ was crucified, for 3 hours, there was darkness and a great earthquake, right? God used weather to point to significant events in history.

But He also uses them for remedial judgments. There are times where God will call wicked nations to repentance by using freak weather. Deuteronomy 28 Moses foretold this, he said, verse 18, “Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.” Verse 23, “And your heavens, which are over your head, shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.” And if the Israelites continue to live in wickedness, verse 30, “You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not gather its grapes.” And verse 45, “Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, to keep His commandments and the statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign in a wonder, and on your descendants forever.”

And we know what happened as the Israelites continued to rebel. God used signs of nature as remedial judgments to call the Israelites back to them. Remember King Ahab three and a half year drought. Joel a great locust invasion. Haggai when he was having the temple rebuilt, the people decided they didn’t want to rebuild it, so God inflicted the crops with mildew and destroyed them with storms and hail. And the people repented and turned back to God.

Now, how do we know the difference then between a natural disaster caused by a fallen world and when God uses nature as a remedial judgment? Three things: one, the timing of the event as it relates to the sign, the timing of the event. Two the magnitude of the event. A remedial judgments are designed to have this great shock value in order to capture people’s attention and force them to think with an internal perspective. And three, the prophet’s declaration, God would say, I am doing this to get you to repent. So, the timing, the magnitude and the prophet’s declaration.

But you probably look at me and saying, Nathan, that’s the Old Testament. God doesn’t do that anymore. We live in the age of grace, right? Well, not according to Jesus Christ in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, Jesus provided ten signs that would point to His soon return. He said they’d increase in frequency and intensity like birth pains, like a woman has as she goes up to the birth of the child. Frequency and intensity.

Matthew 24:8, “But all these things are merely the beginnings of birth pains. He said in Matthew 24:7, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilence and earthquakes in various places.” I will use earthquakes to shake you up. Luke 21:11, “And there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.” Also, Luke 21 “There will be signs in the sun and the moon in the stars and on the earth. Distress of the nations with perplexity and seas and the waves roaring. Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectations of those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in, the cloud with power and great glory.” Aren’t you waiting for that? Now, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads, because, what? Your redemption is drawing near.

The apostle Paul confirmed that Christians are meant to be able to discern the signs that point to Jesus’ soon return and not be taken unaware. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:1, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. So when they say peace and safety, then suddenly destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you brethren are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day.” Folks, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a son of the light and son of the day. And so, you can what? Recognize the signs of the times that Jesus has for us.

Well, I think we could all admit that we recognize nature is getting out of hand, and it’s getting worse, doesn’t it? Natural disasters up more than 400% in two decades. An article by Natural News, natural disasters are increasing in frequency ravaging the world, our countries, even our homes. The number of natural disasters around the world has increased by more than four times in the last 20 years, according to the British Charity Oxfam. The Earth is currently experiencing approximately 500 natural disasters per year compared to 120 back in the 80s. An article from the Weather Channel, $9 billion weather disasters so Far in 2022.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that in the past two years saw record loss of billion dollar disasters. From 1980 to 2017 there was an average of $7.7 billion weather disasters, but in the last five years, $17.8.

Now, in all this research about all these different events, what has been the response of every single article out there? It’s due to manmade global warming. Matter of fact, the Driscoll Report said, “Scientist have long warned that climate change would contribute to an increase in both the frequency and the intensity of the severity of freak weather.” Increase in frequency and intensity. Hmm. That sounds very familiar. Right? Sounds kind of biblical.

Well, the world is interpreting these natural disasters as a pollution problem, but, folks, we know better, right? We know that God is in control of the weather. He controls the weather. We can look at Matthew 8:26-27, “What kind of man is this? That even the winds and the waves obey him?”

Psalm 148:8, “Fire and hail, snow and clouds, storms, wind fulfilling His word.”

Acts 14: 17, “He did not leave Himself without witness that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons.”

In Revelation 7:1 “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth or the sea or in any tree.”

So again and again, there are 47 references I found in the Bible that says that God controls the weather. So, all this might be contributed by man, but it is God. Now, there, of course, are certain natural disasters because the weather is off kilter. But God is trying to wake us up.

And He’s going to try to wake the world up during the Tribulation. Do you know if you read the Book of Revelation, how many of those signs point to God using weather to wake the people up? Third Seal Judgment, food and scarcity and famine. Fourth Seal Judgment, death by devastation and wild beasts. Sixth Seal Judgment, a great earthquake. Seventh Seal Judgment, noises, thunders, lightning and another earthquake. First Trumpet Judgment, hail and fire. Second Trumpet Judgment, a great mountain burning with fire thrown into the sea. The Third Trumpet Judgment, a great star fell from heaven. The Fourth Trumpet Judgment, a third of the sun was struck. The two witnesses will have natural disasters that they can call down upon people, and when they are killed, a great earthquake will happen in Jerusalem and 7,000 people will be killed. The Seventh Trumpet Judgment, lightning, noises, thunder, earthquake and hail. The Second Bowl Judgment, the sea will become like blood. The Third Bowl Judgment rivers and springs of water will become like blood. The Fourth, the sun will scorch men. The Seventh Bowl Judgment thunders and lightnings, and a great earthquake. When the fall of Babylon happens, the same thing. And at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, the satanic rebellion, will be crushed by fire.

So, God’s Word makes it very clear that when He sends discipline, what is His fundamental purpose? There’s an element of punishment, certainly. But its primary reason is to call people to repentance.

Here’s how the prophet Isaiah expressed it, “For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” Now, folks, God He’s merciful. He’s patient. He’s sending us one natural disaster wakeup call after another for the purpose of eventually pouring out His wrath on the world. But He wants as many people to get saved and become part of the church before the Rapture happens. But that great wrath is coming one day, and all of nature is going to break loose.

So, folks, how should we respond today to all these natural signs? Well, first, we need to repent individually of our own rebellion, don’t we? God is calling us to repent. He wants us to repent. We need to repent of our rebellion and selfishness. Call on the Holy Spirit to read the Bible so that we can be discerning.

Two nationally folks, when it happens to a nation. God isn’t abandoning the United States. He’s calling us back to repentance. To give up our sexual promiscuity, our abortions, our obsession with the cults and materialism. And we need to accept Jesus as our Savior. For folks, for those of us who are Christians, we could live by this Romans 13:12-14. “So have hope. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the full armor of light.” Thank you.