If you are a follower of Looking for the Blessed Hope, you’re aware that we are nearing the end of a Bible study by the same name, and that I post daily lessons from that study.  Thus, I have had little time to post thoughts and analysis of current events that are telltale signs that we are, indeed, living in the last days.

Today, I want to take time to do just that.  The June 12, 2015 edition of Newsweek asks the question, “Is ISIS Winning?”  Personally, I believe the answer is “yes,” but I’m wondering if we are asking the right question.  The burning question in my mind is, “Does anyone understand what’s going on from a Biblical perspective?”  I don’t claim to have the only answer to that question, but I invite you to “ponder through it” with me.

Just over a year ago (January, 2014), the Obama administration identified ISIS as “a jayvee team.” By August, 2014, that jayvee team had brought their “A” game in taking over vast territory in Iraq and Syria, controlling volumes of resources “unmatched in the history of extremist organizations,” garnering $3 million per day in revenue from oil on the black market, and taking control of power sources in the territory.  Yet, President Obama announced (in August, 2014) that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to battle ISIS.  Miraculously, a plan must have dropped in his lap because in September 2014, the US began launching airstrikes to “degrade and destroy” this organization that “poses a long-term threat.”

Now, here we are 9 months later, and ISIS territory has expanded, they are now threatening Baghdad and Jordan, and that “long-term threat” is playing itself out.  But more importantly, ISIS is leading a campaign unlike any in the history of the world, and here is why I say that:  They are not attempting to take over nations, but to build a caliphate in the Middle East (with ambitions to expand worldwide).  Yes, they are active in Syria and Iraq, but it is not “nations” they are after.  They are attempting to build an empire.  They have expanded into Libya, which is becoming a hotbed.  They are on the verge (if they have not already done so) of taking Anbar province in Iraq (once an American stronghold), which will put them on the border with Jordan.  They are very active in keeping war stirred up on Syria and Yemen.  Certainly a major concern is that they are within 100 yards of the Israeli border on the Golan Heights.

But what is going on from a Biblical perspective?  Two things come to my mind:

1. In Matthew 24:4-8, Jesus is answering the disciples’ questions regarding signs of the end of the age.  He warns them of “wars and rumors of wars.”  That certainly fits!  But another idea strikes me when Jesus mentions “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”  Where that verse translates into “nation” in English, the Greek word is actually ethnos, meaning “a people group,” or an “unorganized multitude.”  National boundaries in the Middle East are beginning to fade.  Instead, we are seeing “people groups” rise against one another.  Historically, even Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims detest one another (calling each other infidels, and killing one another).  In fact, ISIS (a Sunni group) has blown up more Shi’ite mosques than Christian churches.  HOWEVER, even the Sunni-Shi’ite divide is becoming blurred.  Need evidence?  Read the Newsweek article and try to make sense of the jumbled up coalitions fighting for and against ISIS!  In the end times, chaos will reign, and “One World Order” will be the name of the game.  In Genesis 11:1-9 (after the flood of Noah’s day), God made it clear that He wanted people to be scattered throughout the entire earth, speaking their own languages, and governing themselves.  Yet, in the last days, we know the final empire will be a one world order.  We see that happening as borders disappear and ethnos (people groups) rise up against ethnos.
2. Revelation 6-18 paints the dramatic picture of the tribulation. We know that the antichrist will arise to rule the final earthly empire, and that utter chaos and destruction will befall the earth.  More specifically, Revelation 20:4 tells us those who refuse to worship the beast (antichrist) will be beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus. ISIS has made beheading all the rage over the past 18 months.  They brutally cut the heads off of anyone who does not believe as they believe, and that brutality is posted on the internet for all to see.  Right now, ISIS uses that barbaric practice to strike fear into their enemies, and to entice sadistic souls to join them in jihad.  Soon, people will become desensitized to the brutal beheadings of individuals.  When I look at ISIS, I wonder if I’m seeing a precursor of what the antichrist will be like.

Friends, I no longer believe we are living in end times….I believe we are living in the last hours!  God is God and He gets to determine just how long this season of time stretches.  But He did tell us to be aware of the season.  I want to encourage you to Examine the Season!  Then, check back later this week when we study a lesson entitled “Fig Trees and Generations.”  (Look for it on Thursday or Friday!)

The clock is ticking….are you ready for the Bridegroom to appear?