Time for God's New World

We are often slow to take up new ideas, but have you noticed how quickly they are being taken up at the moment?  There has never been so much change.  We don't have to search far to find the reason for this, the optimism of earlier years has given way to disillusionment.  People are disillusioned with the church which has abandoned many of the beliefs Christians have held for 2,000 years.  They are also disillusioned with science which at one time seemed to offer the way to limitless power, energy and ease, but instead has brought pollution and devastation.

But it is not all doom and gloom and really there is a good reason to be optimistic.  The earth will once more be very good, as it was when the world began.  The environment, about which we are all so rightly concerned, will be cleaned up.  But it will come about in God's way and in God's time.  The Bible gives a very clear picture of the future.

The apostle Peter, speaking in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, promised,

"that the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and that he will send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began".

You can find this quotation in the 3rd. chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

The Bible gives a list of signs that will encourage, or in some cases warn people that the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is approaching and that the time for God's new world is near.  Just listen to this list and think about the world that we live in:

wars, political upheavals, earthquakes, famines, pollution, pleasure seeking, greed, lack of respect, immorality and disbelief in God.

Isn't it remarkable how that the signs are an exact match with our world?