ලෝකය ඇත්තටම අවසාන වන්නේ කෙසේද?

Max ran his home on solar power, drove an electric car, and recycled fastidiously. And yet, he was worried. It seemed like there were always new reports about tsunamis, rising sea levels, and wildfires. Max tried to imagine his town covered with water or ripped apart by an earthquake. He became jittery and worried. What was the point of dreaming for the future? The world as he knew it was ending!

Perhaps you’ve heard of Max’s problem, now called “eco-anxiety.” The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” Experts are seeing individuals who are so anxious about climate change that it affects their mental health and daily functioning. Perhaps you have felt like Max and others—anxious to know the next chapter in the unfolding story of our planet. 

Reading into the Future

Scientific models for predicting the future can be helpful, but they are limited. For example, a five-day weather forecast offers roughly 90% accuracy. But a ten-day forecast drops to about 50% accuracy. The further in the future that scientific models try to predict, the higher the margin for error becomes.

There are, however, other ways for discerning the future of our planet. What if ancient writings from the past—not scientific models of today—have a more accurate prediction of the world’s future?

Two thousand years ago, the famed religious teacher, Jesus Christ, predicted severe natural disasters that would occur just before the end of the world. He said,

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:7, 8).

Jesus predicted war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, and social unrest as the “beginning of sorrows” because it would grow worse. The final events would include a human disease involving foul sores, oceans and water sources contaminated to the point that all sea creatures die, unbearable heat from the sun, a massive earthquake, and hailstones weighing roughly 35 kilograms (see Revelation 16).

Then, Jesus said He would return in a way that everyone will see and recognize His appearing. When He appears, “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). 

The idea of an ancient prophecy having relevance for the 21^st century may seem unusual. Many of the predictions above are already taking place—but can the whole narrative be trusted? You might be interested to hear about other Bible prophecies that can be verified by history. If other predictions are at least 60% or 70% accurate, it would be more reliable than your weather app. But what we find is that the Bible’s previous predictions have been completely trustworthy. Here are some prophecies that were written thousands of years ago.

Ancient Prophecies

• Rise and Fall of Empires. In the 6^th century BCE, the prophet Daniel prophesied about the rise and fall of western powers. He correctly outlined the power transition from Babylon to Medo-Persia to Greece to Rome, then predicted the fragmentation into the European nations that would take place after the fall of the Roman Empire (see Daniel 2).

• Religious Persecution. The prophet Daniel also wrote about a corrupt and violent religious institution that would arise during the time of the Roman Empire. Its religious dissenters were described as God’s true followers (Revelation 12:13–17), who faced martyrdom or hid in the wilderness for 1,260 years. This narrative closely describes the religious history of Europe during the Dark Ages (see Daniel 7).

• Counterfeit Religious Revival. The Bible predicted a great religious revival which opposes the teachings of Jesus Christ, involving a resurgence of occultism and veneration for Roman Catholicism. The papacy was predicted to fall out of popular favor at the end of the Dark Ages and back into popular favor at the end of time (see Revelation 13), as we see today. 

How Will the World End?

If the previously fulfilled Bible prophecies can be verified and trusted, then we can also trust what the Bible says about the end of the world: a narrative of disaster after disaster until the final climax, when Jesus returns for His people and re-creates the world in perfection.

Thankfully, Jesus told us we have nothing to fear. The Bible says that God will “destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18), but before doing so, He will make sure His people are safe. Speaking in symbols, the Bible says,

Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads” (Revelation 7:2, 3).

Our earth is not an ecological time bomb; rather, it is held together until God allows its final destruction and re-creation (Revelation 21). Jesus invites us to consider the reliability of His prophetic messages so that we will trust Him. He said, “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe” (John 14:29). 

If you would like to know more about Bible prophecies, please contact us at the information on the back of this paper.