Travel Plans Prayed Through

“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:” (Mt 24:20 AV)

 

This advice of Jesus I found rather astounding.  He gives this advice in the light of the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.  For those unfamiliar, it is the event that marks the mid-way point of the tribulation.  The tribulation is a seven-year period in which the church is removed and the Devil, by way of the Antichrist, is allowed to have unabated control over the affairs of men.  The interesting thing is, those who hate God assume if God and His people are removed, then the Devil will leave them alone and they can live in unhindered debauchery.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Devil will try to annihilate the human race, starting with Israel and those we are saved during that tribulation.  To mark the mid-way point, the Antichrist will sit upon the ark of the covenant and declare himself to be God.  It is this sign which Daniel gives as the sign wherein the true people of God are to flee into the wilderness.  There, Jesus Himself will sustain this small remnant.  But note the extraordinary advice Jesus gives above.  They are to pray their flight is not in winter or the sabbath.  This means the LORD can and will control even the timing of events that affect His people if they will simply pray.

Most people are not convinced that prayer is powerful.  Prayer changes things.  We have heard that many times.  But do we really believe it?  In the above advice, Jesus is implying that if the saints understand the times in which they live and know there will be coming a day when the Antichrist will sit in the temple, they can then pray the LORD to choose a day that makes it much easier from them to escape.  They can pray it is not in the hardship of winter or on a day when they are to meet for worship.  The former may compromise their well being.  The later, their liberty to meet and worship.  I think it is amazing Jesus encourages His sheep to pray for things that involve the free will actions of others.  When the Antichrist sits on the mercy seat atop the ark is a choice He will make.  When he is able to actually do that is another matter altogether.  To think that prayer will determine when this event happens is beyond our comprehension.  But, it will and it does.

We live in a time when we see amazing things happen.  We are racing towards the finish line.  The last nation whose foundation and founder is God has made unprecedented choices to reject the God who founded them and pursue and humanistic and God course of political power.  Make no mistake.  This wasn’t recent.  This has been generations in the making.  Humanism took root at the turn of the last century.  Since then, the foundation of a Godless society has been meticulously laid.  Abortion and same-sex relationships are the end result.  Not the beginning.  God knows all this.  He has prepared the rapture as the means of removing His church before the gates of hell prevail against it.  Lot is our example.  This is testified by Peter the Apostle.  We don’t know when this will happen.  We may have to go through persecution first.  Only God knows.  What we do know is that prayer does change the course of human activity and especially, at this time, we cannot and must not abandon prayer!