Creflo Dollar - Are You Ready for the Return of Jesus? - Part 4
Bible prophecy in fact, does mention deadly viruses or pestilence. That's what pestilence is. It does mention about viruses and pestilences. However, does the Bible specifically mention or predict the coronavirus or COVID-19? Does it, does the Bible say or predict anything about that? Well, let's look at what the Word has to say. Jesus speaks of things in the future. So let's look at chapter 21, Luke chapter 21. Now, notice what Jesus prophetically spoke about. Jesus speaks prophetically about the signs that would precede the end of the world. And let's look at this in Luke 21:11. Jesus says that one of those signs would be pestilence. He says, "And there will be great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences, and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven".
So the meaning of pestilence, according to the Hebrew, and the Greek, is a plague or a disease. And so if you wanna even add to Luke before I say what I wanna say, look at Matthew 24, Matthew 24:7-8 in the NASB translation. Matthew 24:7-8. He says, "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes, but all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs". So in several versions of the Bible, the word pestilences appears between famine and earthquakes.
Now let's talk about the frequency of some stuff, and I went back just this week, and I wanted to locate what happened, between last Sunday, when we were talking about this and today. So, if you look at Matthew 24:7-8, I notice he says, "But all these are merely the beginnings of birth pangs". So Jesus was referring to a baby's birth. He was explaining that just as a woman's contractions or labor pangs are more frequent and severe as the baby is nearing birth, so likewise, these events and these signs will also become more frequent and severe as the world nears the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now you talk about intensity. Let's just look at what happened this past week. CBS News reports, here's the headline, Largest Wildfire in US History... oh, no, excuse, largest wildfire in the US, spreads larger than the size of New York City and just 7% is contained.
And I think the last time I heard it was now over 200 and something thousand acres. Here's another headline. Over 55 million Americans at risk for flash flooding. A hundred-year flood took place in Europe and the countries of Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium. The death toll from Europe's flood tops 150 as water recedes revealing the devastation that was caused. This is since we met last Sunday. Landslide swept through Japanese city. Western wildfires range across 12 states. The US at highest alert level, reports NBC News. The Guardian reports over 400,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray now in famine, and the UN warns another 1.8 million people are on the brink of a famine. I even saw reports with my own eyes of farmers shedding tears because they're like, we're in this drought, I'm talking about in the United States, and I don't know if we're gonna be able to harvest, and now the grasshoppers are coming up from their dry place and eating four or five times their weight of food now.
Can't you see it's coming? Whatever's happening on one side of the United States gonna affect the other side. Well, food price is going up. They don't just go up, there's a reason. The supply and demand. Here's another report. London and Southern England hit by torrential rains and floods. This is one that was shocking. The Great Lakes, the headlines reads this: Shrinking lake levels threaten to kill microbialites. Underwater reefs, it's kind of like a, it feeds like fly, the brain flies and shrimp, and it also feeds 338 species of birds that visit there each year. So The Great Salt Lake is shrinking fast, reports CNN. Texas patient becomes US first monkeypox case since 2003, CBS News reports. And this is in the same family of viruses as smallpox.
Understand something, when frequency and intensity is involved, don't talk about, well, once COVID is over we good, no, there's something right behind it. There's something right behind it. You must understand that people only telling you what they know right now, it's changing every week. Right behind it. USA Today headline, mega drought, water shortage, global warning threatens US Southwest. And then I went to check for myself on earthquakes, where they were, what was the intensity of it? In the last 7 days, we've had 128 earthquakes to occur in different nations of the world. You're like, well, it ain't on the news. They can't report on everything. They gotta report on stuff that'll keep you watching. Are y'all listening what I'm saying here? We are in this time, and the intensity, you hear people say, we've not seen a storm like this in 100 years. We hadn't seen fires like this ever. That's showing you intensity. For us who are Christians, look up, your redemption draweth near.
So, now the question is, is the coronavirus a sign of the end? Well, since Jesus mentioned pestilence, does this mean that the coronavirus has been predicted as the sign that the world will end and Jesus will come back tomorrow? Probably not. Throughout history there have been many plagues and diseases that have caused fear and it's caused death. You remember the talk of the Spanish Flu, the Black Death. You remember Ebola, SARS, COVID-19, notice frequency and intensity. When I was praying about the Coronavirus, the Lord says, "Son, this is just the dress rehearsal". I said what? He says, "Is just what scripture says, this is just beginning of sorrow". He says, "This is just the dress rehearsal, and I need you to begin to teach people so that fear won't come in. So they'll understand that Jesus has got their back. You are now going to see a very clear distinction between those who are in Christ and those who are not".
Jesus didn't come back in the past because of these plagues. However, as epidemics, including the Coronavirus occurs, more often and become more deadly, we should pay attention as these are warning signs that Jesus is coming back soon. So the main point of what Jesus is saying in Luke 21 and in Matthew 24, is to watch for the prophetic signs to increase in frequency. He gave the sign, but we watch the increase of frequency and intensity. This increase will signal the imminent coming of the Lord. Just watch it. There come a time where it's gonna be so intense, you're gonna be like, whoa! That is a clear signal of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me pause for a moment, because you know, for some people, this could be kind of depressing. It's not for me, and it shouldn't be for you, so let me give you reasons why it shouldn't be. You should find your hope in Jesus Christ, amen? Remember that Jesus is always by our side. Go to Hebrews 13:5. He's always by our side, he will walk with us no matter what is going on, and the Bible says in Hebrews 13:5. He says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have". For he himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you". God is never gonna leave you nor forsake you. In the middle of everything that's gone on this year and a half, God will never leave you nor forsake you. Glory be to God. And I know it's been tough for a lot of you, but God will never leave you nor forsake you, and you need to get that in your mind. God's got my back. He's never gonna leave me, he's never gonna forsake me. A thousand shall fall at my side.
Let me stop. We are Psalms 91 equipped. We Psalm 91 equipped. We've been declaring Psalm 91 ever since everything's going on. Don't you know that God has put his armor on us? We have been resisting with the shield of faith, come hell or high water, it shall not come near me for I dwell in the secret place of the most high. I abide under the shadow of the almighty. I say unto the Lord, "He is my refuge, He is my fortress, and in God I trust". Before Jesus was crucified, he gave this promise to the disciples, and by extension, he said, "These things I have spoken unto you that in me you may have peace". Somebody say peace. See, you can have peace in the midst of a pandemic.
Now, you gonna have to contend for it now. You have to contend for it. You have to get up every day, when crazy stuff going on in your head, and you gotta say, I receive the peace of Jesus. I'm not looking for the peace that comes from the world, 'cause that stuff don't last long, I'm looking for the peace of Jesus, I'm looking for the peace that came from Jesus. The Bible says in John 16:33. In the world, you will have what? Tribulation. You will have tribulation. So all these Christians who are saved and they think, well, I'm just a little, you know, Christian, this is the way we go to church. No, no, no, no, no, no. See what happened when the churches were closed, you couldn't sing that no more. He says, but he said, "But in the a middle of tribulation," he said there's gonna be tribulation, so don't try to run from it, don't try to act like it's not gonna be. It's gonna be there, but I'm gonna show you how to handle tribulation when it comes.
He said here's what I want you to do, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world, and greater is he that is on the inside of you than he that is in the world. And if he overcame the world for us, you and I have overcome the world. I will not be moved, praise God, I will not walk in fear. Peace, peace. In fact, I release the blessing of peace over you right now. I release the blessing of peace over you right now. So what do you do? By faith you receive it. I have peace right now. I receive that right now. By faith I receive the blessing of peace right now. I receive peace in the middle of a pandemic. Peace in the middle of a lost job. Peace in the middle of a bad diagnosis. Peace in the middle of not knowing how I'm gonna pay my bills, how I'm gonna pay the rent, all my money spent, a little bit to buy some food, baby need a pair of shoes. Look, I got a light bill due, but I'm gonna have peace in the midst of the storm. I'm not gonna let that devil take my peace. It's all I got. I gotta hold on to my peace, hallelujah.
Yeah, the trouble gonna come, but I gotta hold on to my peace because everything the devil's trying to do is involved in trying to snatch the peace of God from you, and you can't let it. You gotta talk to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual psalm. Sometimes you gotta walk in the bathroom, just talking to yourself. You might have to pace a little bit and say, I have the peace of God, everything gonna be all right. I got the peace of God. He's never left me. He won't leave me nor forsake me. I got the peace of God.
I know what's going on, but I got the peace of God and I would've lost my mind a long time ago hadn't not been for the peace of God. I'm not gonna let go now, praise God. I got the peace of God. I got the peace of God. I got the peace of God. I got the peace of God. I got the peace of God. I'm just trying to make sure you got it. I got the peace of God. I don't even understand it, but I got the peace of God. I don't know, I don't know how I can have this much peace in the middle of what's going on. It looked like I'm standing in hell, but I still got the peace of God. It looked like I'm getting ready to lose everything I got, but I got the peace of God. It looks like, it looks like something's attacking my body, but I got the peace of God. It look like, it look like, it look like, we don't live by what it look like. We live by what the Word of God says.
Hallelujah! Somebody shout I got the peace of God. I got the peace of God. I'm gonna walk in my peace. I'm gonna sleep in my peace, hallelujah. I'm gonna drive my car in my peace, hallelujah. I'm going to the grocery store in my peace, hallelujah. Whoo! Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. God will do great exploits for you. Hallelujah. In Egypt, there was not enough straw to make bricks, but in Goshen, there was a ample supply to make bricks. In Egypt there was no light, praise God, but in Goshen there was light, praise the Lord. I am welcoming you this morning to Goshen, praise the Lord. You are no longer operating in Egypt, you are in Goshen. Your God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Excuse me for shouting, but praise God. I'm lit, praise the Lord. My God shall supply, hallelujah. Hallelujah. All is well. In my house, all is well. Excuse me for getting excited, but you don't know. You don't know. I can't tell it like you can tell it, but you can't tell it like I can tell you. You don't understand what God has done. You don't understand, you don't understand the position that a lot of people have been in. You don't know the ditch that they were in. You don't know the situation. You don't know the pain that they had. You don't know how God reached down with his mighty hand and lifted them up out of that situation. You don't know.
So excuse me for getting excited about a God who will keep his promise. I'm gonna shout now, praise God, because one day, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye I'll be caught up to meet him in the air. Jesus is coming back. Jesus is coming back. Excuse me for shouting, but Jesus is coming back. I know they said he not coming back, but he made a promise, and he has never broken one promise, and he is not about to break this one. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. St. John 14:27, Jesus again tells us to not be troubled or afraid because he's with us, no matter the situation or the circumstance. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you: not as the world gives you do I give you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid". God repeats himself in several Bible verses. He's got your back. He's got your back. So all these things must come to pass, but Jesus has got your back.
Now, like I said before, no one knows the exact time of Christ coming. Matthew 24:36 says this, but of that day and of that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but my father only, Jesus said, he the only one knows. And also in Matthew, 24:42, he says, "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming," so watch. Now, what is it that Jesus does promise here? Well, he promises us peace, and we accept that, but I've always wondered, does the Bible say anything about how he will come? How will Jesus return? Three ways. Visibly, audibly, and literally. Jesus will return visibly, he will return audibly, and he will return literally. Not know, well, in the spirit of your heart, you'll feel like he's coming. No, that ain't how he coming. Same way he left he coming back.
Let's look at visibly. Revelations 1:7. In Revelations 1:7 he says, behold he is coming with clouds and every eye will see him. Now, I think that it's not just gonna be every eye on the earth, I think everywhere gonna be an audience to this. So why would he say that? He said even they who pierced him will see him. Oh, Lord have mercy. "And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen". And in Matthew 24:27 also says: "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the son of man be". Coming from the east to the west. Oh my goodness, I'm on the East Coast, thank you.
Secondly, he's coming back audibly. You're gonna hear something when he comes back. It's not gonna be no secret return. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 he says, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout or command with a voice of an archangel". Now, if you ain't never heard of archangel before, you don't know, you don't know how loud that's gonna be. And with the trump of God. You ever heard God's trump? I ain't. But how loud is it gonna be? The dead in Christ will rise first. It's gonna be so loud, dead folks gonna hear. It's gonna wake the dead. That's why he said the sleep, 'cause he's gonna wake them up. My God, my God.