Knowing that we are in the last of the last days, with an imminent Rapture a very real hope, our thoughts often (and indeed should) turn to the signs that Christ said would herald the nearness of His return. The signs that are most widely cited include “wars and rumours of wars...[when] nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...and...famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes...these are the beginning of sorrows” (Mt 24:6-8).

Unquestionably, these specific “sorrows” have been both prominent and accelerating since Israel again became a nation in 1948. Since that time, the intensity and frequency of these signs have increased like the birth pangs of a woman approaching her time of delivery, exactly as Christ foretold. However, the first sign that Christ gave has been largely overlooked and His solemn warning neglected:

* And Jesus answered and said...Take heed that no man deceive you.

* For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many....

* And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many....

* For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Mt 24:4,5,11,24) [Emphasis added.]

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

—John 14:1-6

I believe that the great miracle that the unsaved world wants to see today is not the healing of a leper, not giving sight to the blind or hearing to the deaf. The great miracle that the unsaved want to see today is the miracle of a transformed life—people who've been saved from sin and defilement and corruption. They're new creatures in Christ Jesus, and they're really different persons! “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And we're going to come to that just a little bit later in the chapter.

As I read these verses of Scripture, I can't help thinking of the vast number of people who will be in heaven singing the praises of the Lord Jesus for all eternity because of verse 6—how the Holy Spirit of God used that verse to bring light to darkened souls. They came to Christ depending on Him and Him alone for their soul’s salvation.

I think of people going through trials, and difficulty, and trouble—pain, sorrow, tears—and I think of the comfort that these verses have brought to them.