Home » Mind & Soul » Messianic Judaism » As It Was In. . .

As It Was In. . .

© Virginia Marin

In the name of Jesus, Amen. Throughout the Old Testament we find that God brought judgment against Israel and other nations through catastrophic events such as fire, hail, flood, earthquakes, drought, plagues, and other natural events. Does God still deal with nations and individuals through catastrophe? If so, is there a difference in the why's and wherefores of calamities spoken of in the Old Testament and those spoken of in the New Testament? Is there any difference between judgments then and judgments now? The following is adapted from Shema Messianic Ysrael Congregation.

In the Old Testament, we know that God's judgment is behind a catastrophic event because we are told in Holy Scripture that a particular event is the working of God's hand. We take it on faith because God said it. There are no if's, and's, or but's.

But, today when we see natural events of a disastrous nature strike cities, states, and nations we don't know what to make of it. There are those who say the event is a judgment of God, while others say it is nothing more that a freak accident of nature, or caused by the Greenhouse Effect, or even a coincidence. That there is, or could be, a relationship between a cataclysmic event today and the hand of God is ludicrous to most people, even to some Christians.

Actually, it is impossible for us to say whether a calamity is a direct act of God's judgment upon a person or nation. We cannot know for sure, because we do not have the veracity to know. However, while we have neither the veracity nor the interpretation of the prophets of old to tell us that a calamity today is a judgment from God, we are called to understand and interpret the signs of the times in which we live. This would become very ify were it not for the Lord's instruction to believers in Matthew chapter 20 regarding the signs and calamities to come upon the Earth.

We can also go a step further. We have been given the sure word of prophecy in the New Testament to understand certain events which surround us in the time in which we are living today, especially world events which concern Israel. If we are smart, we will pay attention to what God's Word is saying. After all, God calls us to be Watchmen.

When Jesus describes His return in the New Testament, He compares it to the days of two different persons in the Old Testament. They are Noah and Lot. Messiah said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man." In light of this, it seems to make a great deal of sense to read up on the days of Noah and Lot to see what we should be looking for today or in days to come. The world of Noah was filled with such wickedness that God's judgment was the great flood that covered the entire Earth.

The copyright of the article As It Was In. . . in Messianic Judaism is owned by Virginia Marin. Permission to republish As It Was In. . . in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.