IT WILL soon be the end of the school term. This weekend the Wimbledon finals will be played and many will be looking forward to the summer holidays. Times and seasons follow a steady pattern in our ever-changing and unpredictable world.

The Bible refers to “End Times” and depending on your perspective, we are either living in the end times or they are yet to come.

The words of Jesus, recorded by Luke’s gospel, include these prophetic phrases: “when you hear of wars and tumults do not be afraid… nation will rise against nation… there will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences… there will be terrors and great signs from heaven… there will be persecution and great distress… these signs will be as obvious as the shoots on the fig tree that bear witness to the coming of summer… when you see these things, you will know that the kingdom of God is near.”

Jesus said all of this just before he was taken to be crucified, to both warn and encourage those left behind, including you and I, and possibly generations still yet to come. We have already seen many of those words fulfilled in our generation and history teaches us that previous generations have had their share of terror and tragedy, wars and pestilence.

So is the kingdom of God close at hand? The answer is YES – it is as close as you want it to be and despite appearances, it is all around you.
In the beginning, God declared that His creation was very good and within that creation He allowed us all to have free will to choose how we should live. 

The prophetic words of Jesus should be as apparent to us as the new shoots on a fig tree. So, be encouraged, look for His kingdom. 

PETER LANGMAN
Cirencester Community Church