[Note: This series covers my chapter from Terry James’ newest book, Discerners: Analyzing Converging Prophetic Signs for the End of Days. Available on Amazon! Start with the first segment.]
Signs of Technology
Let’s at last take a look at where the technological exponential curve is leading us. Let’s look at the signs of technology revealed in the Bible that point to the fact that we are now living in the end times and which indicate that Jesus will soon return. The following are, I believe, nine of the most prominent signs of technology.
#1) Increase in Knowledge
The first sign is the sign of knowledge. Not only does this sign stand out particularly as the most revealing out of all the technological signs, but it also provides the foundation that the others in this list build upon.
We find the source text for this prophecy in the book of Daniel. “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4).
Daniel had been listening across many chapters to an angel pronouncing a mind-blowing message from God. Through the angel, God revealed the rise and fall of great empires, leading eventually to a global empire led by a world ruler whom the Apostle John would later call the Antichrist. Of course, all these great empires were still future from Daniel’s perspective, so he was quite perplexed over all he was hearing. Rubbing his forehead in confusion, he asked the angel for an explanation. To his dismay, no luck! The angel basically told Daniel that he could never understand these prophecies because too much needed to happen first. This would include a great increase in mankind’s knowledge which would mark the “time of the end,” or end times (Daniel 12:9). Only those living in the end times and who were “wise” would at last understand these prophecies and recognize that the exponential increase in knowledge heralded the soon return of the Messiah (Daniel 12:3,9).
Have you ever considered that just a hundred years ago all that most people learned throughout their entire lifetime equaled to one Sunday edition of The New York Times? Our ability today to practically consume that same amount of data on a daily basis shows just how far mankind’s knowledge has increased in so short an amount of time.
What technologies have helped us facilitate the advent of this massive explosion in the growth of knowledge? You probably answered “computers,” and you’d be absolutely correct (high-five yourself). Not only has the exponential curve in all areas of computer technology increased our knowledge to stupendous levels, but computers have aided in all the major scientific discoveries of our day. We don’t need to cram all of these facts into our brains anymore either, for the ability to easily store and access data means we can continue to learn like we’ve never learned before in human history.
Today’s exponential increase in knowledge points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.
#2) Increase in Transportation
Notice in that same prophecy the angel told Daniel that, besides a great increase in knowledge, “many shall run to and fro” (Daniel 12:4). This tremendous increase in travel would also occur in the same context, that being the end times. God was revealing that once people began to run to and fro, both farther and faster, that those final years before Christ returned to set up His Millennial Kingdom were finally upon us.
Stop and think how people traveled just a single century ago. Most roads weren’t even paved yet, and were traveled along by horse-drawn wagons. Watch on YouTube the video of San Francisco from back in 1909 and you will see far more horses than horseless carriages. People rarely, if ever, left their hometowns. Animal domestication and the early beginnings of decent roads, then bicycles, balloons, boats, and simple automobiles were developing technologies, but not widely received. Since the early part of the twentieth century, mankind went on to invent airplanes and jets, and we’ve even left Earth’s atmosphere in rockets and space shuttles. It used to take months for people to travel by boat overseas, but now we travel that same distance abroad in mere hours. In today’s world, people are always on the move, just as the angel prophesied to Daniel.
Today’s exponential increase in travel points to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.
In the sixth segment of this series on the end times sign of technology, we’ll continue looking at the signs of technology as they relate to the dreaded Mark of the Beast and the wrapping up of world evangelism.
Resource
In this book, edited by Terry James and including chapters by Dr. David Reagan and Nathan Jones, eighteen “watchmen on the wall” tackle issues that are critical for this generation of believers to understand. Each contributor examines, under the microscope of Scripture, a specific topic, from anti-God movements within religion and culture to satanic geopolitical rearrangements. This, we believe, will help make understandable the madness taking place in this generation.
Order Discerners: Analyzing Converging Prophetic Signs for the End of Days on Amazon! Available in kindle and paperback.