[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.]
#7) Nuclear Weapons
The seventh sign of technology involves the inevitable release of the world’s nuclear arsenal. Both the Old and New Testaments describe the destruction of much of the world by a series of nuclear cataclysms.
“Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more” (Isaiah 17:1-14; Jeremiah 49:23-27). In context, Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of the oldest city on the planet — Damascus — by Israel suddenly and in just one night. How do you destroy an entire city in just one night? Israel will have to use a nuclear bomb.
“Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:26). In this verse, Jesus prophesied that the horrors unleashed during the Tribulation will actually cause heart attacks.
“Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'” (Revelation 6:14-17). The Sixth Seal Judgment uncannily describes what a nuclear blast looks like, and how the people will hide in caves to escape all the destruction and radiation these bombs will rain down upon them.
“The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up” (Revelation 8:7). The First Trumpet Judgment describes yet another cataclysm that sounds very much nuclear in nature.
“By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths” (Revelation 9:18). During the Sixth Trumpet Judgment, demonic creatures will be let loose to incinerate millions with their nuclear fire-like breath.
“And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths” (Zechariah 14:12). Zechariah describes what will happen to the Antichrist’s armies upon the Messiah’s return. No nukes may be involved, but the weapon of the Messiah’s own words will produce the same effect as the setting off of a nuclear bomb.
Many of God’s judgments during the Tribulation sound like a first-century man’s attempt to explain a nuclear holocaust. Many believe that the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II have been the only atomic weapons released, but no, in the last 70-plus years over 2,500 nuclear warheads have been set off in testing. Nine countries have stockpiled an estimated 15,000 nuclear weapons, with 1,800 always standing at alert and prepped for immediate launch.
The fact that the world hasn’t already annihilated itself in a nuclear holocaust proves that God’s restraining hand is holding mankind’s worst destructive proclivities at bay. But, that time will end when God’s restraining influence will be taken away, along with the Church, at the Rapture. During the first year or so after the Tribulation begins, half of the world’s population will perish. A nuclear holocaust is indeed about to be unleashed upon this world, and one day soon.
The technologies involved in the making of nuclear weapons are among the most complex technologies ever developed. Heavy metal mining and refinement, nuclear containment, nuclear plants, submarines and silos for delivery, missiles for deployment — all these super-duper advanced technologies have been in development for decades. The world sleeps blissfully unaware of the constant threat of nuclear self-annihilation.
Today’s nuclear technologies point to the fact that Jesus Christ is returning soon.
In the ninth segment of this series on the end times sign of technology, we’ll finish looking at the signs of technology as they relate to space science and technology’s limitations.
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.