Jesus foretold several signs that would point to His soon return to the Earth. In last weeks blog I focused on earthquakes because as you know there have been (4) in 2010 alone. And I briefly touched on two others in verse (7) which include wars and famines. However there is a third sign in verse (7) that I will speak about in this and several blogs following and that is, "pestilences". Jesus said pestilences would be one of the signs of his return to the Earth (Matthew 24:7,8):
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 And all these are the beginning of sorrows. (Bold for emphasis)
The word "pestilence" is not used in our contemporary English today. It is an Old English term which means: any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly among many people.
These types of diseases used to be called "plagues". Today we call them "epidemics". When epidemics spread among multitudes of people they are referred to as "pandemics".
The Greek word for "pestilence" is "loimos", pronounced "loy-mos" which literally means pestilence or epidemic.
The Bubonic Plague (Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Worldwide and historically, this epidemic is said to have killed almost 200 million people beginning with the Byzantine Empire during the sixth century. It was then known as the Plague of Justinian, after emperor Justinian I who contracted the disease, but with extensive treatment survived.
The Bubonic Plague is among the most disastrous pandemics in history, also known as the Black Death. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the plague swept through Europe in the 1300's killing more than 25 million people, a third of the European population!
The Black Death is thought to have originated in the Gobi Desert, carried by fleas on rats. The plague spread along trade routes and reached the Crimea in 1346 and traveled eastward to the Yangtze river valley bringing down the Yuan dynasty!
In 1347 it traveled to Constantinople and then to Alexandria, killing thousands every day and not long after, arrived in Western Europe.
During the next few centuries the plague hit several locations with lesser severity. The Great Plague of London, 1665-1666 and the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679 were the last major outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe.
The plague re-surfaced in the mid 19th century in Central Asia, killing millions in China and India, afterwards, spreading worldwide into the early 20th century.
Jesus obviously knew what he was talking about, because there have been pestilences down through history since He ascended into Heaven. And even with all of our medical breakthroughs, new epidemics continue to be born, even to this day!
Over the next several blogs, I will discuss several other major epidemics that plague our generation and are signs that point to the Soon Return of Jesus the Christ, Messiah!
Though these are fearful times, we can have peace knowing that no matter what happens on earth we have salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lord. If you don't have the peace that only He can give, why not call on Him now, repenting of your sins and asking for forgiveness through His shed blood. He will forgive you just has he has so many others.
Call upon Him to save you, and have peace for your tomorrow!
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 And all these are the beginning of sorrows. (Bold for emphasis)
The word "pestilence" is not used in our contemporary English today. It is an Old English term which means: any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly among many people.
These types of diseases used to be called "plagues". Today we call them "epidemics". When epidemics spread among multitudes of people they are referred to as "pandemics".
The Greek word for "pestilence" is "loimos", pronounced "loy-mos" which literally means pestilence or epidemic.
The Bubonic Plague (Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Worldwide and historically, this epidemic is said to have killed almost 200 million people beginning with the Byzantine Empire during the sixth century. It was then known as the Plague of Justinian, after emperor Justinian I who contracted the disease, but with extensive treatment survived.
The Bubonic Plague is among the most disastrous pandemics in history, also known as the Black Death. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the plague swept through Europe in the 1300's killing more than 25 million people, a third of the European population!
The Black Death is thought to have originated in the Gobi Desert, carried by fleas on rats. The plague spread along trade routes and reached the Crimea in 1346 and traveled eastward to the Yangtze river valley bringing down the Yuan dynasty!
In 1347 it traveled to Constantinople and then to Alexandria, killing thousands every day and not long after, arrived in Western Europe.
During the next few centuries the plague hit several locations with lesser severity. The Great Plague of London, 1665-1666 and the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679 were the last major outbreaks of the bubonic plague in Europe.
The plague re-surfaced in the mid 19th century in Central Asia, killing millions in China and India, afterwards, spreading worldwide into the early 20th century.
Jesus obviously knew what he was talking about, because there have been pestilences down through history since He ascended into Heaven. And even with all of our medical breakthroughs, new epidemics continue to be born, even to this day!
Over the next several blogs, I will discuss several other major epidemics that plague our generation and are signs that point to the Soon Return of Jesus the Christ, Messiah!
Though these are fearful times, we can have peace knowing that no matter what happens on earth we have salvation through Jesus Christ, the Lord. If you don't have the peace that only He can give, why not call on Him now, repenting of your sins and asking for forgiveness through His shed blood. He will forgive you just has he has so many others.
Call upon Him to save you, and have peace for your tomorrow!
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