The Real End of Days

Revelation 20:9 – They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. (NKJV)

In the movie 2012 which chronicles a Noah-worthy endtime cataclysm, the Woody Harrelson character, who is the kook conspiracy theorist (and of course right on the money about the truth), made a statement like this:

“All the great peoples and religions knew about the end of days, the end of the world. The Mayans, the Incas, iChing… the Bible, kinda…”

Hollywood never misses a change to demean Scripture, at best making it equal to every other religion, but more often, lowering it further to the status of fables and once in while it even gets lucky and says something true.

That one little extra word (“kinda”), unneeded in the story, was obviously on purpose. Not one other religious idea about the Apocalypse was labeled “kind of true”. Only the Bible. And several times in the movie background you catch little things about Christians that make them look foolish and simple. You hear one country-twanging hick say on the radio, “we have Geeee-zuz… that’s all we need”. That comment is immediately smirked at and dismissed as the stupidity of the religious idiot.

It’s amazing that very same Hollywood who spits on Scripture has a character in the move named “Noah”; the people (including Noah) are saved on “arks” which of course are built with human/government ingenuity. The final event is a worldwide flood that even drowns Mount Everest… yet the very same scenario is laughed at and mocked when presented in Genesis. Ironically, poetically and interesting, most of the cataclysms in the movie have eerily similar and accurate counterparts in Scripture (whether in history like Noah’s flood, or future in The Revelation).

God has no place in saving man according to this movie. Man saves himself. All religious are depicted as wishful hoping fools that are killed because they trusted their faith. Only the people who trusted the government are saved.

Despite the obvious humanist messages, there is one aspect of the movie that I enjoyed (and it wasn’t the cursing or taking Jesus’ name in vain). The apocalyptic visuals are STUNNING… and I actually enjoyed watching those earth-ending scenes over and over while keeping in mind the Truth we find in Revelation about similar events that will occur when God pours out his wrath on the world that rejects Him, destroying this creation and recreating it anew.

As well, much of the upheaval then the resulting global Flood was visually probably pretty close to what really happened with Noah’s Flood especially if you use your imagination to factor in the “fountains of the deep” opening up and the entire earth’s mantle being shaken.

So, I enjoyed the movie when I extracted the visuals and used my own imagination to picture them in Biblical context. Sadly though, the movie clearly depicts man has his own savior when the truth is man will be less than helpless to save himself in those terrible last days (much as he is helpless to save himself spiritually now).

Consider the following and ask yourself if you want to put your faith in God, or in the government during these terrible events:

• Revelation 6:4 – Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (NKJV)
• Revelation 6:6 – And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (NKJV)
• Revelation 6:8 – So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. (NKJV)
• Revelation 6:12-17 – I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 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?” (NKJV)
• Revelation 8:5 – Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. (NKJV)
• Revelation 8:7 – 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. (NKJV)
• Revelation 8:8-9 – Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (NKJV)
• Revelation 8:10-11 – Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (NKJV)
• Revelation 8:12 – Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. (NKJV)
• Revelation 9:2-6 – And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. (NKJV)
• Revelation 9:15 – So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (NKJV)
• Revelation 9:20-21 – But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:2 – So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:3 – Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:4 – Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:8-9 – Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:10-11 – Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:17-18 – Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. (NKJV)
• Revelation 16:20-21 – Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. (NKJV)