The last days began in the second chapter of Acts, and we are now in the end of days. God's Word gives us instruction in the Old and the New Testament about what we should expect and how we should conduct ourselves. 1 Corinthians 10:11 says: Now all these things happened unto them [Israel] for examples: and they are written for our admonition [warning], upon whom the ends of the world are come. In other words, as we read the Old Testament, we see examples of those who pleased God and those who did not. God wants us to learn from their mistakes, so we don’t repeat them – particularly now as we face the end of days.
God’s Relationship with Man Changed
God dealt with mankind differently in the Old Testament because His people couldn’t be what we are, as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The New Birth wasn't available until after Jesus was born, lived, carried out His ministry, hung on the cross, paid the price for sin, went to hell in your place, and rose from the grave. Now, God’s Spirit is in us. Paul reminded the Corinthians of this glorious truth when he wrote: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). Today God leads us from the inside out. In the Old Testament, God could only lead them from the outside by what they saw, felt, smelled, tasted, and touched. For example, in the Old Testament, God allowed Gideon to ask for an outward sign by laying a fleece before Him. Christians should not be laying fleeces (or looking for signs) to determine God’s will. We are born again; we have the Holy Spirit in us, and He speaks to our spirit in various ways.
The life of God in us was a mystery to those in the Old Testament. However, eternal truths about God’s character in the New Testament can be traced through the Old. For example, healing and prosperity are in both Covenants. Psalm 105:36-37 tells us: He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. Not one ailing person was among the two to three million that left Egypt! Everyone was supernaturally healed – from ingrown toenails to the final stages of cancer, from babies to the elderly. Every single person was completely healthy and whole, and that remains God’s will for us today.
Protected by the Blood
The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt for 400 years, and when Pharaoh refused to let them go, ten plagues struck Egypt. The rivers turned to blood, plagues of frogs, lice, flies, disease on cattle, boils, hail, pestilence, darkness, and finally, the death of every firstborn person and animal. However, the plagues didn't affect the land of Goshen, where God's people lived. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail (Exodus 9:26), and the blood of a spotless lamb, painted over the entrances of their homes protected Israel’s firstborn while all of Egypt’s perished. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you (Exodus 12:23).
The book of Revelation and the gospels tell us similar plagues will come upon the earth at the end of days:
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God (Revelation 15:1).
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places (Matthew 24:7).
Like the Israelites in Egypt, we are protected by the blood of a spotless Lamb – the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ, our Lord. I believe we are the generation that will hear the trumpet blast and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4: 17).
This is no time to have one foot in the world and one foot with God. You don’t want to be in the wrong camp.