It is a kind of ritual for people to watch the news each day. That, however, has become an almost unbearable challenge! World news, national news and even local news stories are so filled with atrocities that we often just tune out—it is simply too depressing!
The Bible speaks of these perplexing times—as a warning! Note this prophecy in Isaiah:
“‘…When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report’” (Isaiah 28:18-19).
In another prophecy, also directed at the modern descendants of the Houses of Israel and Judah, God reveals the conditions that would and now have come upon us:
“‘“Destruction comes; They will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders”’” (Ezekiel 7:25-26).
We must not turn a blind eye to what is happening! In fact, it falls to the Church of God to address the bad news in the light of Bible prophecy. Jesus explicitly told us to “watch” and to be “ready” (compare Matthew 24:42, 44; 25:10, 13; Luke 21:36). In doing this—beyond our own personal preparedness—we are to also report news to the world that isn’t utterly dreadful and so filled with hopelessness!
The news we are to convey is ultimately GOOD NEWS—it is the gospel of the Kingdom of God! This is what Jesus proclaimed. It is the only true hope set before mankind, and it will happen! To be able to know the Truth of how God the Father will establish peace through sending His Son to this world removes the focus for all the bad news we now face.
As bad as things are now in the news, worse times lie immediately ahead—something we already know, because God has revealed this to us. And we, like Jesus did, must continue to look beyond, to that joy which is set before us—in the Kingdom of God (compare Hebrews 12:2).
