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People fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Luke 21:26, NASB).
Ukraine, Israel, Iran, the dollar’s crumbling value, which way will the stock market go, should we purchase Bitcoin, the future of youth, high interest rates, an immigration crisis, and increasing anxiety.
Luke prophetically describes today as people fainting from fear and the expectation of things that are coming upon the world!
Read carefully: expectations, not necessarily actual events, of what we fear might happen. An author I’ve been reading who writes about phobias, discouragement, and frustrations says, “Let’s face it, 90% of what we fear doesn’t happen, and of the 10% that does occur, 90% isn’t as bad as we thought it would be.”
Fearful expectations — the latter-day demonic plague on our psyches. What are we fearing today? When it doesn’t happen, do we fear something else tomorrow? Round and round our fear cycles go.
And yet, we realize that with the current “heavens shaken” in today’s events, God’s judgment approaches!
The Greek word used in Luke 21:26 for “expectations” can be found only twice in the New Testament. Let’s read the other time it’s used. . .
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting” (Acts 12:11).
We know the backstory of Acts 12: Herod had James, the brother of John, executed, and realizing it pleased the Jews, arrested Peter with similar intent. But the church was up all night praying, and in answer an angel of the Lord appeared by Peter’s side in prison saying, “Peter, hurry and get up.”
After passing a series of guards, Peter found himself on the street alone. Still somewhat sleepy, we read that Peter came to himself. Which means he finally woke up! Then he said, “An angel delivered me from what Herod and all the Jews were expecting.”
Again, the word “expectation.” But there’s a difference between the “expectation” of Luke and the “expectation” of Acts. As one commentator writes. . .
In Luke, we read about the expectation of fearful judgments by God, but in Acts, we find the judgments of man overturned by an angel of God.
The Bible provides ample justification for fearful expectations in the end times of God’s judgment, yet also offers hope that we, through prayer and faith, can be delivered. Are our fears based upon false expectations of our own making? Do we realize that the judgments of others will happen in our lives?
What can we do?
I prefer Peter’s approach — sleeping and waking up to find that we have been delivered by God. Let’s pray, “Jesus, please send your angel to deliver us from our fears, the intended judgments of others, and the difficulties of the end times.”
We find hope in You! That’s our expectation.