The Sign of Pestilence in the Last Days

The Sign of Pestilence in The Last Days
Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry
by: Darrell G. Young

Many people today are rightfully concerned about the current "COVID19" health crisis now unfolding around the world. In some circles, people are curiously asking if this crisis has anything to do with signals pertaining to the "Signs of the Times."

The word "pestilence" and the word "plague" appear to be interchangeable words throughout the Bible, whether it is in contextual usage in either the OT Hebrew or NT Greek. The word "pestilence" appears 47 times in the OT. It is an English translation of the Hebrew word "deber" which simply refers to a plague of some kind! The word "pestilences" only appears twice in the NT, as shown here in Jesus Olivet Discourse; pertaining to one of the Signs of the times.

Matthew 24:7-8  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.  8. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

When evaluating the two Olivet Discourse references about "pestilences" in the Last Days, we have to review the Greek original of this word. There we find that the English translators could not discern a perfect word in Greek to convey what Jesus was referring to exactly. They settled on the word "hupoleimma," which corresponds to our English words "calamity and or plague."

So, in essence, to precisely determine the relevance of "Pestilences in the Last Days," and what they might portend as a Sign, we have to analyze the Biblical documentation of Plagues, specifically in the New Testament.

There are only 12 references to plague in the OT, and they are almost exclusively related to plagues God sent upon Egypt, Edom and Babylon. In the NT, the word "plague" is used only twice outside the book of Revelation. In Mark 3:10 and Luke 7:21, the word plague is used to describe thes Jesus "healing of infirmities" of people. In these two instances, an infirmity is understood to be a sickness or disease!

However, the word "plagues" is used 12 times in the Book of The Revelation! Here the Greek word is "pleegai" and refers to "severe bodily wounds and great intense Calamity." The plagues mentioned in Revelation are referenced and described in Chapters 9:20, 11:6, 15:1,5,8, 16:9, 18:4,8, and 21:9,18.

In these verses, all set to occur during the "Great Tribulation" era; there will be Plagues sent forth upon the Earth in a sequential fashion, (for the hope of repentance) carried out by the Angels with the Seven Last Plagues, including turning water into blood, scorching heat, body boils, swarms of locusts, stings, sores, tongue diseases, and darkness. Again, all of these plagues are events that culminate in the post Rapture world.

The picture of the post Rapture world is a very Calamitous scenario! It will see Pestilence, Plagues, chaos, and the most violent wars this world has ever seen, including the unleashing of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons!

Revelation 6:8  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

War is the most wasting calamity known to man, and draws scarcity and famine after it; not allowing men the proper sustenance, and forcing them to eat that which is unwholesome, often drawing the pestilences of disease upon mankind thereafter. 

While the current worldwide pandemic is certainly disconcerting, it may or may not be related by Bible Prophecy as a clear sign of the Lords Second Coming. More importantly, there are hundreds of other Signs that are already pointing to the imminent return of Jesus to this world. Foremost among those Signs, are the return of the Remnant of Jews to Israel; the burdensome political and religious dynamics of Jerusalem, and geo-political presence of all the "world stage players" of the Last Days!

The most serious concern today, as we continue to monitor the pandemic crisis, is how it might be manipulated by Last Days power brokers to manufacture a Global economic crisis in order to amalgamate the nations of our present World Order into a governing system conducive to the rise of a New World Order under the auspices of Ten Kings; who in turn shall move to Exalt the Antichrist!

In that event; Look up, your redemption draweth nigh!

Darrell G. Young
March 18, 2020