I'll always remember where I was when I first heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. I was sitting in a barber's chair in San Fernando, California, getting a haircut. The barber was about half through harvesting the growth on my head when a man poked his head into the shop and said, "The president's been shot." And he was gone.

I thought, "Yeah, sure!"

However, by the time I'd walked a block after leaving the barbershop I realized that it WAS true. The president HAD been shot.

An hour or so later I was standing on the corner at a traffic light in San Fernando waiting to cross the street when I heard the news that the president had died. An overwhelming sadness washed over me. I bowed my head and wept.

Whoever you are reading this article, wherever you are in the world, I expect that you will always remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001, when you first heard the report of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

As I reflect on that tragic day, I ask myself, What is the prophetic significance, if any, of these events?

The prophetic significance

If by "prophetic significance" we mean that the Bible foretold those specific events, then obviously there is none. However, one of the first passages of Scripture that came to my mind as I reflected on September 11 was what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1, "In the last days perilous times shall come." (KJV) All through that tragic day, the news commentators kept reiterating the danger the whole world faces from events such as these. Speaking of the end time, the Bible also says, "Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse." (2 Timothy 3:13 NIV) Not a bad way to describe what happened that day!

I suggest, however, that we need to step back and examine these events from a much broader perspective than simply what *happened*. The United States and the world are at war with far more than international terrorism. Every human being is part of a global *spiritual* war that's been going on ever since sin entered our world several thousand years ago. And according to the Bible, just before the second coming of Jesus the world will pass through the most intense battle in that conflict. The prophet Daniel foretold the final conflict three and a half millenniums ago. "There will be a time of distress," he said, "such as has not happened from the beginning of the nations until then." (Daniel 12:1 NIV)

A number of people have expressed to me the thought that the events of September 11 were the opening salvo in this final conflict between good and evil. Whether that's true remains to be seen. Those of us who believe in the second coming of Jesus and who are anxious for His return find it easy to interpret events such as these as the beginning of the end.

However, there is a difference between saying that the tragedies at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are an indication that we live in the end time and saying that they signal the beginning of that final conflict. That conflict will be short--just a few years--and very intense. The time of the end, on the other hand, is a period of history during which evil is increasing while God's message of mercy is going out in relative freedom to most of the world. We at Signs of the Times understand that the end time has been going on for about one hundred fifty years now. And I have no problem identifying the tragic events of September 11, 2001, as evidence that we live in that end time.

In addition, the world is *building* toward the final conflict. Surely the events of September 11 were a major push in that direction. One of these days the final conflict will break with events that are even more horrific than what happened in New York and Washington. They may be man-made events, as with the World Trade Center and Pentagon "bombings." They may be natural disasters of global proportions. Or they could be military conflicts or a devastating economic downturn.

We don't know, and we don't need to know. What we do need to know is the status of our spiritual life--our relationship with God, with Jesus.

Mortal combat

During the final conflict the forces of good and evil will be locked in mortal combat. And the forces of evil will appear at first to have the upper hand--just as they did at the time of Christ's crucifixion. To all outward appearances, it will seem that God's people have lost the battle.

The book of Revelation pictures that battle. It's easy to theologize and philosophize, as we sit in our easy chairs, about what it portrays. But living through that time won't be an armchair experience. God's people will be subjected to unprecedented pressures to conform to the religious and spiritual demands of the majority. They will stare death in the face just as surely as Daniel did in front of the lions' den or the three Hebrews did in front of the fiery furnace.

The question for each of us today is not whether we are ready to face that kind of spiritual pressure--because if we say Yes too confidently, we're likely to do what Peter did. He assured Jesus that he was ready for the crisis in his life, and then the rooster crowed the third time. God will give His people special strength for the final crisis just when they need it. The question we each need to ask ourselves is whether we are actively cultivating our relationship with God and His Son Jesus *today*. Are we learning to trust Them for both the forgiveness of our sins and victory over them? That's what Jesus meant when He said, "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Matthew 24:44 NIV)

Nothing can atone for the tragedy of September 11, 2001, especially for those who lost loved ones that day. The most we can do is determine to prepare our lives to meet them again someday in a land where there will be no more sorrow, crying, pain--or terrorism.

For those who do that, good will have come out of even this great tragedy. I invite you to be one of those people.