Bereansearching's Blog

Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:“

There is a Spiritual Famine in Our World Today!

To say the least, we are living in unusual times, which are not at all unlike those spoken of by God to the prophet Amos (see above). Everyone is aware of the ills facing our world today…wars, famines, pestilences, natural disasters, political and economic turmoil, rampant crime and violence, and now, particularly, the abominable sexual perversions, including towards children. But there is more going on behind the scenes of which few are aware. That is that there is little speaking of, or the hearing of, God’s Word. That is the famine that needs to be considered.

In our world today, sin is not only not being punished, it is rather being tolerated, and moreover, even promoted! This is because God is bringing a judgment against our world in the form of Tribulation. There is a dearth in the world with respect to hearing God’s Word. It is a literal, spiritual FAMINE!

Literal physical famines are described many times in the Bible, for example: Genesis 12:10, Genesis 26:1, Genesis 47:4, Ruth 1:1, 2 Kings 25:3, Jeremiah 44:13. But the famine that we now find ourselves in is different. The world is being starved for lack of hearing the true Gospel of Salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Biblical Christianity is increasingly being besmirched, while false religions and gospels are being growing in adherence. The Bible is now banned from nearly all schools and almost all public discourse.

Nonetheless, there is still a remnant of believers remaining faithful to God’s Word as we read in Luke 4:25&26, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, [a city] of Sidon, unto a woman [that was] a widow.” Jesus was referring back to the famine spoken of regarding Elijah in 1 Kings 17:8-16.

Psalm 37:18&19, “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.“

Psalm 37:25&26, “I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. [He is] ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed [is] blessed.“

The Great Tribulation is the Greatest Famine of All Time

And as for this world, God refers to it as “the Great Babylon” at the end of time in the Book of Revelation (at the end of the Bible), in Revelation 18:23), “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

The Bridegroom is The LORD Jesus Christ and the bride is the Eternal Church of God, and at the end of time, during the Great Tribulation (when the devil is loosed for “a little season” Revelation 20:3), the Word of God will essentially be silenced. The witnesses of God’s Truth will have been silenced and effectively killed, literally and/or figuratively. The Light of the World is Jesus Christ, and without Him, and without the hearing of Him, the world will go completely dark. The lack of “hearing” of “The Word” (which is the “True” Jesus) means that the world will be starved for the lack of hearing of God’s Word and suffer the consequences of a spiritual famine…Eternal Spiritual Death!

Conclusion: Jesus is the Bread of Life!

John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6:48, “I am that bread of life.”

John 6:57&8, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.“

The Lord’s Prayer

We should also keep in mind what the Lord’s Prayer is really saying. It refers not just to physical bread, but more importantly, it refers to the “spiritual bread”…the bread of life! Who Is Jesus!

Matthew 6:9-13, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.“

Only Jesus, as contained in the Bible in its entirely, Is The Word of God and the Bread of Life, Who can sustain the believers through this Great Tribulation and help us to endure until the end, Judgment Day, when Jesus returns on the clouds of Glory to judge the world and to retrieve His Church for eternity with Him in Heaven.

Postscript: Joseph was a “Type” of Jesus Christ during the Great Famine in Genesis 41-47

Remember how, back in Genesis chapters 41-47, when there was a great physical famine, we learned the following:

Genesis 41:55-57, “And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy [corn]; because that the famine was [so] sore in all lands.“

But then, in Chapter 42 we see that Joseph’s brothers came to him from the land of Canaan to buy sustenance, Genesis 42:5&6, “And the sons of Israel came to buy [corn] among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph [was] the governor over the land, [and] he [it was] that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him [with] their faces to the earth.”

Then later in Chapter 43, Genesis 43:1 ¶ “And the famine [was] sore in the land.”

However, later in Genesis 45:11 we read that Joseph, after having revealed himself to his brethren, told them that he had prepared a place for them during the famine, in the the land of Goshen (the “best of the land” in Egypt Genesis 47:6), “And there will I nourish thee; for yet [there are] five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.” and finally in Chapter 47, we read in Genesis 47:12 “And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to [their] families.

Please also note that these were the same brothers that threw Joseph into the pit and sold him into slavery in Egypt. Nonetheless, Joseph, like Jesus, was merciful to them and said to them first in Genesis 45:5, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” and second in Genesis 50:19 ¶ “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for [am] I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.” Jesus was put to death for the sins of all of God’s elect, His brethren, but God meant it for good that all those who would believe on Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.“

This entry was posted on December 20, 2022 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.