My post today is not based on a Bible reading. I just have been having a lot of thoughts today about the nature of time and the struggle between good and evil and wanted to write about them.

A friend of mine and I have been having an ongoing debate for a few years now about whether our times are unique in the level of evil, and the prevalence of signs of the end times (me), or whether everything old is new again, and this is just another cycle of the rise of evil as man turns away from God (her). My view is that we are living in unique times, as I have said in many of my blog posts. The signs of the times, combined with the messages that I have been getting, have convinced me that we are approaching something unique. If not the end itself, the beginning of the end. 

While listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast over the last two days, I have had more thoughts on this. God called Abraham and through him established the Jewish people. Throughout the Old Testament, the Jewish people go through these various cycles of being close to God, following His rules, and being happy and prosperous, then turning away from Him and becoming sinful (sometimes greatly so!), unhappy, losing their prosperity, and suffering in both small and great ways. This cycle repeats itself over and over again throughout the Old Testament. Every time, though, they (and we, by hearing of them) learn something new and each time brings them (and humanity) closer to intellectually to God. Through the Old Testament, all of humanity learns these lessons, and sees the repetition of the cycle.

So Abraham being called was a highly unusual God-to-man breakthrough through which God established His chosen people that were to be a model to all of us, and the light to all nations. Thousands of years later, in the fullness of time, there was another, even better, highly unusual, God-to-man breakthrough event in the Incarnation. Through this, God extends his offer of salvation to all people.

Now, we non-Jews can look back on the Old Testament, learn its lessons, and apply them to the entire world, because God has broken through with the Incarnation and called all of us to Him.

After the Incarnation, the cycles start repeating themselves again, this time in all people - the whole world. However, we are now awaiting the final highly unusual God-to-man breakthrough in the Second Coming. When Jesus was here, He told us we would not know the day and time of this, but to look for the signs of the times to have some idea of when it is coming. I think the signs of our times are telling us that we should start getting ready for something big to happen. I think God is beginning to get humanity ready for the Second Coming. This does not mean it will happen tomorrow, or even in the next 100 years (look how long it took to build up the Jewish people from Abraham before Christ came, and how long it has taken to build up the Church from Christ!), but I do believe something big is coming and we should prepare and help others to do the same.