Life is filled with uncertainties, but even the person with the least knowledge of the Bible has heard that this world as we know it will someday end.

In Luke 21:8-36, Jesus was telling the people some of the signs of the end. Television documentaries abound that warn of objects from the heavens like asteroids, comets, and huge meteorites striking the earth and creating mass destruction. There are also predictions of earthquakes and volcanoes with magnitudes not known in recent history.

The Bible speaks of all these types of events, and they will be part of the final hours on earth. By the time some cataclysmic event snuffs out our life, it will be too late to prepare.

There is another indicator that certainly bears watching. The nation of Israel is God's clock. The end-time events will center on that tiny nation in the Middle East.

We cannot put actual dates on God's program, but Israel is clearly talked about in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel. The events in 1948 that led to the formation of Israel as a sovereign nation back in the Promised Land form one of the miracles of our time.

If modern day Israel is the centerpiece spoken of in end-time prophecies, then we need to pay attention.

Israel has had its ups and downs, but today it seems that the noose is tightening. Some of Israel's neighboring countries who were not openly hostile are now having regime changes that are bringing groups to power who defiantly claim they are committed to the destruction of Israel as a nation.

The apostle John declared, "Dear children, this is the last hour" (1 John 2:18). We know John wrote this 1,900 years ago. If he believed the time was short in his day, how much more so now?

The apostle Paul wrote, "You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).The idea is, we don't know when the end will come, so we'd best be prepared.

In Luke 21:26, Jesus said, "Lift up your heads." That is, look to God. There is life after physical death. Believers in Jesus Christ have faced death in triumph for centuries, believing that the body may die but the soul lives forever.

The Bible describes two places for eternal existence. Revelation 20 speaks of the "great white throne judgment." God is the judge. The Book of Life is the record. We read in Revelation 20:15 that "if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

The Book of Life is the key. Every believer in Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God has their name in the Book of Life. Those who have not put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ do not have their name listed.

Look around and look up! The Day of the Lord is closer now than ever before. It just might be today!