Will Things Get Worse in the End Times? Matt Chandler Explains

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, sees "embers" of spiritual revival popping up all around the nation, even as chaotic cultural conundrums seem to be increasing. "There's been an earnest desire to see God do something significant for a long time," Chandler, author of the new book "The Overcomers: God's Vision for You to Thrive in an Age of Anxiety and Outrage," told CBN News, noting that last year's Asbury outpouring, mass baptisms, and other events show an elevated spiritual fervor breaking out in various areas of the country.   The preacher said he believes these events have helped inspire the faithful. "For those who are outside of a smaller group that have been really kind of contending for this and asking God to do this, it put it back in ... maybe the center of the imagination of what's possible," Chandler said. With culture always marching toward the end of days, some have wondered, biblically speaking, whether the consternation and events happening indicate we're now closer than ever.   Some might assume revival or spiritual outpourings won't happen as the end draws near, but Chandler believes both can unfold, simultaneously "I think they absolutely will happen at the same time — that it will get better and worse, simultaneously," Chandler said. "More than the Bible paints a picture of things getting worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, and worse until the Lord comes, it paints a picture of both happening."   He believes Jesus referenced this very thing in Matthew 13:24-30 when he talked about wheat and tares growing together until the "harvest comes." "The wheat and the tares ... they're growing up together ... until the harvest comes," Chandler said. He also pointed to other end times verses to make his point that some people might be misreading Scripture in assuming everything will simply be terrible in the end.   "The Bible says that people will be getting married and given in marriage, just like they were in the day of Noah," he said. "It's an ordinary time. There's horrible things; there's beautiful things. We're just going to be getting married. We're going to be doing the things that we normally do, and then the end will come." Listen to him explain.