Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major story. The human suffering in Ukraine right now is a major story. The potential escalation of war in eastern Europe is a major story. Rising gas prices are a major story. Even worries about nuclear warfare have become major stories since the invasion began.
But did you know famine may also become a story related to this conflict?
On Saturday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned “the economic consequences are already very serious” as a result of the invasion. Among other things, it is driving grain prices much higher around the world—at a time when inflation and other price pressures were already elevated.
Consider this explanation of the problem from a recent article titled “The Food War”:
Russia and Ukraine are massive growers of grain, especially wheat. Russia produces about 10 percent of the planet’s wheat; Ukraine about 4 percent. Some of that production is consumed at home, but after their domestic use, Russia and Ukraine together provide about one-quarter of all the planet’s wheat exports. They are important exporters of corn and barley as well, and of cooking oils, especially sunflower oil. Now the Russian invasion has closed the ports through which Ukraine’s wheat moved to world markets. Insurance costs have jumped for all shipping in the Black Sea. Spring crops will probably go unplanted in Ukraine; Russian crops face sanctions and embargo. Russia and its ally Belarus also are—or were—important exporters of the fertilizer that other food-raising countries use to grow their own crops.
This upheaval, the author writes, “will touch every food consumer on Earth,” including those living in the United States. But those who are already hungry will be hit the hardest.
This article explains further, noting that Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat:
Ukraine and Russia are important food suppliers for low- and middle-income countries in which tens of millions of people are already food insecure. Prices are further rising due to the conflict, and more increases as the war continues could cause greater food instability and hunger — not only in Ukraine, but around the world.
Egypt and Turkey rely on combined Russian/Ukrainian imports for 70 percent of their wheat supply, while 95 percent of Ukraine’s wheat exports went to Asia (including the Middle East) or Africa in 2020. In the Middle East and North Africa region, Yemen, Libya, and Lebanon rely on Ukraine for a high percentage of their wheat supply, while Egypt imports more than half its wheat from either Russia or Ukraine. Countries in South and Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and Bangladesh, are also heavily reliant on wheat from the region. The largest importers of Ukrainian wheat in 2020 were Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan, while Russia is the source of a large percentage of wheat for many sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria and Sudan.
These are regions that are already prone to conflict and famine. What happens when already high food prices keep rising?
Year After Year of Hunger
The worldwide COVID lockdowns created enormous hunger and suffering. In 2020, I remember lines around the block even in the Metroplex, where I live, as people sought food from local giveaways by the food bank.
Then in 2021, the UN World Food Program warned that 2021 could bring “famines of biblical proportions” and an epidemic of hunger.
And here we are in 2022, facing another potential famine. If you’re a student of Bible prophecy, you are already thinking of several passages that apply to today’s situation. One of them was a statement by Jesus about the last days. He told the disciples that famine was one of the things that would precede His return:
Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.”—Luke 21:10-11
Revelation 6 speaks of a coming period when it takes an entire day’s wages to buy enough food for that day. This rise in inflation is followed by a famine so terrible a quarter of the planet’s population dies:
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.—Revelation 6:7-8
The prophet Ezekiel even says that God sometimes uses famine to punish idolatrous and unfaithful nations:
Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it.—Ezekiel 14:13
Famine and food shortage are most definitely a sign of the end times.
The Generation That Has Every Sign
Depending on your age, of course, you’ve heard about famine before. Our world regularly sees humanitarian crises in places like Africa, where droughts destroy crops and cause enormous suffering. Parts of our world are in an almost constant state of food insecurity.
But I want you to think more broadly and look again at the words of Jesus in Luke 21. He said to the disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place” (Luke 21:32). In other words, a single generation—one in the future—will see the fulfillment of all end-times events.
He then listed those events in Luke 21:10-11.
Nation rising against nation
Earthquakes
Famines
Pestilences
Fearful sights
Great signs from heaven
Every generation has endured war. Most generations see some sort of famine or food shortage. Earthquakes happen all the time. But the final generation won’t just experience some signs. It will have every sign.
As we emerge from a viral plague—in biblical terms, pestilence—and as we see one nation rising against another, a global food emergency, political instability in the United States, ongoing immorality, the decline of church attendance, and the regathering of Israel…well, you can probably guess why I believe we are living in the last days.
The end will happen within one generation, and that final generation will see every sign. These signs of the times are all around us. They seem to be arriving faster and faster as we get nearer to His return. Watch and pray.
How can it be possible to not be sad thinking about what will be happening? Good for me, that I will be part of the rapture. I care for all the people that will be suffering beyond my existence here on earth. I am praying for the opportunities to be a light in this dark world.
I am so thankful for this ministry. In a world that is so unstable, a country that is having its entire foundation shattered, and the church population torn and deceived it is so encouraging and sustaining to hear words of truth spoken throughout the week. Than you so much!