One of the things that has brought me to a logical belief
in God and the inerrancy of Scripture is fulfilled prophecy. There are some
things that are inexplicable if not for the existence of an ever present, all
knowing, all powerful God. For example, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that a
nation would be born in a day.
Isaiah 66:7-9: “Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or
shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave
birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause
delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says
your God.”
The beginning of labor or “birth pangs” is symbolic
throughout the Bible as being the sign of the coming age when Jesus will return
to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. This passage tells us that one of
the first signs that the end is near will be the birth of a nation in one day.
So the question that must be answered if we want to
speculate if we are living in the end times is whether or not there has recently
been a nation “born at once.” If you have studied history you may know that in
all of recorded history only one nation has ever been established in one day,
that nation is the current nation of Israel who on May 14, 1948, by decree of
the United Nations, was established… in one day, in one decree, a nation was
born.
But before we jump to the conclusion that this passage in
Isaiah definitely refers to Israel 1948 birth, let’s examine other end times
passages to see if they might correlate with any events that have taken place
since 1948 or are taking place currently. If there are obvious correlations
then we can, with confidence, say that Israel’s birth was the beginning of the
end and that we are living in the end times.
Ezekiel
One guy guessing correctly 2700 years ago about a
nation’s birth could be just luck… possibly… but Isaiah 66 is not the only
passage that speaks of the re-birth of Israel. In Ezekiel 36-37, the prophet
Ezekiel gets into a little more detail about a future re-gathering of the Jews
in the current land of Israel.
Ezekiel states about Israel that God will “make you
inhabited as in former times” (36:11) and about the Israelite people that God
will “take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and
bring you into your own land.” (36:24) History tells us unequivocally that this
is what happened after the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948… Jews who were
scattered throughout the earth came back and once again inhabited the tiny
strip of land called Israel.
Ezekiel also gave more detail… he speaks of the land
becoming fruitful once again, yielding crops from once barren wilderness.
(36:9, 29, 34) Today because of the strategically placed dams and ingenious
irrigation techniques put in place by the Israelis, what once was swamp land
and desert in the land of Israel has become fruitful farm land. So fruitful
that, despite the fact that it is about the size of Massachusetts (the 6th
smallest state in the United States) Israel has become one of the largest
exporters of agricultural products in the world…
We also find more end times prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39
that are eerily similar to current world events. Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a last
days showdown between Israel and a number of allied countries. You’ll have to
do a little history research for this passage to make sense because the names
of the countries written in this passage are the names of the countries as
Ezekiel knew them 2500+ years ago… the names have changed, but the geographical
territories remain the same so we can discern who Ezekiel was talking about by
finding who now resides in those territories.
Here is the list of nations that are prophesied to come
together against Israel in the end times as found in Ezekiel 38:
·
Magog: Modern day Russia. “Gog” in Ezekiel 38
refers to the leader of Magog (Russia)
·
Rosh: This also refers to Russia
·
Meshech: This is thought to be the ancient city
now known as Moscow
·
Tubal: This is thought to be the ancient city
now known as Tobolsk in Russia
·
Persia: This was the official name of Iran until
1935
·
Cush: Modern day Sudan and Ethiopia
·
Put: Modern day Libya, and possibly Algeria and
Tunisia
·
Gomer: Modern day Turkey
·
Beth-togarmah: Modern day Armenia and the
Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia
The story as prophesied in Ezekiel is as follows: In the
end days Russia will form ties with several modern day Muslim countries
starting with Iran. Soon Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey will join Russia and
Iran to come against Israel in a final big war where God will defeat the
enemies of Israel. Keep in mind that this was written 2500+ years ago and
history will tell us that in that 2500+ years, the inhabitants of modern day
Russia and Iran have never been allies, they’ve fought against each other, but
have never been allied…until today… Over the past several years Vladimir Putin,
Russia’s leader has been not only publicly forming ties with Iran and other
Muslim nations but has been unashamedly arming those nations at a rapid pace.
Russia is today allied with and arming countries who have vowed the
annihilation of Israel… Islamic
fundamentalist run countries who have vowed to come together against Israel…
And to add fodder, Putin is today thumbing his nose at the world, threatening
to seize land and seizing land with seemingly no consequence… Russia is today
on the move south, toward the Middle East.
Daniel
In Daniel 12:4 we are given another end times prophecy.
Daniel wrote that in “the time of the end… knowledge shall increase.”
There has never been a time in history that knowledge has
been more accessible. With the arrival of the internet all it takes is a couple
of seconds to type a question into a search pane and you’ll be able to find out
just about anything at any time… knowledge has increased.
But many say this passage refers more to knowledge of
scripture as it relates to the end times then to just general knowledge… if
that is the case then it is even more so taking place today. So many of the end
times prophecies would have been impossible to understand before the advent of
today’s technologies.
For example:
·
There are prophecies that tell us of a cashless
society… without current technologies, it would have been impossible to
understand how this would happen even 30 years ago... but today, this could happen
tomorrow.
·
There are prophecies about the whole world being
able to witness events as they are occurring… without satellites and mobile
recording devices it would have been impossible to understand how this would
happen even 50 years ago... but today, we watch world events happening live
everyday on a myriad of hand held devices.
·
Ezekiel’s description of the war of Gog and
Magog describes quite aptly a nuclear war… without knowledge of radioactive
fallout, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even
70 years ago… but today…
There are so many prophecies that now become clear for us
when we read them in the light of current knowledge.
Daniel 9:27 speaks of a peace treaty that is signed in
the last days between Israel and its surrounding nations. Today leaders from
around the world are pushing harder than ever to craft such a treaty and though
the events of the past few months make that look unlikely, in reality the
closer Israel comes to destroying those who seek to harm them, the closer those
enemies of Israel will be to signing such a treaty… all they really need that
they don’t yet have is a charismatic leader who can broker a deal. I believe
this refers to the treaty that will be negotiated by the Antichrist to rebuild
the temple. Everything is in place for when the Antichrist is revealed for this
deal to be immediately agreed to; even the materials to build the temple are in
place today and are staged in a Jerusalem warehouse.
Jesus
In Luke 17 and Matthew 24 Jesus said that the end days
will be similar to the “days of Noah.” (Matt 24:37; Luke 17:26) In Genesis 6 we
find a description of the days of Noah: There was a population explosion (v.1),
wickedness was great among the people (v.5) and the earth was filled with
violence. (v.11)
Population explosion:
Experts estimate that in 1800 the earth’s population was
approximately 1 billion. 150 years later in 1950 it had increased to 2.5
billion. Since 1950 the earth’s population has grown to 6.5 billion+. Let me
put it another way: in the 148 years prior to Israel being born in one day the
earth’s population grew by 1.5 billion… in the 66 years since Israel being born
in one day the earth’s population has grown by 4 billion… a little more than
one third the time, close to triple the growth.
Wickedness was great among the people:
Unless you have been shut up in a cave for the past 10
years with no TV, internet or contact with the outside world, I think it is
safe to say that we all have seen a rapid increase in wickedness over recent
years. Beheadings, mass executions, riots, parents killing their kids, kids
killing their parents… Fill in your own stories of wickedness, but be honest
with yourself… we are living in a wicked society.
The earth filled with violence:
Turn on the television any given evening and you’ll find
more than one television network devoted exclusively to men (and in some cases
women) beating each other senseless in cages for money. Look through your
children’s video game collection and I bet you’ll find mostly violent games…
even the sports related video games are now filled with violent acts. Our
popular music exalts violent “gang bang” activities and YouTube is filled with
videos of teenagers beating up other teenagers and adults for fun. Our earth is
filled with violence.
Another interesting verse about the times of Noah is
found in verse 2 of Genesis 6: “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men
that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The
“sons of God” here refer to the angels who were kicked out of Heaven with Satan.
(Revelation 12:9) In Noah’s day those fallen angels took wives from among the
humans. If we look at it from a human perspective what might that look like? I
suggest that, from our vantage point, it would look like people embracing the occult…
Have you noticed as I have a spike in occult like behavior in our culture? Black
masses, television shows about ghost hunting and witchcraft, children’s books,
television shows and movies about warlocks and casting spells, magicians and
musicians who blacken their eyes with make-up, drink blood, and perform some
pretty scary stuff. It has become mainstream in our society to accept these
types of practices… practices that just a few years ago would have been unheard
of… practices that even Christian parents are encouraging their kids to explore
by giving them these books, taking them to these movies, buying them the video
games and recording these programs. We seem to be marrying ourselves to the
occult.
Another reference to what the end times will look like is
found also in Luke 17, Jesus says: “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:
They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on
the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is
revealed.”
The days of Lot? If you read Genesis 19 you’ll see what
society looked like while Lot was in Sodom. Just before Sodom was destroyed,
God sent two angels into the city to get Lot and his family out. Seeing the
angels, the men of the city marched through the streets demanding that the
angels (male angels) be brought out of Lot’s house so that they (the men) could
have sex with them. Homosexual men boldly walking the streets making demands
that the followers of God accept them and give into their demands.
The city of Sodom in the days of Lot was filled with
militant homosexuality…that’s just a fact of that day (Sodom-sodomy)…
In Matthew 24, speaking of the end times, Jesus tells us
that:
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that
you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And
there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All
these are the beginning of sorrows.”
This week in the news you’ll hear about:
·
ISIS taking control of Iraq and Syria, Russia
invading and provoking, the war on terror, Jihad, military bombings, Iran
building weapons of mass destruction, China building a huge army…
·
Earthquakes being felt in various, diverse
locations throughout the world every couple of weeks.
·
Ebola and super bugs (pestilences) taking thousands
upon thousands of lives in various places. Drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis,
malaria, staphylococcus and cholera are rearing their head.
·
Deadly droughts and famines covering huge swaths
of land.
Paul
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us:
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will
come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving,
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong,
haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power.”
Sounds like Paul was reading today’s news.
Paul, speaking about the church in the last days a few
verses later in 2 Timothy 4:
“For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because
they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they
will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to
fables.”
Break that verse down and tell me
honestly… is that not an apt description of the mainstream Christian church
today? Not enduring sound doctrine? Itching ears? Heaping up for themselves
teachers that willfully distract from the truth and tell lies about what it
means to be a follower of Christ? Jesus
described what means to follow Him:
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains
the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will
be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s,
and of the holy angels.”
Do the sermons and books and social media
posts of the vast multitude of pastors in this world reflect or refract what
Jesus said about life? Do they speak about denial of self or satisfaction of
self? Are they proud of Jesus’ words
about sin or ashamed of those words? Do they talk about repentance from sin or
acceptance of sin? Do they speak about the end times? Jesus did, do they?
Birth Pangs
When labor begins the contractions (or birth pangs) experienced
by a soon to be mother will be about 15-20 minutes apart. As the time for
delivery nears, those contractions will get closer together. When they are 5
minutes apart she will head to the hospital, when they are 2 minutes apart the
time is very near and you can expect to see the baby at any time.
God called the signs of the end times birth pangs for a
reason. It’s a mental picture that everyone who has had a child or has
witnessed a woman in labor can relate to. We saw the start of labor in 1948 and
at that time we started seeing signs of knowledge increasing, the population
exploding, wickedness increasing, violence escalating, homosexuality becoming
militant, wars, pestilence, famines, earthquakes. These signs started to show
up in the news here and there every couple of years. I ask you; have you
noticed an increase in the frequency of these types of activities? Do you see the time between these pangs
dimensioning or increasing? What will happen tomorrow?
So what now?
The Bible is clear about what is going to happen in the 7
years prior to Jesus returning to righteously judge the earth. It’s spoken as
the Great Tribulation and it will be worse than any other time in history… a
time of great enslavement and suffering. But God has provided a way for us to
miss out on all that suffering. Before the Great Tribulation begins everyone
who has given their life over to the Lordship of Christ will be taken out of
this world and caught up into Heaven to be with Him and will return with Him
when He comes to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. You might say, “Now
that’s just weird…caught up… to Heaven… with Jesus? You had me up until then…
you were making sense… but that’s just crazy! Caught up… you’re a loon.” If
that is you, if you think that’s crazy let me ask you this: If what I’ve said
about fulfilled prophecy is true… if God, more than 2000 years ago, inspired
men to write about events that are taking place today… don’t you think it might
be a good idea to look at what God inspired those men to write about that
hasn’t yet taken place… and maybe believe it too is true?
Study your Bible. Pray. Seek the truth. Follow Jesus.
It sometimes won’t be an easy journey, but the destination is worth the
denial of self.