The Last Days of the Last Age Before Jesus Christ Returns Part I
Posted by shofar
The Last Age Before Jesus Returns
Many people are wondering whether we are living in the last days of the last age before Jesus Christ returns to earth. With the economic systems in America and Europe ready to collapse due to their great monetary indebtedness, an incipient war brewing in the Middle East, and with many nations armed to their teeth with nuclear warheads, many are wondering whether we are living in the endtimes. Even now, there is a monster storm named HURRICANE SANDY moving north along the northeast corridor off the Atlantic Seaboard where over 50 million people are living. This hurricane is appropriately dubbed FRANKENSTORM, in deference to the coming Halloween holiday- a day of celebration of Satan and his demonic forces- ghosts and goblins, which the world is unwittingly caught up in! Could this monster apocalyptic storm FRANKENSTORM be a sign of God’s great displeasure with America? Is God trying to get our attention or to tell us something?
But then there are also many scoffers and unbelievers who think that the earth will continue as it is, and are very skeptical that the end and the return of Jesus Christ to earth are very near. Nearly 2000 years ago, the apostle Peter wrote
About 2000 years ago, Jesus’ disciples asked him ‘what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?’ Mt24:3. This very provocative question is more appropriate today, and has a greater and more profound meaning than ever before. His disciples fully expected Jesus to leave them, but also to return as he had told them that he would Jn14:2,3. They did not know where He was going, how he was going to get there, and when He would return. But they sensed that the world was going to end soon, perhaps in their lifetime. The disciples’ world then was very small, perhaps no more than 2000 miles in any direction. The world today is in great economic upheaval with great strife among the nations, and the earth is experiencing great apocalyptic natural disasters- weather, earthquakes and tsunamis!
The Bible Details the Endtimes- Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and the Book of Revelation
The Bible details the last days before Jesus’ return in these chapters and book. In Mt24:4-39, as signs of the endtimes, Jesus spoke of widespread deception, wars, famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. The endtimes are characterized by Jesus’ warnings of false Christs and false prophets, and of great spiritual deception Mt24:4,11,24. Jesus said there will be a great falling way due to immorality v12. He said ‘this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come’v14. With air travel, radio, satellite TV coverage, and now the Internet, this prophecy of the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world today has been greatly facilitated. Lk21:25,26 state ‘there will be ‘distress of nations, with perplexity.. Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory’. The Temple in Jerusalem will soon be rebuilt, and animal sacrifice restored. Then the Antichrist will cause the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet v15. Those in Judaea are told to flee into the mountains v16. Jesus said GREAT TRIBULATION such as the world has never experienced, shall then occur v21. Jesus will then return in that generation when all these things are fulfilled v34. The time of the end is sooner than most people think, and many will not be ready when Jesus returns!
Luke 21 adds more details regarding the time of the end. Jesus said the Jews shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled v24. This happened at the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman General Favius Titus in 70 AD. When the Jews returned to Israel in 1948, the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. Jesus said there will be signs in the heavens and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts will fail them for fear and looking after those things which are coming on the earth. The powers of heaven shall be shaken. Economic collapse will surely occur! Revelation also reveals of things which shall be hereafter during the endtimes Re1:19: the opening of the 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 vials of judgments; the fate of the endtime false church system MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS and ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH Re17:5; the collapse of the world economic system Re18. There will be a World War where over 1/4 to 1/3 of the world will be killed or destroyed Re6:8,8:8-11; and the rise of the Antichrist, the man of sin 2Th2:3,4,8-12, Re13:1 and his False Prophet v11. Then will be the time of the Great Tribulation that will last for 42 months v5, before the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to earth Jude14,15, Re19:11-16.
The apostle Paul also warns us that in the last days perilous times shall come. ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof..’ 2Ti3:1-5. Also, increasing homosexuality; people filled with ‘all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents..’ Ro1:26-31. ‘They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ Ga5:19-21.
The Return of Israel as a Nation- One of the Most Significant Endtime Signs
When Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948, she allowed for the many prophecies written by the prophets by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, etc., to be fulfilled. After 2600 years of scattering (diaspora), because of her great suffering and the slaughter of 6 million of Jews in the Holocaust of WWII, the United Nations declared Israel a nation again and gave the Jews a homeland in the land of Palestine, a fulfillment of what God told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets. Now Satan and the world’s hatred for Israel will also then bring forth the final war of Armageddon!
In Part II, we will look at some of the significant events that have occurred since the beginning of World War II, over the past 70 years, that signified that we are living in the endtimes, and what is yet to be fulfilled in this Last Age Before Jesus Returns! We will look at the mess that the world is in and why Jesus will come again in the Rapture, to deliver us from the wrath to come 1Th1:10!
To be continued soon… Part II to follow.
Many people are wondering whether we are living in the last days of the last age before Jesus Christ returns to earth. With the economic systems in America and Europe ready to collapse due to their great monetary indebtedness, an incipient war brewing in the Middle East, and with many nations armed to their teeth with nuclear warheads, many are wondering whether we are living in the endtimes. Even now, there is a monster storm named HURRICANE SANDY moving north along the northeast corridor off the Atlantic Seaboard where over 50 million people are living. This hurricane is appropriately dubbed FRANKENSTORM, in deference to the coming Halloween holiday- a day of celebration of Satan and his demonic forces- ghosts and goblins, which the world is unwittingly caught up in! Could this monster apocalyptic storm FRANKENSTORM be a sign of God’s great displeasure with America? Is God trying to get our attention or to tell us something?
But then there are also many scoffers and unbelievers who think that the earth will continue as it is, and are very skeptical that the end and the return of Jesus Christ to earth are very near. Nearly 2000 years ago, the apostle Peter wrote
‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation’ 2Pe2:3,4.Since the first man Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Ge3:12, man has degenerated into a very evil being, filled with lusts, greed, corruption, and violence. Man is literally destroying himself and the earth, and has proven himself incapable of governing himself. We live in a very troubled world, and man’s capacity for wickedness knows no bounds. The Bible states God will ‘.. destroy them which destroy the earth’ Re11:18. We will soon see what it is like when mankind falls into the hands of an angry God. The wrath of God will soon be poured upon all mankind from the ‘cup of his indignation’ Re14:10. God will judge the earth with His fury. Heb10:31 states ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’, and Heb12:29, ‘For our God is a consuming fire’. After God’s judgment, Jesus Christ will then return and establish His millennial kingdom on earth as ‘KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS’ Re19:16.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus’ disciples asked him ‘what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?’ Mt24:3. This very provocative question is more appropriate today, and has a greater and more profound meaning than ever before. His disciples fully expected Jesus to leave them, but also to return as he had told them that he would Jn14:2,3. They did not know where He was going, how he was going to get there, and when He would return. But they sensed that the world was going to end soon, perhaps in their lifetime. The disciples’ world then was very small, perhaps no more than 2000 miles in any direction. The world today is in great economic upheaval with great strife among the nations, and the earth is experiencing great apocalyptic natural disasters- weather, earthquakes and tsunamis!
The Bible Details the Endtimes- Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and the Book of Revelation
The Bible details the last days before Jesus’ return in these chapters and book. In Mt24:4-39, as signs of the endtimes, Jesus spoke of widespread deception, wars, famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. The endtimes are characterized by Jesus’ warnings of false Christs and false prophets, and of great spiritual deception Mt24:4,11,24. Jesus said there will be a great falling way due to immorality v12. He said ‘this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come’v14. With air travel, radio, satellite TV coverage, and now the Internet, this prophecy of the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world today has been greatly facilitated. Lk21:25,26 state ‘there will be ‘distress of nations, with perplexity.. Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory’. The Temple in Jerusalem will soon be rebuilt, and animal sacrifice restored. Then the Antichrist will cause the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet v15. Those in Judaea are told to flee into the mountains v16. Jesus said GREAT TRIBULATION such as the world has never experienced, shall then occur v21. Jesus will then return in that generation when all these things are fulfilled v34. The time of the end is sooner than most people think, and many will not be ready when Jesus returns!
Luke 21 adds more details regarding the time of the end. Jesus said the Jews shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled v24. This happened at the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman General Favius Titus in 70 AD. When the Jews returned to Israel in 1948, the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. Jesus said there will be signs in the heavens and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts will fail them for fear and looking after those things which are coming on the earth. The powers of heaven shall be shaken. Economic collapse will surely occur! Revelation also reveals of things which shall be hereafter during the endtimes Re1:19: the opening of the 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 vials of judgments; the fate of the endtime false church system MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS and ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH Re17:5; the collapse of the world economic system Re18. There will be a World War where over 1/4 to 1/3 of the world will be killed or destroyed Re6:8,8:8-11; and the rise of the Antichrist, the man of sin 2Th2:3,4,8-12, Re13:1 and his False Prophet v11. Then will be the time of the Great Tribulation that will last for 42 months v5, before the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to earth Jude14,15, Re19:11-16.
The apostle Paul also warns us that in the last days perilous times shall come. ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof..’ 2Ti3:1-5. Also, increasing homosexuality; people filled with ‘all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents..’ Ro1:26-31. ‘They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ Ga5:19-21.
The Return of Israel as a Nation- One of the Most Significant Endtime Signs
When Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948, she allowed for the many prophecies written by the prophets by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, etc., to be fulfilled. After 2600 years of scattering (diaspora), because of her great suffering and the slaughter of 6 million of Jews in the Holocaust of WWII, the United Nations declared Israel a nation again and gave the Jews a homeland in the land of Palestine, a fulfillment of what God told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the prophets. Now Satan and the world’s hatred for Israel will also then bring forth the final war of Armageddon!
In Part II, we will look at some of the significant events that have occurred since the beginning of World War II, over the past 70 years, that signified that we are living in the endtimes, and what is yet to be fulfilled in this Last Age Before Jesus Returns! We will look at the mess that the world is in and why Jesus will come again in the Rapture, to deliver us from the wrath to come 1Th1:10!
To be continued soon… Part II to follow.
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