GOD GAVE US MANY BIBLICAL END-TIMES PROPHECIES

God gave all of his prophets a picture of the future that God had in store for them. There are at least 1800 prophecies of Jesus’ second coming. God wanted to prepare us for the soon coming time of tribulation when God will purify His church as He allows Satan to rule and reign for 3 1/2 years through the Antichrist (see 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 below).

In the case of the O.T. prophets, they were given the future of their nation Israel that God had established for His purposes. They all saw their prophesied Messiah (Jesus) ruling the nations from a magnificent Jerusalem in the land of Israel with the borders that God had specified to Abraham. This is Jesus’ Millennial reign on this earth prior to its destruction, the second resurrection, the White Throne judgement, and finally the new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell. It is a transition period, we have had 6000 years of Satan’s rule and we will soon have 1000 years with Jesus ruling and reigning the nations with the glorified Saints.

The Saints will be resurrected and those living raptured just prior to God pouring out His wrath upon the earth with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. As I have covered before, a number of times, the rapture occurs after the celestial signs at the end of the sixth year (sixth seal) of the final seven years (70 the Week of Daniel). The wrath of God lasts one year and ten days, the length of time of a Jewish year that precedes a Jubilee year. God’s wrath at the time of Noah’s flood also lasted one year and ten days.

The N.T. apostles were given prophecies like the two below, to Peter and Paul. Jesus gives us far more detailed information in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 & 25, Luke 21, Mark 13) and Revelation. I will cover those in a future post.

You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.2 Peter 3:2-7

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be GodAnd then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12

CELESTIAL SIGNS WILL SIGNIFY JESUS RETURN

In Acts 2, the apostle Peter explains that a new period in redemption (i.e. the beginning of the church age) occurs at Pentecost with the Spirit’s supernatural outpouring. But a lot of interpreters miss that Peter’s citation of Joel 2, and its celestial disturbances event linked to the great and magnificent Day of the Lord, gives us a clue to the completion of the church age.

Jesus confirms the same celestial signs in the Olivet discourse (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) signaling His return to raise believers from the dead and to rapture the remaining Saints prior to pouring out His wrath on the unrepentant with the Trumpet (Rev. 8,11) and Bowl judgments (Rev.16).

Peter’s citation:

Joel 2:31

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’Acts 2:17-21

Jesus Olivet Discourse:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31

Isaiah

Look, the LORD’s day of judgment is coming; it is a day of cruelty and savage, raging anger, destroying the earth and annihilating its sinners.  Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations no longer give out their light; the sun is darkened as soon as it rises, and the moon does not shine. I will punish the world for its evil, and wicked people for their sin. I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, I will bring down the arrogance of tyrants. I will make human beings more scarce than pure gold, and people more scarce than gold from Ophir. So I will shake the heavens, and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, because of the fury of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, in the day he vents his raging anger.” Isaiah 13:6–13

In Revelation 6 we see the same celestial signs linked to the sixth seal and the announcement that the great day of their (unrepentant) wrath has come.

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earthFall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”” Revelation 6:12,16

It is at the trumpet blast of the seventh seal that the rapture occurs and John sees the Saints before the throne in their new bodies praising God the Father and Jesus.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! Revelation 7:9-10

A GODLESS WORLD PRIOR TO JESUS SECOND COMING

What happens when humans believe that the world began with a big bang and evolved over billions of years from single celled amoeba to the humans walking the planet today?

For me, It seems absurd that anyone can believe that something as complex, ordered and beautiful as the Cosmos came into being without any meaningful explanation and known mechanism to make it happen. Natural selection and mutations cannot do it and yet this is what is taught in our universities and schools. Moreover, our Creator has gone to extraordinary lengths to reveal the truth about Himself, ourselves and the Cosmos, as revealed by His actions in history, His prophets, His nation (Israel), His Word (Bible) and above all else through His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The following is what we will see unfold as we move from truth to chaos.

  • From the conviction that God is Transcendentabove all and to Whom all must give an account, including governments to the belief that there is nothing Transcendent but ourselves and ultimately our rulers
  • From the freedom not to believe to enforced state or cultural religion
  • From churches to re-education centres
  • From schools pursuing knowledge to schools indoctrinating Satanically inspired nonsense
  • From the Bible as God’s revelation to us and the source of our formative worldview to the displacement of the Bible from public life
  • From constitutionalism to tyrannical edict and the emergence of The Antichrist
  • From healthy individuality to collectivism
  • From a free market economy to a state-controlled economy and finally the Mark of the Beast
  • From democracy to oligarchy through the elite establishments of Information, Entertainment, Academia, Politics, Corporations
  • From mature independence to socialist dependency
  • From a healthy respect for just law to a belief we are above God’s law.
  • From unity to fragmentation
  • From freedom of religion to bondage to the secular humanist religion of the state and then the false prophet
  • From Biblical family to state-determined family

This is the world Jesus describes prior to His second coming to earth to complete His covenantal promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob that their Messiah (Jesus) will rule the nations from a restructured and renamed Jerusalem.

LAST DAYS BEFORE JESUS RETURN

As the world increasingly rejects God and His core values; “love God and love your neighbour as yourself “we are seeing the world descend into lawlessness much the same as existed during Noah’s day that resulted in God destroying all mankind except Noah’s family of eight people, four males and four females. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:37-39 that this would be the world’s condition just before He comes back, first to remove His people , His church, in The Rapture and before He pours out His wrath again on an unrepentant world.

The Ogdoad: Nun (Noah) and Naunet (Noah’s wife) , Deities of Chaos and Water

The archaeological evidence does indicate that the eight that came from Noah’s Ark who carried the sum total of all human knowledge, founded civilisation and outlived their descendants (Noah’s son Shem outlived Abraham) were deified in the pagan religions that arose after them.

All Egyptologists are well aware of a group of eight gods, four males and four females known as OGDOAD meaning eight.

The OGDOAD are also well known in later Ptolemaic and Roman texts where they play a role in Egyptian cosmological theology concerning the creation of the universe from a watery abyss.

The Benben stone which sits on the top of pyramids represents the primeval mound, the first land that appeared from the primeval ocean, called the Nun. It was upon this land that the eight ‘gods’ (OGDOAD) sprang into being; four males and their wives, headed by the chief god ‘Nu’ which is phonetically similar to Noah.

This archaeological evidence is of course further evidence that Noah’s Flood was a real event in history that totally changed the geomorphology of the planet and buried animals, sea creatures and forests that formed the fossils and fossil fuels we find today.

God’s Word also reveals that in the “last days” before His return, the world will deny the creation account, and that God judged the world with a worldwide flood, and that He will return to judge the world a second time.

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” 2 Peter 3:4-6

Peter focuses on those who scoff at the idea of Christ’s triumphant return and the final judgment. Just as God once destroyed the world with water, He will one day bring His fire to it. In light of this, we should live in “holiness and godliness” as we await His return and the salvation He has promised to all believers. Peter probably wrote this letter about A.D. 67–68, shortly before his death.

TIMING OF END TIMES WRATH OF GOD

When Jesus was addressing his disciples questions about His second coming, Jesus said, “the days of Noah would be like the days of His coming.”

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39

Jesus therefore tells us that most people will be living their lives as if life is normal, nothing unusual is happening for them. However, we know for Christians this time will be a time of get distress, even great tribulation, when they reject the Mark of the Beast/Antichrist.

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

Jesus attests to the fact that the Flood narrative is an Old Testament account that parallels the return of Jesus. Does this even include parallels between the number of days of the Flood and the final Wrath? Does God’s Word tell us plainly how long the Wrath of God lasts, and will it be a surprise to almost everyone?

Nelson does a great job of answering all these questions and more.

JESUS SECOND COMING

After He had said this, while they were watching, He was lifted up and a cloud hid Him from their sight. As they were still staring into the sky while he was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood near them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way [houtōs eleusetai hon tropon] you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away).” (Acts 1:9–12)

Jesus was taken up into the clouds, and just as He was taken up, He will come back in the clouds as both the following Scriptures testify. His first return is to take the Saints to heaven just prior to God’s wrath being poured out on an unbelieving world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgments in opened Scroll. He does not return to the Mount of Olives on this occasion as some commentators have mistakenly believed. Jesus meets the saints in the air, in the clouds.

One reason for this misinterpretation is another misinterpretation from Zechariah 14:4. Note the following passage does not say that Jesus will descend to the Mount of Olives. It is an entirely different event when Jesus returns with the saints to rescue and restore Israel. It occurs after the wrath of God is poured out on an unbelieving world.

“On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward.” (Zech 14:4)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29

For the Lord, himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

The Rapture of the Saints gathered by the Angels

TIMING OF THE END TIMES RESURRECTION

Nelson Walters reveals that the Resurrection of Lazarus story is full of hidden symbols of the End Time Resurrection. One important question Nelson asks is why Jesus delays two days before he went to raise Lazarus from the dead. Also, Nelson shows us a Scripture from Hosea that reveals details of the future resurrection. This video will help you form a more complete picture of the end times when Jesus returns first to raise the dead in Christ then rapture the saints prior to Him coming to earth with the saints after the Trumpet and Bowl judgements (wrath of God) to rescue and restore His nation Israel.

OUR BLESSED HOPE – JESUS RETURN

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” Titus 2:11-13

This is an important scripture as it highlights Jesus first coming to bring salvation through His death on The Cross and the fact that our blessed hope is His second coming to rapture the Saints and then to rule and reign on this earth with us, glorified Saints.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice… then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulnessPsalms 96:11-13

This scripture tells us why Jesus comes to earth a second time. This time He comes to judge the world. Bearing in mind God judged the world with a worldwide flood just ten generations from Adam.

You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.2 Peter 3:2-7

This scriptures tell us that people will ridicule those of us that try to warn people of the soon coming time when God will pour our His wrath upon an unbelieving world. God tells us that at His return, people will be just as they were in the days of Noah, lawlessness will abound.

Look what is in store for the survivors in the land of Israel when Jesus returns with us glorified saints to liberate them at the Battle of Armageddon.
In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” Isaiah 4:2-4

WHAT IS YOUR HOPE SET UPON?

“Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13 ESV

From the beginning of the Bible to the end, the return of Jesus and the establishment of His Kingdom is the primary focal point of all expectation, longing, and hope.

What is the primary hope of your church? If you follow my blog then you know I call it living eternal now because I know His return to this earth to establish His Kingdom is not too far in the future. Time is short, we need to get on with the Great Commission. Maranatha

I am sure that if the church will prioritize meditating upon, teaching, and emphasizing the hope of Jesus’ return, it will grow and bear good fruit.

The more that we recover an unshakable passion for His return, the more eager the church will be to finish the Great Commission.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works… encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.Hebrews 10:24-25

JESUS SOON RETURN TO PLANET EARTH

How many of you have really “meditated on”, “come to grips with”, “got your ahead around” the FACT Jesus is returning to this earth soon to liberate His chosen nation, and to rule and reign with His resurrected saints on this cursed earth for 1000 years. Moreover, He needs to rule with a rod of iron. People will still be born, people still need to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and people will still die. The curse of death has not been lifted off this planet. It is destined for destruction by fire at the end of the Millennium. John describes its destiny and what will occur at that time in Revelation 20 and 21.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15
The New Heaven and the New Earth
​ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4

It is important to acknowledge that many of the early Church Fathers believed that the earth was less than 6,000 years old and that they read the Genesis creation account both literally and symbolically. To check this out read the article Creationism and Millennialism among the Church Fathers by Andrew Sibley on www,creation.com.

It is clear from a close reading of the Church Fathers that the widely held belief of the church in the first few centuries after Christ was that the creation occurred less than 6,000 years prior to their time of writing; at least it seems to have been the majority opinion among the church leaders. This belief was also tied in with an understanding of the timing of the Second Coming of Christ and His millennial reign; a pressing question for the early church. The millennial scheme symbolically linked six days of creation with 6,000 years of Earth history, with the final millennium reign seen as foreshadowed by the seventh day of rest in the creation account. This undermines claims that such belief is a recent phenomenon, or is not in tune with traditional Christian theology.

Influence for the symbolic linkage between the six days of creation and the six thousand years until the millennial reign of rest may have been passed down directly from the Apostles, especially John, the author of Revelation. Irenaeus, who lived during the 2nd century ad, claims to have received the teaching from Papias and Polycarp, who received it directly from John. Influence may also have derived from Peter’s writing, wherein the Apostle was responding to questions about the return of Christ. Peter wrote that for God “a day is like a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8) and that the Christians should be patient regarding the question of Christ’s return.

Most of the Church Fathers of the first three centuries relied upon the LXX to determine the age of the earth and the Second Advent. Initially, Christians believed that Christ would return sometime around AD 500. However, later acceptance of the Septuagint Masoretic Text, with its shorter time frame for creation of around 4000 BC, extended the second coming to AD 2000. 

So, the gradual acceptance of the Hebrew MT by Christians, from which Bishop Ussher derived a date for the age of the earth of 4004 BC, gave fresh ‘legs’ to millennial thinking among Christians in more recent times, with Christ expected to return sometime around AD 2000.