7 FOR SURE SIGNS OF CHRIST'S RETURN

In 1967 war erupted between Israel and their neighbors Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. In six days of intense fighting Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez canal, marched through the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon that bordered Syria, and then triumphantly laid hold of the Old City of Jerusalem. The sound of Jubilant Jews gathering to blow the shofar at the Western Wall echoed around the globe. Israel had not controlled that sacred site for nearly 1,900 years.

As my father was visiting that week, many asked if he this was the beginning of the end and the signal for Christ’s second coming. “I don’t know,” he replied, “but we are praying that it is.” Dad said that not everyone was as excited about that possibility as he was. Church attendance was up that week.

It has now been 44 years since that amazing victory and 63 years since the United Nations partitioned Palestine and created the sovereign State of Israel. It was all so unlikely. But it happened. And it happened right on time.

Writing 600 years before Christ the Prophet Daniel foretold that our Lord would come 490 years after the walls of Jerusalem were re-built—and He did; that Israel would once again become a sovereign nation in 1948—and they did; and that the Jews would control the Temple Mount in 1967—and they did.

Admittedly, many of these prophecies were obscure at the time God revealed them to Daniel, but Godly men, under the influence of the same Holy Spirit that inspired Daniel, saw the meanings and wrote of them.

Perhaps the most amazing proofs that the Bible is inspired and inerrant are the incredible number of fulfilled prophecies. The Old Testament is filled with incredible predictions about the nation of Israel. Every one of them has been fulfilled.

The prophecies of Christ’s first coming were all fulfilled to the letter. When Christ would come, of whom He would be born, where He would be born, how he would die, the manner of his burial—all of these and scores of other prophecies were perfectly fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth.

Since Christ returned to heaven God’s people have anticipated Christ’s second coming. Some were sure that Christ would be back before John the Apostle died, others expected that He would return just before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. There have been those who predicted Christ would return at the end of the 1st millennium (AD 1000) and others were sure He would come again at the end of the 2nd millennium (AD 2000).

Jesus said that no man knows the day nor the hour of His return (Matthew 24:36) but He said that just as we can tell that summer is coming when the leaves appear on the trees, there will be telling signs that He is about to appear.

There are many prophecies regarding our Lord’s return, but these are among the clearest:

1. Knowledge will be increased and travel will be fast-paced. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4)

2. There will be a great falling away from the truth of God’s Word. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). This know also, 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, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

3. People will be skeptical and cynical towards Christ’s Return. “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.” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

4. The Gospel will be preached around the world. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14). Certainly mass media and the internet

5. The Return of Israel as a nation. Daniel tells us, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” (Daniel 12:11-12) If the “abomination that maketh desolate” is the rise of Islam in AD 612, and we add 1,335 days, or prophetic years to that date, we come to 1947—the exact year the United Nations partitioned Palestine and created the State of Israel!
Isaiah foresaw the return of Israel. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” (Isaiah 11:11).

6. There will be a tremendous onslaught against Israel. In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy we are told of a great attack against Israel. Though this prophecy may have been in some measure fulfilled in previous generations, Bible Scholars are agreed that there is an ultimate fulfillment yet to come. “And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 38:15-16).

Zechariah warns, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. (Zechariah 14:2-4).

7. The appearance of the Anti-Christ. Some of the First Century Christians expected that Christ’s second coming would be in their lifetimes. The Apostle Paul assured believers that Christ would be coming, but that before He comes, an anti-Christ would first appear.

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?...

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness:.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

Jesus said, “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:23-27).

It is obvious from these Scriptures that the Anti-Christ and his minions will viciously oppose those who belong to Christ. The Apostle John tells us that those who do not receive the mark of the Anti-Christ, here styled “the Beast,” will be prohibited from buying and selling. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:16,17). Certainly the mark on the forehead represents worship of the Anti-Christ and his system, and the mark on the hand symbolizes obedience to the Anti-Christ and his dreadful government. It is not hard to imagine that such a mark may have a literal meaning too.

All of orthodox (right thinking), Bible believing Christians agree that these are the signs of Christ’s return. Recent headlines have us wondering if we are about to see a new alignment of nations against the Nation of Israel. Strife in those nations surrounding Israel could easily open the doors to radical Islamic jihadists.

Consider this: Iran is close to obtaining nuclear warheads and has the capability to deliver those warheads to Jerusalem. Syria’s radical leaders have infiltrated Lebanon and are placing thousands of missiles along the northern border of Israel. On the West Bank the Palestinians were given the opportunity to elect a new government and the most radical Hamas party won in a landslide. The fall of President Mubarak in Egypt has opened the door for arms to flow to Hamas through the Sinai and the Suez Canal. Middle East nations that have historically been supportive or tolerant of the West are in the midst of tremendous upheaval. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Ayatollah’s of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-queda, the Taliban, and a host of other Islamic sects are fomenting great turmoil throughout the region.

WHEN SPEAKING OF THE LAST DAYS JESUS ENCOURAGED HIS DISCIPLES: “WHEN THESE THINGS BEGIN TO COME TO PASS, THEN LOOK UP, AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS; FOR YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH!” (Luke 21:28).

Brothers and Sisters, we may very well be at the threshold of our Lord’s Return. Jesus said that the generation that sees the budding of the fig tree would not pass away until all these things are fulfilled. If the return of Israel as a nation is “the budding of the fig tree,” (Matthew 24:32ff) and if a generation is 70 years we should expect our Lord’s return just any time.

This is not the time to get ready. It is the time to be ready!