Understanding the End of Days in Which We Live Researched by Pastor Gary Boyd
I believe many people fail to see today we are living in the last days of a corrupt world. The planet simply cannot sustain the destruction going on as the seas become polluted with radiation from Fukushima, erratic & diverse explosions of volcanoes worldwide centered in the ring of fire, unprecedented flooding from out of control storm systems continually getting worse, genocide that makes no sense, and a horrible disrespect for life itself much like the occurrences that happened before World War 2 in Nazi Germany. This article explains what Jesus said about these end of days, when he would return, how he would set the world back on a righteous course, what would be the result, who would be affected by his coming, and where we are headed from here. First we must look back into the past to see what the future holds. Sins of Israel In 1 Corinthians 10:6, Paul says that the sins of the Israelites in the wilderness happened as an “example” that we might not follow in their footsteps. On the other hand, we find many positive models of faith in the Old Testament we can follow such as some men from the tribe of Issachar. In 1 Chronicles 12:32 we read this about them, “Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.” What did they understand? They knew it was time to make David king over all of Israel, not just Judah. They understood the times in which they lived. The Pharisees, during the time of Jesus, lacked such insight. In Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus scolded them for not recognizing Him as their long-awaited Messiah. They correctly predicted the weather based on signs in the sky, but they missed all the signs identifying Jesus as the promised One of Israel. They failed to understand the times in which they lived. What about us today? Do we understand the times in which we live?
There are eight times more references regarding Jesus’ return to earth than for His first appearance. In Matthew 24, Jesus repeatedly instructs us to be watching and ready for His return. He said this after providing many signs of His return so we would know when that time was drawing near. In spite of this, many believers are asleep today. They hear no urgency regarding Jesus’ return in their churches for they have fallen asleep. Instead, many pastors downplay any imminence regarding Jesus’ appearing. They tell us that Jesus will someday bring down heaven to us, but not anytime soon. Jesus’ return is a far distant event, they tell us, without any relevance for our current lives. Ths should tell you right away they know not the times they are living. This is NOT how the early church regarded Jesus’ appearing. Early Believers Eagerly Awaited Jesus’ Appearing If there is one thing that the Lord has impressed upon me during the past year, it’s that the apostles instilled an eager anticipation of Jesus’ return in the hearts of early believers. In 1 Corinthians 1:7 Paul said this, “. . . as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The apostle repeated this same thought in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The sense in both verses is not just that of simply waiting, but of an eager anticipation of Jesus’ return for them. The believers in Corinth and Philippi deeply longed for Jesus’ appearing. They watched for it with great desire as well as fervent expectation.
We also see this same sentiment among the Thessalonian believers. Turning to Jesus, away from their idolatry, led to their eager awaiting of His return (see 1 Thess. 1:8-10). In Titus 2:13, Paul said that the result of turning to Christ signified, among other things, “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” For these early followers of Christ, believing the Gospel was synonymous with waiting and watching for Jesus’ appearance. A GEICO commercial portrays a spy fleeing from both armed men and a black helicopter. His phone rings as his adversaries appear ready to capture him. Thinking the call is from those coming to rescue him he answers the phone shouting, “Where are you?” We then see and hear his mom calmly talking about squirrels in the attic after which the narrator says, “If you’re a mom, you call at the worst time. It’s what you do.” Reflecting on what Paul said in the verses quoted above, we might expect him to say something similar: “If you believe the Gospel, you live in expectancy of Jesus’ return. It’s what you do.” Passage after passage in the New Testament points to Jesus’ appearing as our immediate expectation. New Testament believers watched for and anticipated the appearing of Jesus as something that could happen at any moment.
The Early Church Many object to the idea of such imminency reasoning that if this was the expectation of New Testament believers, why did no one in the early church, after the time of the apostles, believe this? Church history tells us a much different story than what many might expect. The Didache, which means “teaching” in the Greek, is a brief document from the early decades of the church that provides insight into its beliefs regarding Jesus’ return or the rapture, as we call it today. Scholars believe the Didache originates
from as early as AD 70, although it likely was not formally compiled until around AD 300. Chapter 16 of this short document contains instructions regard watching for the coming of the Lord, “Watch for your life’s sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come.” Reflecting on Jesus’ command in Matthew 24, the Didache reflects the same imminency regarding the Lord’s appearing that we see in throughout the New Testament. The church, well into the fourth century AD, remained almost uniformly premillennial. The early church looked for Jesus to return, setup His kingdom, and reign for 1,000 years. Prominent early church fathers such as Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian strongly advocated the literal interpretation of Revelation 19-20. They uniformly proclaimed their belief in Jesus’ return to reign upon the earth! Irenaeus, writing late in the second century AD envisioned the Lord coming for His church just as Paul promised in 1 Thessalonians 4. Irenaeus, a prominent early church father, believed Jesus would return for His church before a period of tribulation upon the earth. In his famous book Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 29, he said this, “And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, ‘There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be.’” Using the same terminology as Paul did in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Irenaeus said Jesus would take believers out of this world before a time of great tribulation upon the earth. Irenaeus, writing late in the second century AD envisioned the Lord coming for His church just as Paul promised in 1 Thessalonians 4. This would happen, according to Irenaeus, before a time of tribulation on the earth. Another reference to the immanency of Jesus’ return comes from a most interesting person in church history known as Ephraem the Syrian (also known as
Saint Ephraim of Edessa). Born in AD 306, he became a monk, a poet, a writer of hymns, and a preacher. Some believe he attended the Council of Nicea in AD 325. In his sermon entitled On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World, Ephraim clearly referred to the Lord coming for believers before the day of the Lord, before the tribulation. As such, he strongly encouraged believers to be ready for the soon appearing of Jesus to take His church out of this world after which the world would be engulfed in a time of great turmoil and suffering. The belief in the imminency of Jesus’ return for His church did not end with the apostles. It carried over into the early centuries of the church. As late as the fourth century AD, we find an example of someone warning believers to be ready for Jesus’ return ahead of a period of tribulation upon the earth.
What Are the Signs Today? Fine, you may be saying, but how does that relate to us today? Is there any evidence Jesus is coming soon? After two thousand years of waiting, should we still be expecting Him to appear at any moment? YES! (I’m so glad you asked!) There are many, many signs we are living in the days leading up to the Great Tribulation and hence to Jesus’ return for us just prior to that, known as the rapture. In Matthew 24:15, Jesus repeated Daniel’s prophecy that a coming world leader, the antichrist, would defile the temple in Jerusalem during a time of tribulation
upon the earth. Irenaeus, 150 years later, also wrote about how the antichrist would someday perform such an abomination in the temple. Although the Jews currently have no temple, a group known as the Temple Institute is busily preparing for its construction. The architectural designs are complete as are many of the furnishings for the Third Temple. The altar is ready for sacrifices and if you are a Levite, you can attend a special school to train for serving as a priest in the new temple. The signs Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:4-14 are coming true today as never before in human history. We live in amazing times!!! The signs Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:4-14 are coming true today as never before in human history. Indicators of Jesus’ return to earth at the end of the tribulation abound today. Earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, famines, and persecution of believers already occur with increasing frequency and intensity and will continue to do so all through the tribulation. Just like birth pangs, these signs are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a great war against Israel in the later days. Remarkably, we see the nations lining up exactly and precisely as predicted in these chapters. The nations prophesied to come against Israel have now joined forces as never before in history. The countries that remain on the sidelines during this conflict, including Saudi Arabia, are now aligning with Israel, at least to some degree. Each day, we see increased tensions between Israel and the leaders of this coalition: Russian, Iran, and Turkey. The discoveries of rich deposits of natural gas and oil in Israel and especially the Golan Heights, that Israel is occupying, add to the intrigue and provide much motivation for these countries to someday attack Israel. As Amir Tsarfati recently stated, today we see the history being written that will lead up to the great conflict of Ezekiel 38-39. First there will be a a short protracted war discussed in Psalm 83 that will win back Israel’s Promised Land. In 1948 Israel became a nation again, in 1967 Israel recaptured Jerusalem making it her capital, now in 2017 according to Psalm 83 she will capture the entire
Promised Land putting it under her control and taking the spoils of war, the oil and the gas.
The Bible also predicts that a one world government and one world religion will engulf the world during the tribulation. The foundations for both these realities are carefully being laid so that once the church is gone, they can quickly be put in place. Not since the time of the Roman Empire has there been such an emphasis on unifying the planet under a one world order. With so many indicators of the approaching tribulation abounding today, why do so many preachers push Jesus’ appearing to the far distant future? Why do so few believers recognize the signs of Jesus’ soon imminent return? Why do so few really understand the times in which we live?
I am often perplexed myself by these questions. There is however further knowledge. It’s in the Bible It's in the Bible, II Peter 3:3-4, TLB. "First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of, and laugh at the truth. This will be their line of argument: ‘So Jesus promised to come back, did He? Then where is He? He'll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation.'"
Wars and conflicts are signs of the times. It's in the Bible, Mark 13:7-8, NKJV. "But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows." Did Jesus say when the end would come? It's in the Bible, Matthew 24:14, NIV. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
Men posing as Jesus will try to deceive people in the last days. It's in the Bible, Matthew 24:23-24, NIV. "At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!' or ‘There He is!' do not believe it. For false Christ's and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible."
There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. It's in the Bible, Matthew 24:2930, NIV. "Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the
heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory."
What moral conditions will be characteristic of society in the last days? It's in the Bible, II Timothy 3:1-5, NIV. "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."
An increase in knowledge and travel is a sign of the last days. It's in the Bible, Daniel 12:4, TLB. "But Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal it up so that it will not be understood until the end times, when travel and education shall be vastly increased!"
What other signs of the last days does the Bible mention? It's in the Bible, Luke 21:25-26, NIV. "There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken."
Talk of peace and safety are a sign of the last days. It's in the Bible, I Thessalonians 5:2-3, NIV. "For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,' destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."
The coming of the Antichrist is a sign of the end. It's in the Bible, I John 2:18, TLB. "Dear children, this world's last hour has come. You have heard about the Antichrist who is coming—the one who is against Christ—and already many such persons have appeared. This makes us all the more certain that the end of the world is near." What are people to do when they see these things taking place? It's in the Bible, Matthew 24:42-44, TLB. "So be prepared, for you don't know what day your Lord is coming. Just as a man can prevent trouble from thieves by keeping watch for them, so you can avoid trouble by always being ready for My unannounced return."
Conclusion
The signs of the times are indeed upon us. World War is raising its ugly head again after seventy seven years of so called peace. With the planet being exhausted of her resources soon water and the very air we breathe will become precious commodities. Seven billion living on the earth will soon be manipulated into horrifying circumstances. Spiritual warfare has sprung up everywhere. The True Church lives in a battlefield contending with the world, the flesh, and the devil. Today you must trust God to deliver you according to his promise to escort you through the doors of death into eternity by being changed into the eternal state at the coming rapture. You will be processed into the likeness of Christ himself. This is the ultimate meaning of being born again; alongside Christ it is the responsibility undertaken by the third member of the Trinity who holds the power of death and hades, let the spirit be your helper in your spiritual processing. If you truly love Christ he will save you out of the horror to come. May God bless all who read this. Maranatha……………..