SIGNALS PRIOR TO CHRIST’S RETURN
By Frank Eiklor and Cecilia Contreras
LESSON 43 (Part 1)
INTRODUCTION
We have just completed the first four lessons in the Book of Revelation. Four more are yet to come in our study of this final book in the Bible that teaches us so many important lessons of life.
Before continuing in Revelation, we want to observe some of the incredible signs that Jesus said would take place before His triumphant return. We will not pretend to know more than others nor to have the answers to mysteries yet to be revealed (such as the identity of the future anti-Christ, the identity of all the nations who will one day invade Israel, the parts Europe and China may play in the final days, etc.).
What we will do is to look carefully at Jesus’ warnings and prophecies that He tied to His return, and some of the events unfolding before our eyes. Only the Father knows the day and the hour of “THE END” of time (Revelation 10:6). But Scripture encourages us not to be ignorant of the times and the seasons that God will reveal to encourage His children to hold tightly to His Word and His will, while holding only lightly to the material things of earth. Let’s take a look at some of the signs now happening in our world. I shall only briefly cover each point and leave it to you (and those you teach) to explore each of these realities more fully.
Signal # 1—THE PHYSICAL REBIRTH OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL
Following Rome’s bloody conquest of Israel (70 A.D.), there was no Jewish nation for some 1900 years. However, God had promised to return His Chosen People to His Chosen Land. Skeptics scoffed for centuries. Yet the doubters died, while God’s promises lived on. In 1948, only three years after the Holocaust, a miracle took place. Israel was restored as a nation, in partial fulfillment of God’s future plan (the acknowledging of Yeshuah as Messiah is yet to come).
Study carefully Ezekiel 37:1-14; the valley of dry bones. I shall only list a few of the verses.
“Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off… . Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD. (Ezekiel 37: 11-14).
Signal # 2—JERUSALEM AGAIN THE UNDIVIDED CAPITAL OF ISRAEL (and the world’s determination to divide the city)
From 70 A.D. until the 20th century, Jerusalem virtually disappeared from human history. It was never the capital of any Arab country and was revered only by religious Jews, some of whom never left their ancient city, choosing poverty and suffering rather than to desert the City of David.
That all changed in the 1948 rebirth of Israel. Even then, the city of Jerusalem was divided between Jewish and Arab armies. Then came 1967 when Nasser of Egypt vowed to erase Israel from the map. The Jews struck first and hard—and took all of Jerusalem in the battles that followed. Gentile rule over Jerusalem was finished!
Will God again allow the city to be divided? No one knows for sure. Jesus is the only solution for “shalom”—“peace”—in the hearts of Jews and Arabs and in the land itself. But there is an amazing verse that Jesus spoke concerning Jerusalem being back in Jewish hands before His second coming to earth.
“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down (trampled on) of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)
Signal # 3—THE DISINTEGRATION OF MORALITY.
Like Rome of old, the Western world is rotting from within. Little children can be prevented from prayer in schools, while their parents are encouraged to give them “health-aiding” drugs at an early age. Marriage is “old-fashioned”. Any and all forms of sex are here or on the way. Abortion is Satan’s fool-proof method of birth control. Lying, cheating, hating, killing—even children suing their parents! It will get worse—as Scripture indicates.
“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…” (2 Timothy 3:1-4)
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, (will go from bad to worse), deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
Signal # 4—UNENDING FAMINES, VIOLENCE, WARS AND PLAGUES
During the “Age of Enlightenment”, so-called brilliant men and women said that by the year 2000 the world would see the end of famines, violence, wars and disease. Technology would triumph. The “God is dead” theory was alive and high-tech would soon be off to the races.
But high tech has hit a wall. It cannot change the hearts of men and thus can only take us to the wrong places at a higher rate of speed. Once again, Jesus’ words are for the wise—and those seeking to be wise by humbling themselves, confessing their sins, and trusting in the living Savior of men.
“And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers (various) places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:6-8)
(TO BE CONTINUED)
