Anti-Semitism has bubbled to the surface of human history once again, like some putrid, acidic, poisonous brew. This is no coincidence, and it’s completely out of proportion to the tiny size of the state of Israel, struggling to survive in the middle of an enormous and growing sea of Islam, a religion averse to Judaism. This phenomenon is perhaps the most significant evidence that the Bible is true, and that Jesus Christ is coming again.
This is a long post – scroll down to subheadings if you want to. At some point – probably the last part of the series – I will share a list of relevant Scripture references. Please forgive me for any ugly ads or gaps added by WordPress.
Jesus Christ said he would come again – the promise of his coming to reign as King of Kings is woven throughout the Bible. However, much of the Christian world has grown tired of any talk of end times, partly because too many Christian leaders and “experts” have made poor attempts at matching current events with signs predicted in the Bible. Do their failures nullify the promise of Christ’s coming? Not at all! The problem is not the promise but the interpretation and even the manufacture of signs.
IT’S OKAY TO BE HEAVENLY MINDED!
Some say we shouldn’t even think about what may happen in the future or about the return of Christ. Here’s Paul’s message for all you who would say that I’m “too heavenly minded”:
“… God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5).
We are made for what is to come… for heaven and the kingdom of God! That’s what the apostle Paul believed and told the church at Corinth. Thinking about it is the most natural thing you can do. I say we should be looking for His coming, because Jesus told his followers to do so. The wise follower and the one who loves Him is looking for his coming:
“What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:37).
I’ve discussed preterist, a-millennial and other positions on the Second Coming in previous posts. Here I want to share my own personal reasons for believing that the time of Christ’s return is near. By “near” I mean within a few decades, or possibly even a few years. Regular readers of mine will know that while I once was a proponent of the pre-Tribulation rapture, I now do not expect the rapture to precede most of the events of end-times prophecy.
ISRAEL
The biggest indicator, in fact the sign of all signs regarding end-times, is the existence and the predicament of the nation and people of Israel today. Events prior to Christ’s return will be centred in that land. Again, half of the Church has no regard for modern day Israel. That’s a huge mistake and a view which trashes God’s will and ability to keep His promises. It may also be an evidence of anti-Semitism. The Church is not Israel, and God keeps His promises despite the shortcomings of those they are made to.
PEACE IN OUR TIME?
Recent moves have been made by President Trump to bring peace to the Middle East. I don’t think he’s so naiive as to believe permanent peace has come: he’s more likely demonstrating the possibilities as he sees them, and making a valiant effort in that direction rather than waiting for the worst to happen. Peace agreements come and go (as this one surely will) but the warnings of Scripture can’t be ignored. In fact, prophecies regarding Israel in end times include talk of peace which will not be lasting:
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 (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Hostility between the children of Abraham has been ongoing for thousands of years. Not a holy nation by any means – any more than any other – God predicted events associated with the nation of Israel shortly before the Second Coming.
ANTISEMITISM
Today there’s widespread and growing hatred for the nation of Israel, especially in Europe where allies fought to defeat Jew-hater Hitler. Left-leaning and even some right-leaning voters are siding with anti-Israel terrorists and extremists of a certain other religion, not knowing the history or the future of the peoples involved. This hatred is predicted in the pages of Scripture. Antisemitism has been common since the nation was removed from its land by Roman legions in the first century, and even before that. Today’s hatred of Israel, including resentment of the nation for defending its tiny borders is predicted as far back as the book of Deuteronomy: 3400 years ago. Warnings are woven into the fabric of the Old and New Testaments.
Hostility will eventually culminate in a multi-national attack on the land and especially on Jerusalem – according to several Bible passages- ending in the battle of Armageddon. The nations now aligned against Israel are identified by their ancient names in books such as Ezekiel. The opposition to Israel’s existence and success is greatly out of proportion to its tiny size. Currently I believe the Lord is helping Israel by the hand of President Trump and the United States, but once the other side of politics gains the upper hand again, that support will disappear and Israel will be almost alone against the world. Then the Lord will stand up as Israel’s deliverer, in order to uphold His own name and to fulfill His promises. Stand against Israel and you are standing against God, and you will cannot win!
WHY ISRAEL?
Why should God care about little Israel, and why should Israel be so central to Bible prophecy? This is a question asked by many, and the answer is multi-faceted. If God had chosen China people would be asking “Why China”? Part of the answer is that God chose the genealogical line to his son to manifest through that nation. Another reason is that the land of Israel is at the geographical centre of the world and central to many profound historical movements.
ALIYAH
The nation of Israel was reborn in 1948 after nineteen hundred years of exile. Since then Jews around the world have been moving back to their ancient homeland. You can search for the numbers taking part in “Aliyah”. Anti-Semitism is fuelling the return. This mass return is in fulfillment of several prophecies, and contrary to the views of some Christian commentators, the spiritual renewal of Israel does not precede the physical renewal, according to Scripture.
A PERIOD OF GROWTH
God also foretold that the newly reborn Israel would quickly become prosperous and increase greatly in population: features actualized in the renewal of Israel over recent decades. Once in the land and prospering, the invasion predicted in Ezekiel’s book will come. An increase in prosperity and population necessarily takes decades: the only question is how many? God says through Ezekiel that the world powers which will invade the new land of Israel from the north will know that they are invading a newly reborn nation:
“You will say… “I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land” (Ezekiel 38:12).
It seems to me therefore that the time period from 1948 to Ezekiel’s prophecy cannot be centuries, or the invaders would not be thinking these thoughts. However, I’m not setting any dates!
FIREPOT IN A WOODPILE
Many other end-times prophecies concern the nation of Israel. Nations predicted in Scripture two and three thousand years ago to be their enemies in last days events are their enemies now. The Bible foretells a world-wide hatred for the nation, almost a reality now – an inconceivable “coincidence” for such a tiny nation if that’s what it is. Anti-Semitism is a reality even in the nations which fought Hitler. Zechariah speaks of Jews fighting off the many enemies surrounding them as though Isreal were a “firepot in a woodpile”. We could easily apply this prophecy to the recent war between Israel and Iran’s proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen. They all got much more than they bargained for when they attempted to decimate Israel. The ultimate invasion will receive the ultimate defeat at the hands of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This is Armageddon.
JERUSALEM
The central issue as stated in Scripture – the city of Jerusalem – is claimed now by hard-line Muslims who say that it always did belong to them. They even attempt to deny the history of Israel. Zechariah predicts the division of Jerusalem shortly before the coming of the Messiah. The “world community” outside of Donald Trump’s MAGA now demands that Jerusalem and the land of Israel be divided and most of it given over to its enemies. This would make the defense of Israel impossible in human terms. Such issues in relation to Scripture comprise an incredible coincidence if that’s what you think it is. I don’t.
CONFUSING SIGNALS
Some of the prophecies regarding Israel, while being surprisingly relevant to today, seem to give conflicting warnings and signals. I think this is because their fulfillment is separated by time. For example, God predicts through Zechariah that Israel will valiantly and successfully defend itself against those attempting to destroy the nation (chapter 12). Just two chapters later God predicts an apparent defeat, in which Jerusalem will be captured and divided. In both cases, the Lord appears as the deliverer of Israel.
In another prophecy of Ezekiel, the lead-up to the Day of the Lord sees Israel’s invaders taking Israel by surprise, but being destroyed by God on the mountains of Israel. Exactly how these events relate to each other may only be known at the time and not before. They are likely a string of events over a number of years or months. People alive in the time of Jesus were confused because they expected prophecies in their Scriptures to all happen in one go in order to be valid, when in fact their fulfillment happened in stages. A prime example was Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem. God intentionally veils some prophecies so that they are only completely understood when their ultimate fulfillment comes. This is His way of letting us know that He knows the end from the beginning.
NO THIRD TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
The whole idea of a third Jewish temple being built in Jerusalem so that the “abomination of desolation” which Daniel, Jesus and Paul spoke of can occur, has been a problem for me in my own understanding of future events. How would the Muslim world ever allow it to happen? Even Isreal’s own government will not let it happen. God is indeed able to make it happen, but I think there’s an alternative answer.
Simply stated, I’ve come to the conclusion that while the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD was a terrible time as Jesus predicted in his Olivet Discourse, and it’s that likely Roman soldiers desecrated and mocked the sacrifices and the temple as they destroyed them both, the prophecy of abomination was only partially fulfilled at that time. The abomination of desolation occurred at least in part. However, and this is something commonly overlooked: God being a lover of types, it was not fulfilled in its ultimate sense.
Revelation speaks of earth-shaking events which have not yet happened, involving the man we call “Antichrist”. These events have yet to unfold. During Jesus’ Olivet Discourse he said that Antichrist would be “standing in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15). I’ve gone into the subject of Antichrist “sitting” or “standing” at the temple before. Paul has him sitting, Jesus has him standing. Daniel has him merely setting up the abomination. The intent is probably simply to show that he will be there, in that location. Either way, were you to go to the temple mount now where a Muslim holy site has been standing since the sixth century, not only would you have to be careful of your actions because of its importance to Islam, but the Jews would strongly oppose you potentially walking where the Holy Place of their own temple may have been, if that’s even possible. The site is still holy to them too.
Imagine then, a future man of great influence and power standing on that revered mount and claiming to be from God or being God himself. Imagine an idol being set up there also. Would not this be the ultimate fulfillment and completion of the prophecy? He would not have to be inside a rebuilt temple, but only in that revered place, on that sacred spot. Sacrifices were stopped in the first century as Daniel states, but we also know that sometimes the prophecies of God are “strung out” over time: they are not necessarily completed on one day or in one event. The temple was destroyed in the first century, but that didn’t stop the appearance of Antichrist in that very spot at some time in the future.
The idea that we will build a third temple on the site of today’s Islamic Dome of the Rock is strained to say the least: it would likely precipitate World War Three. And I don’t believe the claims of some that the temple should be in a different location. However, were a Muslim leader with grand schemes and growing power stand there and make great claims, perhaps claiming to be the Islamic Messiah or the twelfth Imam which their eschatology predicts, Daniel’s prophecy would be fulfilled to the nth degree.
THANKS FOR READING
Thank you for reading this far. Comments are welcome. If you have a contrary view please provide Bible quotes to back it up. Come back for the second part of the article
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 