SIGNS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COMING BACK TO EARTH
VERY SOON
Jesus Himself made it crystal clear that we cannot know the date of His return. He stated in Matthew 24:36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
But, the Bible makes it equally clear that those who have the Holy Spirit living in them — that is, those who believe in Jesus as Savior — can understand the nature of the times that mark His return "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6). And the time and season of the Lord's return is now! We are coming to the end of one age and the beginning of the age of Jesus' glorious reign right here on earth.
The Second Coming of Jesus is in two stages. First, He will come for His Bride (the Saved). This is called the RAPTURE, and then Seven years later he will come with His Bride. This is called the REVELATION.
The Scriptures warn us Jesus, the promised
Messiah, will return to the earth. . . twice:
First, "as
a thief in the night" . . . .
for those who waited in faith. (1 Thess. 5;2)
Second, "every
eye shall see him" . . .
.with those who waited in faith (Rev. 1:7)
The signs that tell us that He is coming soon all point to the second "every eye shall see Him." There are no prophecies that are not fulfilled that are preventing Him from coming the First, "As a thief in the night." All signs given in the New Testament point to the Second, "Every eye shall see Him."
Signs are God's Method of Warning. God is alerting believers of the soon return of His Son through what are called "signs of the times." These are prophecies concerning world events that we are told to watch for, prophecies that will identify the "time and season" of the Lord's return.
The Bible is full of these signs. There are
about 500 prophecies in the Old Testament that relate to the Second Coming of
the Messiah. In the New Testament, one out of every 25 verses is concerned with
the return of Jesus. In fact, there
are so many signs that it is difficult to grasp all of them. The best way I have
found to do this is to put them in categories:
Signs that Show How to Know
What does God reveal in the Bible that shows us that now is the season of
the Lord's return? There are nearly 500 prophecies in the Old Testament and in
the New Testament 1 in every 25 verses that describe Jesus' Second Coming.
Included in these prophecies God gives us an abundance of signs to be looking
out for to know how soon Jesus' return will be.
Signs of Society
What are these signs? Well, one of the categories of signs to be looking out for
pertains to the nature of Society. In Matthew 24:37 Jesus says that His coming "But
as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
What the Lord is saying here is, "I'm
going to come back in a time when the earth is in as bad a shape as it was in
the days of Noah." In other words, world society will go full
circle and return to being as evil as it was in those days.
Genesis 6 describes the days of Noah when mankind's "minds were focused upon evil." In the days of Noah, immorality and violence were everywhere. The Apostle Paul spells it out in detail "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), Correct me if I am wrong but isn't that the condition of society today"
Signs of Technology
Another category of end-time signs pertains to the amazing advancements in
Technology. Daniel 12:4 tells us there would be an explosion of knowledge and an
increase in the rapidity of transportation at the end of this age. "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." The
Bible describes scenarios that depend on mass communication, satellite
television, the Internet, computer technology and medical advances that have
become a reality only in our day and time.
I believe Jesus foretold of nuclear weapons in Matt. 24:29 when He said: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:"
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:" (Revelation 6:15, 16). Think how amazing it is that in the 20th Century people began on horseback and ended in a rocket.
Signs in World Politics
Yet another category of signs pertains to World Politics. The Bible prophesies a
very specific end time configuration of nations. Israel
is pictured as a nation once more that is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors
intent on its destruction. This, of course, has been the situation in the Middle
East since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May of 1948 (Ezekiel
35:1-36:7; 37:21-22).
Daniel prophesied that the Roman Empire would be revived. This began with the formation of the European Union (Daniel 2:36-41). The Bible prophesies a great power located in the "remote parts of the north." This nation will menace Israel in the end times and will ultimately lead an invasion of Israel together with specified allies, all of which are modern day Muslim states (Ezekiel 38:1-39:16). Russia and its Muslim allies fit this description precisely.
Spiritual Signs
More evidence that Jesus will soon return is that at the end of this age
Spiritual signs will abound. Three times
in Matthew 24 Jesus warns that the end of this age will see many false prophets
claiming to be Christ with a resulting rise in cult followings, misleading many
people away from the true teachings of the Bible.
Satanism in the form of witchcraft, New Age, and the occult were prophesied to become mainstream, and so they have. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:1 that "the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons."
And, many churches will become apostate, denying Jesus and ignoring His moral law. Paul writes about those who profess to being Christian in 2 Timothy 4:3-4; "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
But, the signs are not all bad news. We are told that there will be some very positive spiritual signs in these end times. For instance, Jesus said that the Good News of salvation will spread throughout the world. He said, "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). There also will be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a greater interest in Bible prophecy and understanding of it (Matthew 24:14; Joel 2; Daniel 12).
Signs of Nature
As a result of all this turning away from God, God will increase the signs of
Nature. Natural disasters of every type increasing greatly in frequency and
intensity like "birth pains" are God's way of calling
people to repent and return to a loving relationship with Him (Matthew 24:8).
Jesus stated in Luke 21:11 "And
great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and
fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."
Signs Concerning Israel
The prophetic signs that relate to Israel, though, are the most important of all
because the Jews are God's prophetic time clock. What this means is that the
Scriptures often tie a prophesied future event with something that will happen
directly to the Jews.
An example can be found in Matthew 24 where Jesus prophesied that the re-establishment of the nation of Israel would be an end time sign. Using the fig tree as a symbol of Israel, He prophesied that when the fig tree re-blossoms, the generation that sees that happen will be the one that will witness His return. Well, the fig tree re-blossomed on May 14, 1948 when the nation of Israel was re-established, making our generation the one that will witness the Lord's return.
Jesus gave a similar prophecy about the city of Jerusalem. In Luke 21:24 He prophesied that the Jews would be dispersed from Jerusalem and be led captive among the nations. He then said to watch for their return to Jerusalem because, when they return, it will mark the season of His return.
In fulfillment of this prophecy, the Jews were dispersed from Jerusalem in 70 AD, and they returned in June of 1967, marking this day and time as the season of the Lord's return (Luke 21; Zechariah 8:4-8).
There are other prophecies concerning Israel that mark the end times when Jesus will return. One is found in Isaiah 35 where we are told that the decimated and barren land of Israel will flourish once again. In fulfillment of this prophecy, early in the 20th Century the Jewish settlers began to reclaim the land. Today, Israel has become the breadbasket of the Middle East.
Zechariah 12 tells us that Israel will become a military powerhouse in the end times, and today, the tiny nation of Israel is considered by military experts to have the fourth most powerful military force in the world.
Another key prophetic sign related to Israel in the end times is the one whose fulfillment we are witnessing today — the focusing of world politics upon the nation of Israel (Zechariah 12:2-3). All the nations of the world, including the United States, are coming against Israel over the issue of who controls the city of Jerusalem.
Truly, Israel's return as a nation almost 1900 years later is a miracle, proof positive that the Bible is the Word of God and that the prophecies in it have come true in this generation.
The Nature of Christ's Return
So why is God giving us all these signs to let us know about Jesus' soon return?
Well, the key lies in why He is returning. Jesus is returning to deal with
rebellion — sin — before setting up His Kingdom on earth. It is God's
merciful and loving nature to let us know beforehand when He comes in justice
and judgment to give us a chance to repent. 2 Peter 3:9 explains, "The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance."
God deals with sin in one of two ways — either in grace or in wrath. A person
is under either the grace of God or the wrath of God. There is no third option.
To be under the grace of God is a glorious thing. It means you have the promise
that one day soon Jesus will appear and take you out of this world in an event
called the "Rapture" before He deals wrathfully with
rebellion (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
The Bible promises over and over that those who have accepted Jesus as Savior during this age will be delivered from God's wrath. Romans 5:9 says; "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."
1 Thessalonians 1:10 states "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." The promise is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:9; "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"
But, if you're under God's wrath because you haven't ask for forgiveness of your sins and accepted Jesus as your Savior, you will stay behind and experience a wrath unlike anything you can even imagine. This will happen during what the Bible calls "The Tribulation" — seven years when the wrath of man, the wrath of Satan, and the wrath of God will be let loose upon this earth. For seven terrible and terrifying years the Earth will be devastated and billions of people will be annihilated before Jesus' Second Coming.
God is a God of love. Jesus says in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." But, God is also a God of justice. The Bible says in John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." It is God's very nature to love, but His love demands that evil be dealt with in justice.
The Bible clearly teaches that God never pours out His wrath without warning for He is a just and loving God who does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). That is why He has provided so many signs to alert us to the fact that we are living on the threshold of the Tribulation and the soon return of Jesus Christ.
Decide
Where do you stand? Are you under God's wrath because you haven't accepted His
free gift of salvation, or are you under God's grace because you have? Will you
be one of those raptured before God's wrath, or will you suffer in it? Can you
truly say that you are ready for Jesus' return?
You have a decision to make. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior, then heed Mark 1:25. "The time has come...the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" Believe in Jesus, God's Son, and have everlasting life.
If you have accepted Jesus as Savior, your sins have been forgiven and you can look forward with confidence to that glorious day when Jesus will appear in the heavens. Make sure in these last days that Jesus is also Lord of every area of your life, so that when He comes He will find you ready.
"Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (Mark 13:35-37)