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Why Do We Think We Are Living in the End Time?

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Why Do We Think We Are Living in the End Time?

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Why Do We Think We Are Living in the End Time?

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An explanation of why we as a church believe our generation is witnessing the unfolding of end-time prophetic events, including a worldwide persecution, invasion of Jerusalem, and a time of great distress never experienced in history.

Sermon Notes

Why Do We Think We Could Be Living In The End Time?

Does knowing prophecy make you a more loving person or just a smarty pants? Why are the old people in the church talking about Europe and Israel, what’s this thing I keep hearing about called the tribulation? Why are we always talking about how bad the world is getting? Or, as a teenager I know and love would say… “why do you even care about stuff like that”?

 Matt 24:1-3 The Million Dollar Question? When & what are the signs? Believers want to know

(Show Slide 1) The answer is spelled out in a step by step manner in Jesus own words – it’s called the Olivet Prophecy, which simply means He delivered it while sitting on the Mount of Olives (real place – I’ve been there walking around etc).

Jesus tells about false teachers, wars, famines, natural disasters, persecution, more false teachers,  reaching the world with the gospel, specific events in Jerusalem, false prophets, signs in the sky, the blowing of a trumpet… and then His return.

Wars Famine and Natural Disaster

Matt 24:4-8 – specifically said these would NOT be signs of the end time.

Jesus knew it would be a long interval of time before His return (vs 48 & other parables)

These are events (war famine disaster) that would happen throughout the intervening years

The time of the end would also include these sort of events on a much larger scale, but wars, famines, natural disasters were not something unique to the period of the end time. So, it was/is important not to assume the wars/famines etc. of your own generation are themselves signs of the end times unfolding.

Of course, this is exactly what people have done over the ages. In so doing they sow the seeds of doubt when they get everybody all fired up and…  the end does not come. That is because they are not considering the other specific conditions of the end time prophecies that must be met… and as we shall see met all at the same time.

Discuss birth pains analogy – we interpret that to mean they steadily intensify as time goes on. BUT that in and of itself could never provide any prophetic detail. Cuz you never would know on the continuum where you are on the scale of intensity. Ex: WW1 the war to end all wars. Cyclical nature of weather etc

Note: these parallel the first four seals of Revelation - the horsemen of the apocalypse

Persecution of God’s Faithful

Matt 24: 9-14 – keywords…. THEN –  AT THAT TIME – THE END give us the pointers that now we are talking about a specific event and time. Persecution upon the church…

Question: there have been persecutions before so how is persecution any more a sign of the end time than some new war, an incidence of famine or a particularly bad earthquake?

Answer: because this persecution will happen on a worldwide scale… “you will be hated by ALL NATIONS” because of me… this has not yet happened and was not really feasible in the past.

  1. Didn’t have faithful believers all over the world
  2. There was always someplace to run away and hide

Past persecutions have been local and somewhat periodic. Historically the church has been in hiding and on the fringes and frontiers. Refer to Map of where the church has hidden in the past. But during the persecution at the end, there will be no more places left to hide.

NSA tracking satellites etc. Your cell phone is a GPS tracking device.

However, preaching of the Gospel to the whole world. Now possible in a way that could not previously have been imagined… internet access means the truth of God is available to everyone, anywhere, anytime. When in the past could you have said that was true? This is the task appointed to the church, it will be fulfilled before the final worldwide persecution of the church at the end time. Precondition

Now the Action Begins

Matt 24:15-22 – Jesus refers us back to a previous prophet Daniel “click this link for further details” and that link is Abomination that causes desolation. (Show Slide 3)

  • Dan 9:27 – the tail end of the 70 weeks prophecy
  • Dan 11:31(Show Slide 4) King of the north overruns Jerusalem + persecutes verse 33-35
  • Verse 36-39 – tell us what the king of the North is like, blasphemous, proud of military might
  • Verse 40 – backstory on the events that precipitate the invasion of Jerusalem (attack from the king of the south)

Key Points Regarding the Invasion of Jerusalem:

  • Outlaws and stops some form of daily sacrifice being made there/sets up something else in its place that is an abomination
  • Invasion is concurrent with the persecution
  • Is part of a time of distress that would be unequaled in human history
  • Only for a specific time period Dan 12:5-7 Jerusalem will be trampled by the nations for 3 ½ years
  • (Show Slide 5)

1260 day period is the key which draws these specific events of end-time prophecy together

  • Dan 12: 7 Jerusalem trampled by the nations for 3 ½ years (links back to Matt 24)
  • Revelation 11:1-3 reiteration of the same prophecy
  • Revelation 12:6 duration of persecution

OK, Jerusalem has been invaded, burnt down, rebuilt, re-conquered a few times since Jesus spoke to the disciples that day on the mount of olives but the end did not come… So is the prophecy false?

Past Occurrences Were Missing Other Essential Requirements

None of these invasions happened simultaneously or at the same time as the other events and conditions that have been prophesied to occur in that same short span of 1,260 days. Remember, we have three very important events all happening or overlapping in the same span of 3 ½ years. They must happen simultaneously to fulfill prophecy.

  1. A worldwide persecution of the church begins
  2. A great northern power invades the middle east focused on Jerusalem
  3. The greatest time of distress to have occurred in all man’s history that threatens to leave no human beings alive on the planet

Question: Are these events more likely to occur now than they were 100 years ago? 1,000 years ago?

1.  Invasion of Jerusalem

Phrases like “trampled by the Gentiles” indicates the city will be under the control of Jews when it is invaded… Only until recently has a Jewish state re-established control of Jerusalem. This was not true from the time Jesus spoke until 1948 when the Jewish state was re-established in Israel and 1967 when they gained control of the city of Jerusalem. (explain how unprecedented this is, and how recent)

The prophecies speak of this invading king desecrating the temple area, stopping some form of daily sacrifice that will be set up and setting up some type of abomination. The temple was demolished by Rome 40 years after Jesus death.

To-date there has been no restoration of the temple area as a place of sacrifice so the circumstances are not fully in place for a great northern king to fulfill this prophecy. This is why you will hear people interested in prophecy get very excited about events surrounding the temple mount (recent BT show).

(show map 1) Where is Jerusalem?

(show map 2)  We do not yet have an obvious King/power of the north. Other prophecies indicate that the king of the north is the leader of a coalition of nations… so we believe all these nations are in play (indicate map) as they are currently attempting to form such a coalition although having a great deal of difficulty. This is why our eyes are on the areas north of Israel – especially political events in Europe.

2.Persecution (this is often referred to in “church speak” as the TRIBULATION)

Previously I mentioned a few points about how persecution on a worldwide scale now seems a lot more possible than it did in the near past. With that in mind keep your eyes and ears open. Jews leaving Europe, circumcision illegal, Sabbath keeping ties us to them, parts of scripture illegal to teach.

This one would be very difficult to clearly call as a sign of the end time BUT I believe we will know it when it happens especially if at the same time as the other key events that must come to pass. The preaching of the Gospel to the world is bound together with this persecution in that I don’t see us ever giving up preaching the truth until someone forcibly stops us.

3.Time of Great Distress

Other pieces of the puzzle have occurred in the past, there have been kings of the north, invasions of the middle-east but never a time when all the pieces were in place together at the same time. Another important missing element was a time of distress unequaled in human history which God had to stop before all human life on the planet was dead. We commonly turn to Matt 24: 12 but it is first mentioned in Daniel 12:1 as part of what goes down during that 3 ½ year period mentioned in verse 7.

In past centuries humanity did not possess the means to destroy all human life. Now we do - nuclear weapons, biological/chemical warfare, robotics, drones etc. etc. Note: the population explosion or those past several decades makes it much easier to imagine a 200,000,000 man army. (off topic)

This amazing and recently developed capacity for destruction appears to be a piece of the puzzle that is in place in preparation for the fulfillment of the end time. But it is not enough…  we still need the other pieces.

Can Anyone Really Ever Understand Prophecy?

Dan 12:6-9 the signs of the end times will be opened and unsealed at the time of the end… meaning, the people living in those days will be able to see and understand the prophecies in a way that people in the past could not. WHY?

The greater Church sees this opening of understanding as a commission to tell or you could say warn people of what lays ahead so that they might stop. listen, think soberly about their lives, and repent. BT, Good News, Website, booklets etc. (Caveat – only part of a larger commission)

What about you? What’s the point of knowing this stuff…

So you don’t get misled (if you happen to be alive at the time of the end)

KNOWING there is a persecution to come could help you get through it. Think about it, it’s going to be scary, threatening, dangerous… events could lead you to think “God’s lost control of the situation… I need to rethink my survival strategy, maybe I should go along with everyone else…”

John 14:29 – telling them in advance to help prepare them to get through doubt etc.

Prophecy and its fulfillment is about belief over doubt and affirmation of God’s COMPLETE AUTHORITY over all things. Luke 21:28 & 36, Zeph 2:3, Rev 12:13-17, Rev 3:10, I Thess 5:4-11

II Peter 1:19

Mark 13:32-37 tells them 3 times BE ON GUARD, KEEP WATCH, WATCH