HOW WE CAN KNOW THESE ARE THE LAST TIMES
Are we living in the last days? Is this the last generation before the return of Jesus Christ? Can we know? Does it matter?
Every generation thought that they might be the people who would see the return of Jesus Christ. Even the disciples and the early church expected to see His return. Through the years many people have set forth teachings proving beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly when the Lord would return. They have all been wrong. Church history is littered with tales of people who made precise predictions, set specific dates, and sat waiting in breathless expectancy for their Lord’s return. Recently I even saw an ad on a Christian site promoting a tour to Israel on a specific future date so that the fortunate folks on the tour could be next to the Mount of Olives in a front row seat to watch the action unfold.
Obviously one generation will see Jesus’ return. Can we know what generation that will be? Why were all the previous generations wrong? How can we know that we are right in making the statement that we are officially in the end time. We will look at three specific signs that are being fulfilled in this generation that were never fulfilled in any previous generation, nor could they be.
I believe that we are seeing Scripture fulfilled before our eyes, and that we can know that we are living in the final days before the return of the Lord. The Bible clearly teaches that no one knows the day or the hour and it is foolish to attempt to set dates that precisely. Yet Jesus gave many indicators to watch for and said that we would be able to read the signs of the times. He advised us to watch and wait for His return. But at the same time, he admonished that He would return in a time people were not expecting him (Matthew 24:44). How could that be?
As to the day and hour no one knows that except the Father, but there are many reasons to believe that these are the days.
Why don’t we hear more about that, and why don’t more Christians act like they are aware of it, much less concerned? I believe there are several explanations for that. People look at all the evil abounding around them and say that these are the last days, but when pressed they retreat. They just have a vague sense that it must be since the world seems to be careening increasingly out of control.
The primary reason people do not see the times we are living in is it does not fit their doctrine. Sometimes people are more interested in defending their doctrine than they are in considering whether or not that doctrine is correct.
The two leading viewpoints in end time doctrines today are amillennialism and dispensational (pretribulational) premillennialism. I am not going to fully detail all the beliefs of these two positions or any other. There is a wealth of information available that any interested person can check out for themselves. I am not trying to step on any doctrinal toes. I have read extensively on end time scenarios. I have read premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial, pretribulational, posttribulational, midtribulational, dominion and preterist viewpoints, and variations of each, all proved without a shadow of a doubt from the Scriptures and all written by people who love the Lord and felt they were doing His will in expounding on their viewpoints. Yet they cannot all be right. At best only one can be entirely correct. In fact perhaps none of them are precisely correct.
Proponents of the two most prevalent positions today seem to be unaware of the times in which we live. The amillennialists believe that God is done dealing with the physical nation of Israel. They believe that the church is spiritual Israel, and physical Israel has no relevance anymore. They tend to stress the New Testament as the interpreter of the Old Testament and to regard Old Testament prophecy as being figurative in nature.
The believing church is spiritual Israel, but there are too many Scriptures that prove God is not done with physical Israel, confirmed by the events that we have seen right before our eyes in recent history, to believe that they are not part of the end time scenario.
The dispensational, or pretribulation premillennialists, believe that Christians are going to be raptured, or removed, from the earth prior to the great tribulation. They believe that we will not be here to experience the end-time travails. So they may not see all the signs that are being fulfilled right before their eyes, and all the signs that the Lord said would happen in the last generation before His return. The pretribulationist viewpoint also seems to be more Western oriented. No matter what they see on the news, all the earthquakes, pestilence, famines, wars, it cannot be the tribulation because we are not supposed to be here for it. People in Africa, where parts of that continent have been ravaged by famine, pestilence and oppression, and where some regions do not have enough healthy adults to maintain societal infrastructure, might disagree.
Following are three end time signs that we are seeing fulfilled in this day for the first time in history.
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM IS BEING PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD.
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. Matt. 24:14.
Today the potential to reach the entire world with the gospel of Jesus Christ exists in ways previous generations could not have imagined. The internet makes it possible to take the message anywhere there is internet access. Satellite technology makes instantaneous communication possible almost anywhere in the world. Modern transportation makes anywhere on the globe potentially accessible. The technology is now in place to take the gospel anywhere, anytime.
I read recently that the 1990 edition of the Christian Almanac said that the gospel had been preached in every nation in the world as of that date. I do not know how they were able to determine that, but it is apparent that the technology, communication and transportation systems now exist to literally fulfill that sign. I do not have definitive information regarding this, but I do not know of a nation on the planet where the gospel has not been presented in one form or another. That tells us that we are at the time of the end and near the return of Jesus Christ.
THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES ARE BEING FULFILLED IN THIS GENERATION.
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 of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Luke 21:24.
Less than forty years after Jesus said this, the Romans conquered and sacked Jerusalem. For the next 1900 years the Jews were never again in control of Jerusalem. That changed in 1967 when they regained control of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. Another prophecy that seemed symbolic through much of the past two thousand years of history was literally fulfilled. According to Jesus, this is a primary sign that the times of the Gentiles are being fulfilled.
It may be coincidental, but it is interesting to note that the year 2007 will mark forty years since the Jewish nation regained control of Jerusalem.
Paul uses much the same language in Romans 11. He refers to the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’.
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Rom. 11:25.
Tying the statements of Jesus and Paul together, the significance is this: the Jewish nation regaining control of Jerusalem marks a turning point, an important mile marker, in world history.
From a spiritual standpoint, using Paul’s message in Romans chapters 9-11, it marks the end of the Gentile age, or the Church Age. The Jewish nation lost their rightful place as a result of their rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. The gospel was opened to the Gentiles. But in Romans 11, Paul warns Gentile believers not to boast against the ‘natural’ branches. If we Gentiles were grafted into the olive tree, how much more would God be able to re-graft the natural branches back into the tree. That is the mystery, according to Paul. That happens at the conclusion of the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’. Exactly how He will accomplish that is the subject of much debate and beyond the scope of this paper. Our focus in this writing is to verify the day in which we are living. Jesus tells us that the times of the Gentiles are wrapping up.
KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN INCREASED.
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. Daniel 12:4.
“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Can there be any doubt that prophecy applies to this age? We live in the Information (or knowledge) Age.
Eighty percent of the scientists who have ever lived are living now. They contribute millions of pages of new knowledge each year. I have seen estimates that half the knowledge in the history of the world has occurred in the past fifteen years, and upwards of ninety eight percent of all knowledge has taken place since the beginning of the twentieth century.
When George Washington made the trek to Washington for his inauguration, we read that the two hundred mile trip took him eight days. That would not have been considered unusual at any time in recorded history. The means of transportation were basically the same for all previous generations. It would have taken people in the time of Moses or Julius Caesar about the same amount of time.
Now anyone could make that trip in a few hours by automobile, and in minutes by air. And folks could watch Mr. Washington’s inaugural live via satellite technology, all the while talking about it on a cell phone with friends halfway around the world who were also watching it live. We live in the age when men are running to and fro, and knowledge has been increased.
UNMISTAKEABLE SIGNS
The above three signs: the gospel being preached throughout all the world; the times of the Gentiles being fulfilled with the Jewish people regaining control of the city of Jerusalem; and the knowledge explosion - were never fulfilled at any time in history, and the last two could not have been fulfilled by any previous generation. They clearly tell us that these are the last days. Previous generations expecting the return of Christ in their day were overlooking these signs. For the most part they regarded parts of them as symbolic. After all, Israel had been destroyed and the Jewish people dispersed throughout the nations of the world for two thousand years. How could that Scripture have a literal fulfillment? But, as we have seen in this generation, it has been fulfilled.
OTHER SIGNS
The three aforementioned signs are specific to the time in which we live. There are, of course, many other end time signs and prophecies, but people in many previous generations could understandably have thought that those prophecies applied to their time. Some of the other more general signs (this is not an all-inclusive list) are listed below.
Society. In II Timothy chapter 3, Paul tells Timothy what society will be like in the end times. Reading through that chapter it surely seems as if Paul is talking about our present day, does it not? I did not include that in the earlier signs because doubtless many previous generations thought they were seeing the fulfillment of Paul’s word in their day. But taken together with the signs given previously and many others found throughout the Word, it is a chilling reminder of where we are in history.
Earthquakes. This is a sign that is typically used by most end time writers. On their website the USGS says there is no evidence that earthquakes have been increasing. They say they get this question frequently. Their response is that in 1931 there were only 350 earthquake reporting stations, while today there are over 4,000, so that what seems to be an increasing frequency is likely just better technology and reporting methods. (1) Whatever. The Bible says that there would be earthquakes in diverse places and we are seeing that.
Year Number of earthquakes (from USGS website)
1990 16,590
1995 21,007
2000 22,256
2005 30,458 (down from 2003 and 2004)
Famine, pestilence. According to some estimates, about one billion people suffer from malnutrition. Thousands of people die every day due to hunger or hunger related diseases. Most of those dying are children. In 1999 here in the U.S. there were about 31 million people labeled as ‘food insecure’, meaning that those people were not sure of where they were going to be able to get food. (2)
In the developing world, 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, per capita economic growth is falling every year due to HIV/Aids. In 2003, there were 12 million new orphans in southern Africa as a result of the aids epidemic. 25 million people have died from aids, and over three million die each year from it. (3)
Wars, rumors of wars. As I write this in 2006, there are more than 30 wars being waged around the globe. After Waterloo in the 19th century to the end of that century, there were two wars in the world where deaths amounted to more than a million. In the first half of the 20th century, there were four wars in which mortalities totaled more than one million. But since the last half of the 20th century to the current day, that number has jumped to ten wars that have produced at least a million deaths. (4)
There are many other things going on in our present day that could be referenced as well, such as the way certain nations and groups are forming alliances, and specific issues in the church and society. But for the purposes of this discussion, the above signs should suffice to demonstrate that we are living in the last days. I do not ask you to agree with my conclusions. I just ask that you prayerfully consider them.
Does it matter? That is a question that is asked sometimes. After all, if we are living for Christ, it doesn’t matter when he comes, does it? Whenever he comes, and no matter which of the end time scenarios turns out to be correct, if any, we will be going to heaven, correct?
It matters for several reasons. Even though we are warned not to set times and dates, we are advised to be watchful and expectant. Moreover, I think if believers were truly cognizant of the times in which they live, there would be a much greater sense of urgency in reaching the lost with the gospel. If you truly believed that Jesus might return within the next year or two, would that change how you interacted with your friends and family? Would you possibly be a little more bold and more direct with them, a little more persistent?
Further, if dispensational premillennialism turns out to be incorrect, it will likely be devastating to many people, both spiritually and physically. There is the likelihood of many people falling away from the faith altogether. If they feel like they have been misled on the rapture doctrine, perhaps they will question everything else they believe as well, especially if they are undergoing times of intense tribulation, and did nothing to prepare for those times since they believed they would have already been snatched away.
As for the amillennialists, they tend to symbolize Bible prophecies to the extent that they miss the significance of literal events that are unfolding right before their eyes every day, and they also have little incentive to make anything other than spiritual preparations for the times that may be coming on our world and on our nation.
We read that in the last generation it will be as in the days of Noah. We immediately grasp the implications of the general apostasy and evil on all sides. But we may miss another point. God told Noah to prepare an ark. He did not instruct Noah to sit around just believing and waiting. There was work to do, preparations to be made.
I have intentionally avoided going into specific end time scenarios in this paper. The intent here is to point out the times in which we live and the imminence of the return of Jesus Christ, not to push any specific viewpoint.
Bible prophecy and end time scenarios are difficult to understand and there is obviously room for legitimate differences of opinion. Otherwise, our Father would have been more definitive. He does not lay out specific timelines anywhere in the Scriptures. The difficulty is further compounded by the fact that many of the books that seem to be the most prophetical also contain the most symbolism, so there is the added problem of deciding which passages are literal, or symbolic, or both, and determining where and how they apply. Both the amillennialists and the dispensationalists make many decisions in their doctrines regarding which Scriptures are literal and which are symbolic, whether they would like to admit that or not. There are some Scriptures that are symbolic in nature, whether one is a literalist or not, and there are other Scriptures that may have both symbolic and literal fulfillments.
There is a wealth of material available for anyone who wants to fully explore the various end time scenarios. If you have read the Left Behind series of books you have read the dispensational argument. Hal Lindsey is probably the best known of the dispensational writers. Several of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller lists, and can be found in many bookstores and secondhand shops. The majority of the best known televangelists seem to be dispensational premillenialists, so there is no shortage of information available on that viewpoint.
You might have to look a little harder to find mainstream amillennial material, but it is out there. Any internet search can provide a wealth of links for any of the major doctrines. One book would be A Case For Amillennialism by Kim Riddlerbarger.
The book The Meaning Of The Millennium: Four Views contains arguments for each of the four main end time views: classic premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism, and dispensational premillennialism. Each of the four viewpoints are set forth by an adherent scholar, then that scholar in turns critiques the views opposing his own.
Two books that I have found particularly useful in my own studies are Israel’s Sure Tomorrow by James Blackstone, and Renewal Theology, Volume Three, The Church, The Kingdom, and Last Things by J. Rodman Williams. Dr. Blackstone writes from a unique perspective in that he is the grandson of one of the most influential early dispensational writers, William E. Blackstone, although James Blackstone refutes almost everything his more well known grandfather set forth. Dr. Williams, at the time of the publication of his book, was professor of Theology at Regent University.
(1) http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/faq.php?categoryID=6&faqID=110
(2) http://www.thehungersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites
(3) http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html
(4) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/30/INGMHI6S5Q35.DTL