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Daniel 12:4 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 prophecy given to Daniel was to be
fulfilled at the end of time. At the end of time people will be traveling
back and forth on the earth and knowledge will increase on the earth.
Since that is happening at this very moment, we know that we are now
living in the end of time.
Therefore, since we are living in the time
of the end, we know that the end time prophecies found in the scriptures
are for today. Furthermore, we can now understand the end time prophecies
as never before, since the end time prophecies were sealed up until the
time of the end; that is, the understanding of these prophecies was kept a
secret until now.
Amos 3:7-8 Surely the Lord GOD will do
nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.,The
lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but
prophesy?
The Lord God loves us and He wants us to
know what He has planned to do before He does it; furthermore, the Lord
reveals His plans to us in order to encourage us to live for Him. Prophecy
is also given so that we might know and understand what God has planned
before it happens; so that, when it does happen we will know that God was
in control all the time, and that we might give glory to Him. Just as a
person would respond to the roaring of a lion, the prophet could not help
but prophesy. We must also respond by believing the prophecy, as we would
respond to a roaring lion; we must not ignore prophecy.
Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and
to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading
of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Here we see that the prophecy given to
Daniel concerning the seventy weeks and the last of the seventy weeks [the
time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation] was for Daniel's people,
the Jews, and for Daniel's city, the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, we know
that the end time prophecies have to do primarily with the Jews and
Jerusalem. We should keep this fact in mind as we consider end time
prophecies throughout the scriptures. We can say that end time prophecies
are for Jews, for Jerusalem, and for today. Since the seventieth week is
not meant for the Church but for Israel, the rapture of the Church must
take place before the seventieth week begins.
Matt 24:32-35 Now learn a parable of
the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye
know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you,
This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
All the end-time events that Jesus spoke
about in Matthew chapter twenty-four will take place in one generation,
the last generation, our generation, the time of the end. No one knows
when this generation will end because God has not told us in His word, but
if we look back and determine when this end-time generation began we may
be able to determine when it may end.
Just as we know that summer is near when
we see the fig tree put forth leaves, we know that the second coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ is near when we see these things begin to take
place. The fig tree began to put forth its leaves on May 14, 1948, the day
Israel became a nation after not being a nation for almost nineteen
hundred years. The generation that will not pass away, until after all the
end-time events take place, began on May 14, 1948. This means the
generation of adult males who were living in the land of Israel on May 14,
1948, will not all die until after all the end-time events have taken
place. God wants us to know the end is near.
Matt 24:36-39 But of that day and hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as
the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For
as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be.
No one knows the exact day and hour when
Jesus will come again to this earth, but we can know when His return is
near. The unbelievers of Noah's day did not understand that they were
about to be taken away by the coming flood, but Noah was not surprised.
Noah knew one hundred and twenty years beforehand, when he started
building the ark, that the flood was coming. Noah did not know the exact
day of the flood; but as Noah finished building the ark, he knew the flood
was near. We also know that Jesus is coming again soon and He will remove
His Church at least seven years before He returns as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. Jesus will take away the unbelievers of this world when He
returns after the seven year tribulation (Matt.24:37-42). The unbelievers
will not know Jesus is coming again soon when the rapture of the Church
takes place, they will not understand that their destruction is near, no
more than the unbelievers of Noah's day understood that they were about to
be destroyed when Noah entered the ark. Noah was not taken by surprise,
and neither will we because God has given us prophecy; so that, we will
know what is about to happen before it happens. Prophecy is not given to
remain a secret forever, but at the proper time God gives understanding to
those who will take notice and believe. God wants His people to set proper
priorities in life and to live for Him and not for this soon passing
world. 1Thes 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent them which are asleep. Paul did not say they,
referring to people of some future time, but he said we. Paul expected and
preached the soon return of Jesus Christ and so should we.
I repeat what I already said because it is
essential to the understanding of end time prophecy; the end time
prophecies are primarily given to the Jews and are for the Jews and for
Jerusalem. Remember the Church is no longer in the world during the last
week, seven years, of time before Jesus comes again. Therefore, the
blossoming of the fig tree has to do with the Jews, and the generation of
the end that Jesus mentioned is a generation of Jews. As I stated earlier,
I believe the end time generation began on May 14, 1948. That was the day
Israel received a home again, after being a homeless nation for about 1900
years. Remember, Jesus said that " this generation will not pass
away until all these things take place ". This means that some of
the people of that generation will still be alive when Jesus returns at
the end of the tribulation. I believe that every adult male Jew, twenty
years old and older, who was in the land of Israel on May 14, 1948, is
part of the end time generation, and some of those men will still be
living when Jesus comes back to this earth as King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.
Ps 90:10 The days of our years are
threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore
years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off,
and we fly away.
We are told the strong man can expect to
live 80 years on this earth. Some people do live longer than 80 years, but
the normal strong man can expect to live only 80 year, according to the
word of God. The generation begins with adulthood, at age twenty. The
youngest of the adult males who was twenty years old on May 14, 1948 will
be eighty years old in the spring of 2009; therefore, the strongest
members of the end time generation may not live beyond the year 2009. No
matter how long the last generation lives, one thing is certain, we are
now living in the last generation and this generation will not live
forever, even if it does live longer than 80 years.
2 Pet 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation.
We must be careful that we do not play the
part of the mocker. It seems that the closer we get to the Lord's return,
the more we hear preachers saying that the Lord may not come back for
hundreds of years yet. The Lord wants us to expect His soon return and we
are not setting a date for His return when we say He is coming soon, very
soon, in this generation.
John 1:11-13 He came unto his own, and
his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name:Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.
The first time the Son of God, Jesus
Christ, came to this earth He was rejected by His people. Anyone who does
not reject Him, but accepts Him, by believing in Him, receives a
birthright to become a son of God. All those who believe in Him are born
again, they are made a new creation, they are no longer a child of Adam
but they are now a child of God. Furthermore, being born again is not a
physical birth but a spiritual birth. It has nothing to do with who we are
in this world, what our status is in life, or who our family is. It has
nothing to do with our will, it is not as a result of our desire, or the
desire of anyone else. Being born again is all of God's doing not ours. If
we only believe in Jesus Christ, as apposed to rejecting Him, we will be
made children of God. If we are a child of God when Jesus Christ returns
to this earth, He will take us to be with Himself and we will be with Him
forever.
1 Cor 16:22 If any man love not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
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