In Part One of this book, I have shown how Jesus fulfilled the biblical prophecies concerning the suffering Messiah. In Part Two, I illustrated how Jesus will fulfill the biblical prophecies concerning the triumphant King Messiah in the end-times. Thus far in Part Three, I have demonstrated how Israel is the prophetic land that God gave to the Jews for their possession. In this penultimate chapter, I will discuss why I believe that the land of Israel is the key to the timing of when the end-times will occur. However, I want to preface this discussion by stating clearly that at no place in this book will you find a date and year as to when Jesus Christ is coming again. Jesus Himself stated:
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of
heaven, but My Father only."1
First, I will discuss some of the signs that the Bible mentions concerning the last days. Then I will conclude this chapter by examining what I believe is the key scripture passage in determining the timing of the end-time events.
The New Testament writers mention the end-times or Last Days several times in their writings. In the preface to this book I wrote about a question that Jesus' disciples asked Him concerning the last days:
"And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of
the world?"2
In Chapter 9, I explained how the answer that Jesus gave to the disciples' question paralleled the end-time events listed in the Book of Revelation. Jesus told them several signs to watch for:
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no
man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I
am Christ; and shall deceive many."3
Jesus issues a warning to those who are alive at the beginning of the end-times. False preachers are going to rise up and will deceive many with their message. They will claim to be Christians and some might proclaim themselves to be Jesus Christ come again. Some may teach that there are many ways to God or that they themselves are the way to God. Jesus states here that many will believe their false preaching. The ultimate deceiver is the Antichrist who will proclaim himself the Messiah.
The only way a person can keep from being deceived is to know what God says in His word, the Holy Bible. Jesus Christ said that He is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Him.4 Anyone who teaches that no matter what religion a person follows, God will still accept them is contradicting the words of Jesus.
"And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you
be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the
end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom..."5
Though humans have started many wars since the time of Jesus, the last two World Wars led to the creation of the Jewish nation of Israel, which as we will see, has tremendous end-time prophetic significance. However, I believe that the many wars Jesus speaks of here refers to those wars that affect the Jewish nation of Israel either directly or indirectly. During the end-times, Israel will be at the center of all the conflicts taking place at that time. The final war will end on the battlefields surrounding Jerusalem during the battle of Armageddon.
It is worth noting that from 135 A.D. until 1948, no war affected the Jewish nation of Israel. There was no Jewish nation during that time. The wars that were waged in the land of Israel during that period of history were between the Romans and Persians, the Byzantines and the Muslims, the Christian Crusaders and the Muslims, the Muslims and the Turks, and finally the Turks and the British. However, since 1948 and the rebirth of Jewish Israel, several wars have taken place in and around Israel and the Middle East.
Since Israel became a nation in 1948, conflicts and wars have been fought over it and its capital, Jerusalem. This does not come as a surprise to most Bible-believing Christians because God declared that this would happen in the last days:
"The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, says the
LORD, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the
foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within
him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all
the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both
against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I
make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that
burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the
people of the earth be gathered together against it."6
Although Jerusalem has been at the center of many wars for over three millennia, at no time has any war affected every nation in the world. However, God states that at the end He will make Jerusalem a "trouble spot" for the entire world. Jerusalem has indeed become the focal point of the world's attention in the last fifty years. This attention will culminate in the battle of Armageddon when Jesus will "cut in pieces" the armies of the Antichrist and the rest of the world.
"and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."7
There have been many famines, plagues, and earthquakes since the time Jesus spoke these words. How could Jesus expect His followers to differentiate between the normal occurrences of the fallen world we live in and those that are the signs of the end? The answer has three aspects to it.
The first is that since Israel is the timing mechanism that God uses for the end-times we have to watch for any famines, plagues, or earthquakes that have happened since 1948. We could specifically point to such worldwide plagues as AIDS or influenza, famines in Africa, and the 9.0 earthquake in 2004. Are these enough to confirm that the end-times are near? I personally do not think so.
The second aspect concerns the last part of this passage: "the beginning of sorrows". In the original Greek language of the New Testament this phrase literally means "the beginning of labor pains". Jesus means that this is only the beginning of the troubles that are going to come on the world. The metaphor He uses is interesting because once labor pains start they occur closer and closer together and become more and more intense as they go on. Therefore, I believe that when the world starts seeing famines, pestilence, and earthquakes happening more frequently then these become the signs of which Jesus spoke.
The final aspect to the answer is that these signs may not occur until after the Antichrist comes on the world scene. The first sign Jesus gave above was that false Christs would appear and deceive many. Of course, as we read in Chapter 9, the world will not know that this world leader is the Antichrist at first. He will deceive many by seeming to be a man of peace. However, Jesus gave other signs by which His followers were to know that the end is near.
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill
you: and you shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise,
and shall deceive many."8
In the last days, the world is going to increase its hatred for the followers of Jesus. This scenario will come about because of an intellectual rejection of the Bible and a propagation of the evolutionary theory by unbelievers. The apostle Peter spoke of this time in his second epistle:
"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. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then
was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens
and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men."9
This rejection of the truths of God will be the impetus for a worldwide persecution of Christians. They will arrest, torture, and execute Christians because of their belief that Jesus is the only way to God. False preachers will claim to speak in the name of God and will declare that the followers of Jesus are harming world unity because of their ideology. This persecution will reach its climax under the reign of the Antichrist.
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
grow cold."10
Everywhere sin and lawlessness will increase while love among humans will decrease. The apostle Paul spoke of the breakdown of societal, personal, and familial relationships that will occur in the last days:
"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, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof: from such turn away."11
Paul gives a description of the abysmal human condition that will arise in the end-times. All the human behaviors that he lists here can be summed up by the motto: "If it feels good do it". The desire for pleasure will consume people at the expense of their families and their belief in God. Some will try to appear as godly persons yet deny the power of salvation through Jesus Christ. Everyone will do what seems right in his or her own eyes.
"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
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."12
There will be godly men who will continue to proclaim the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ until the end. Those who endure the persecutions and ungodliness of the last days by maintaining their faith in Jesus will be saved.
"When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the Holy
Place (whoso reads, let him understand:) Then let them which
be in Judea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the
housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his
clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them
that give suck in those days! But pray you that your flight be
not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day: For then shall be
great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the
elect's sake those days shall be shortened."13
The "abomination of desolation" takes place in the middle of the Tribulation Period. This event occurs when the Antichrist enters the Temple in Jerusalem and declares himself God. When that happens Jesus warns the Jews in Israel to flee because the Great Tribulation is about to begin. Conditions will become so horrible that if God did not limit the time frame of the Tribulation Period all humanity would be wiped out.
"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall
say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold,
he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."14
The false preachers will entice people to follow one leader or another, all in the name of God. These leaders will have demonic power to perform false signs and miracles in order to deceive humans. The apostle Paul also mentioned these false teachers arising in the last days:
"Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron."15
Evil spirits will seduce people away from the truths of God. They will deny that the Bible is the word of God and people will believe them. Jesus declares that He will protect those who are true believers in Him. If it were not for this protection, the power of the false leaders would deceive His elect followers.
"For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even
unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
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 then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with
a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other."16
Up to this point, Jesus has repeatedly warned against following the false messiahs and prophets that will rise up in the last days. Now He states that when He, the true Messiah, appears, the entire world will see it. This will occur at the end of the Tribulation Period with great signs in the cosmos and He will gather all His followers to Jerusalem.
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet
tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh:
So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that
it is near, even at the doors. Truly 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. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels of heaven, but My Father only."17
Jesus declares an important principle in this passage. Humans have the ability to tell when a natural process has begun by the signs that they observe taking place. In this case, He says that just as you can tell when a season is about to start, so too you will be able to tell when the "season" of the end-times is about to occur. Jesus states that when you see the signs that He has given beginning to occur, know that the end-times are not just near but even at the doors.
The generation that sees these signs will not perish before the end-times comes to fruition. However, unlike the "seventy weeks" prophecy of Daniel which gave the specific day of Jesus' first coming, no one will know the exact day and year of His second coming. He did tell us that we are to know the season of His second appearance.
The apostle Paul tells Christians that they need to watch for these signs and recognize them as the beginning of the end:
"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need
that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the
day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they
shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes
upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall
not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that
day should overtake you as a thief. You 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."18
Paul states that the world will not be looking for the second coming of Jesus. Instead, they will be looking for a peaceful world to live in. Their declaration of "Peace and safety" may occur when the Antichrist makes a peace treaty with Israel and the world. Then sudden destruction will come upon the world. However, Paul admonishes Christians not to be caught off guard by the beginning of the Day of the Lord. As children of God's light and by the light of His prophetic word, Christians should be watching for that Day so that it doesn't overcome them like a thief in the night.
I believe that these signs could not take place until the Jewish nation of Israel was in existence. If there were no Jewish Israel then there would be no Temple in Jerusalem for the Antichrist to enter. Neither would there be any Jews in Israel to heed Jesus' warning to flee from Israel when the Antichrist appears in the Temple.
I also believe that God has given a time frame during which the end-times are to occur. This period revolves around the Jewish nation of Israel.
The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel began his ministry around the year 593 B.C. God had given to him several visions concerning the fate of the Jews and the nation of Israel. I believe that one of these visions is the key to the timing of God's plans for the last days:
"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the
spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley
which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round
about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley;
and, lo, they were very dry. And He said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, You
know. Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and
say unto them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Thus says the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will
cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: And I will
lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and
cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live;
and you shall know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I
was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and
behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his
bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up
upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no
breath in them. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind,
prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Lord
GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon
these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He
commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then
He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope
is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and
say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people,
I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall
know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O
My people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall
put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you
in your own land: then shall you know that I the LORD have
spoken it, and performed it, says the LORD. The word of the
LORD came again unto me, saying, Moreover, you son of man,
take you one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the
children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and
write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the
house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another
into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand. And
when the children of your people shall speak unto you, saying,
Will you not show us what you mean by these? Say unto them,
Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of
Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of
Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the
stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one
in Mine hand. And the sticks whereon you write shall be in
your hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus says the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from
among the heathen, where they be gone, and will gather them
on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will
make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of
Israel; and one King shall be King to them all: and they shall
be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two
kingdoms any more at all. Neither shall they defile themselves
any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor
with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all
their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will
cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their
God. And David My Servant shall be King over them; and they
all shall have one Shepherd: they shall also walk in My
judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them. And they
shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant,
wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein,
even they, and their children, and their children's children for
ever: and My Servant David shall be their Prince for ever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall
be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them,
and multiply them, and will set My Sanctuary in the midst of
them for evermore. My Tabernacle also shall be with them:
yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And the
heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when
My Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."
- Ezekiel 37:1-28
In this vision God reveals to Ezekiel the future of the Jewish nation Israel. He shows Ezekiel a valley full of very dry bones that represent Israel. God speaks to these bones and tells them that He is going to put breath into them so that they may come to life. However, this process is going to occur in stages.
First, He will cause the bones to come up out of their graves. Then He will put sinews or muscles on them. Next, He will cause flesh to grow upon them and then cover them with skin. Lastly, He will put His breath or Spirit upon them that they may come to life.
In Chapter 17, I discussed Replacement Theology which denies that the Jews have a right to live in the land of Israel. This teaching states that the modern nation of Israel is not a fulfillment of prophecy because the Jews are in unbelief when it comes to accepting Jesus as the Messiah. I illustrated how God still keeps His covenants with the Jews even while they are in unbelief. It is interesting that the description Ezekiel gives of these bones that represent the Jewish nation of Israel is that they are very dry. In other words, they are spiritually dry or dead. It isn't until the end of the process that they become spiritually alive. That the Jews do not currently believe that Jesus is the Messiah is actually a fulfillment of this part of Ezekiel's prophecy.
God says that He will begin the process of restoring the Jews to the land of Israel by taking them up out of their graves and bringing them into the land of Israel. The metaphor God uses here probably refers to the "graves" that the Jews were in when He dispersed them to the nations around the world. He declares that He will take them from every nation and bring them back to the land of Israel. However, I believe that there is also a literal aspect to this metaphor.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi government of Germany tried to exterminate the Jewish people from the face of the earth. They did succeed in killing more than 6,000,000 Jews before the world stopped them. The Allied armies discovered the concentration camps and the gas ovens and mass graves that contained these Jews. Two years after World War II ended, the countries of the world, via the United Nations, gave the land of Israel back to the Jews. In this case, the Jews were literally taken from their graves and brought back to the land of Israel.
There has been a debate in certain theological circles as to why God allowed the Holocaust to occur. Some say that it was the Jews' punishment for rejecting God's Son, Jesus Christ, as the Messiah. I do not believe that at all. Rather I believe the Holocaust was an attempt by Satan to thwart God's end-times plans.
I mentioned earlier in this book how that just before God was going to fulfill His plans, Satan tried to stop them. God was going to use Moses to deliver the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Satan's plan was to have Moses killed as a baby by inciting the pharaoh to issue a decree ordering the Jews to kill all their newborn male babies. This tactic failed and Moses did fulfill God's plan. Next, God sent His Son to deliver humanity from its bondage to sin. Satan incited King Herod to kill all the newborn male babies in Bethlehem in order to kill Jesus. This attempt failed and Jesus fulfilled the mission that God gave Him. I believe that Satan knew God was about to fulfill His plan of bringing the Jews back to the land of Israel in 1948 and used the Nazis to try and stop this from occurring. Again, Satan's diabolical plan failed and God brought the Jews back to Israel after eighteen hundred years. Though Satan may have been behind the Holocaust, he found willing human servants in the Nazi regime. (Likewise, I believe Satan is still trying to hinder God's plan through the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. The fact that many Arabs want to "drive the Jews into the sea" is illustrative of his influence to harm God's chosen people).
Thus, in 1948 I believe that God raised the Jews from their "graves" and returned them to the land of Israel as a dry, secular nation. The next stage in the process involves putting sinews or muscles on the nation of Israel. This is mere speculation on my part but it may be that the powerful Israeli military may be a partial fulfillment of this part of Ezekiel's prophecy. Muscles are an indicator of the strength of a body and the Israeli army has been an indicator of the strength of the Jews' will to survive and live.
The next phase of the dry bones vision stated that the nation of Israel would have flesh and skin put on it. The Bible does not speak highly of human flesh. It uses "flesh" as a metaphor for our sinful natures, which try to please God by good works or rebel against Him by evil works. I believe it is possible that when the Jews rebuild the third or Tribulation Temple, this will fulfill the flesh stage of their rebirth as a nation. They will believe they are honoring God with their new Temple and sacrifices yet the Antichrist will actually be using them for his purposes.
This brings us to the final stage of the dry bones vision. God declared that He will put His breath or Spirit in the nation of Israel and they will be His people and He will be their God. This will take place at the second coming of Jesus Christ. The prophet Zechariah spoke of this event:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy
all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they
shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall
mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn."19
This passage is a reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ when the whole world will look on Him whom they pierced. God at that time will pour out His Spirit upon Israel and they will receive God's Servant Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The last part of this vision of Ezekiel's declares that God's Servant will be King over the Jews and the land of Israel. Again, this refers to the Messianic Kingdom over which Jesus will reign.
With the creation of the modern state of Israel, I believe God's end-times timepiece has started ticking. The time frame appears to have begun with the raising up of the spiritually dry bones of the modern secular nation of Israel. It will conclude with the salvation of all Israel when they shall look upon Him whom they pierced. At that time they will receive the Spirit that God breathes or pours out on them and will begin the Messianic Kingdom Age.
How long will it take this process to be completed? Trying to ascertain the time frame for this prophecy in years is fruitless. Some may say that since God uses the formation of a man to represent the rebirth of the Jewish nation of Israel, we could use the biblical lifespan of a human as the time frame. Therefore, since the Psalm of Moses20 declares that the lifespan of a post-patriarchal human is seventy to eighty years, this is the length of time that God will use for the complete regeneration of the Jewish nation of Israel. However, in this vision of Ezekiel's it appears that this newly formed man is an adult, not a baby, so Adam's situation parallels more closely this metaphor. God created Adam from dust just like these "dry bones" and He created Adam as an adult. Since Adam lived to be 930 years old, the time frame of this prophecy could be 930 years. The truth is that God did not specify how long it would be from the rebirth of the nation Israel until the completion of this prophecy.
I believe the key to determining the time that it takes for the completion of this prophecy lies in the rate at which the different stages of the regeneration occur. If the sinews or muscles do represent Israel's military strength, we could be in the second stage.
The next phase would be the rebuilding of the third Temple. When that occurs it will be around seven years until the second coming of Jesus Christ and the completion of dry bones vision given to Ezekiel. With regards to the rebuilding of the third Temple, there are Jewish organizations that have already created the utensils to be used in it and the garments that are to be worn by the priests in the performance of their Temple duties. As soon as it is built the Jews will be able to perform animal sacrifices and fulfill the other activities associated with the Temple.
I have stated several times that I cannot give the date and year of Jesus' second coming. As a Christian though, I can keep my eyes open to what God is doing in the world and in the land of Israel. I believe Jesus when He said that His followers would know when the end was near, even at the doors. If it were not possible for Christians to know this, then why did Jesus and His servant Paul indicate that it was?
Many times God declared that He would bring the Jews back to the land of Israel forever. When He did that in 1948, why should I not see that as the leaves of a fig tree getting tender? During the Jews' eighteen-hundred year absence from the land of Israel, they were dispersed throughout the world. They should have been assimilated into every culture where they went and disappeared as a people. Yet miraculously, after eighteen centuries of wandering, they are finally back in Israel. I would be blind indeed not to see the hand of God in this.
Therefore, I do believe that the return of Jesus Christ is in the near future. How long exactly I cannot say. I do know that every human being has their own end-times which as Moses wrote, may come after only seventy or eighty years. I may go to Jesus before He comes to me but that will not keep me from heeding the words of the apostle Paul:
"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and
be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that
be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the
day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and
for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with Him."21
Thus, I conclude with the final words of Jesus Christ in the Bible:
"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." - Revelation 22:20-21
1 Matthew 24:36
2 Matthew 24:3
3 Matthew 24:4-5
4 John 14:6
5 Matthew 24:6-7a
6 Zechariah 12:1-3
7 Matthew 24:7b-8
8 Matthew 24:9-11
9 II Peter 2:3-7
10 Matthew 24:12
11 II Timothy 3:1-5
12 Matthew 24:13-14
13 Matthew 24:15-22
14 Matthew 24:23-26
15 I Timothy 4:1-2
16 Matthew 24:27-31
17 Matthew 24:32-36
18 I Thessalonians 5:1-6
19 Zechariah 12:10
20 Psalm 90:10
21 I Thessalonians 5:6-10
