PROPHETIC CONVERGENCE PART I

Are we living in the Last Days?  Many people are asking that question.  Others are observing what is going on in the world and are already answering in the affirmative.  Scripture has laid out for us a number of prophetic streams that are to all converge as the End of the Age approaches.  Even the casual observer can see these streams coming together.  Look around and we see exact fulfilment of Biblical prophecy lining up.  Jesus talked about a similar time of fulfillment that occurred at His first coming.  “Then He also said to the multitudes, ‘Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?’” (Luke 12:54-56)  The majority of the Jewish people of that day – though they were a people generally armed with the scriptures – could not recognize Yeshua, the living, breathing fulfillment of prophecy.  It is much the same today.  As we look at prophecy being fulfilled we must realize this history-shattering fact.  Jesus Christ is likely to return in this generation.  That should affect how we all live our lives.

Here’s an outline of just a few of the areas where prophecies are being fulfilled.

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  ISRAEL – It’s back in the Land – a fulfillment of prophecy. That had to happen before the End Times got underway.  We can look forward to a rebuilt Temple, (that Antichrist will defile) – and a series of wars to destroy the Jewish state.  Groups in Israel have been preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple.  Qualified priests have been genetically identified.  Articles of worship have been fabricated.  All of these were prophetically predicted.  And if you don’t know it, Israel is the key to understanding the unfolding of God’s plan.  It is entirely Israel-centric.

• JERUSALEM AT THE CENTER – Just like the Bible says, Jerusalem will be the center of End Times conflict. We are watching that scenario unfold as countries from around the globe believe they should have a say in Jerusalem’s fate.  Seems the world believes that everyone should have a say in the fate of Jerusalem except the Israelis!
• THE GEOPOLITICAL ALIGNMENT – Scripture is pretty specific about which countries will be involved in which wars against Israel. There’s a war against the inner-ring of states surrounding Israel found in Psalm 83 – and it’s followed by an invasion by forces in the next tier of countries.  The inner ring takes in Israel’s closest neighbors, Syria, Jordan – where so many Palestinians still reside, Iraq, the Lebanon area around Tyre where Hezbollah rules – and the Palestinian people themselves living in the West Bank and Gaza.  That second circle includes Turkey, and Persia – which is Iran, Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya with possibly Russia added in.  We’re watching those alliances come into being in real time – right at this very moment.
• THE GREAT APOSTASY – Christianity is losing its center. Biblical TRUTH is being compromised by denominations and pastors.  What is clear in scripture is being questioned and set aside in favor of what their emotions tell them is right.  [It’s just folks who think they can be more god-like than God.  ‘Wouldn’t it be more loving if there was no hell?….Or if those pronouncements against homosexual activity weren’t in the Bible?  Or if just everybody made it into Heaven?  If God is a god of love…..]
• SIGNS IN NATURE – Earthquakes, changing weather, it’s all in Matthew 24. [And it’s chilling…..or maybe it’s warming….but either way, it must be our fault!]   The frequency of major earthquakes is going up significantly.  During the decade of the 1980s there were 1,195 earthquakes around the world that measured 6.0 and above.  By the 2000s that number had increased to 1492.  During the 2010s, it climbed again to 1591.  That’s nearly 160 big earthquakes per year.  In the first three years of the last decade the average number of quakes was over 166 annually, representing a 38.9% increase over the number of significant temblors produced in the 1980s.^[i]  In 2014, NBC News reported on the very largest earthquakes under the headline, “Worldwide Surge in ‘Great’ Earthquakes Seen in Past 10 Years.”  Part of the report read, “Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0 or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That’s an increase of 265 percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great quakes.”^[ii]
• THE FORMATION OF ANTICHRIST’S KINGDOM – God’s word gives the essentials of the plan. What we see unfolding today is just what the Bible says would happen just before the return of Christ.  AC’s Kingdom will consolidate power on three distinct yet related fronts; political, economic and religious.  Each will serve to support the other.  We see that unfolding today.  The calls for political unity are many, coming from various sources.  Pope Francis campaigns for a worldwide authority in the political realm while moving toward unification with other religions – NOT just Christian denominations – [including Islam, pagan cults in the Amazon, as well as liberal branches of the Protestant Church.]
• THE REVELATION PLOT – You’ll find a lot of it in Revelation 17. The move toward a One World Government is biblically predicted.  It is starting to unfold just as the Bible says it would.  (We will follow that unfolding throughout much of what follows.)

THE MAN CENTERED TEMPLATE – CHAOS

But of course, not all the world sees things through the prism of prophecy.  Outside of the worldview templates that try to order and categorize events in some kind of meaningful order, there exists a purely secular and disconnected view of unfolding history.

So just imagine there’s no Bible!  Let’s temporarily set aside Biblical prophecy as if it does not exist.  In this world we imagine, the future is an unknowable mystery.  It is events unfolding through cause-and-effect but without meaning and interpreted in purely human-centered terms.  History moves on without purpose.  It is simply a pointless mess.

THE FALSE TEMPLATE

Introducing the faux prophetic templates of the false prophets!  There are several variations.  Jesus said, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” (Mt 24:11)  Here are some of those deceptive scenarios.

• The New Age / Eastern Religious Scenario – Followers of New Age and Eastern philosophies believe that we are on the verge of a New Age that will be heralded by the appearance of the Lord Maitreya , – the “Christ consciousness” that will appear to lead mankind to a new level of existence. Lord Maitreya will appear in the near future, coming at a time of chaos and unify mankind religiously and politically.  Wars and economic collapse are just part of the necessary birthing process for this New Christ, the One World Government and One World Religion.
• The Islamic Scenario – The Mahdi is coming. This is the view of much of the Islamic world.  Again, he will arise at a time of global chaos, – first to unite the Muslim world and then to unite the world with the sword.  He will lead victorious armies that will conquer Jerusalem, while ruling the entire globe and hunting down and killing Jews and Christians.  The present world situation is preparation for his imminent return.
• The New World Order Scenario – New Age author Peter Lemesurier laid out this plan for us in his 1981 best-seller, The Armageddon Script. He tells us that the New Age Christ will be humanly produced, – using the fake fulfillment of Messianic prophecies to convince the Jewish authorities of his authenticity.  According to the revealed plan of the New World Order types, this New Messiah will rebuild the Jewish Temple and fulfill Daniel’s prophecy by remaining and ruling from Israel for 7 years.

The New World Order plan is one of man-created chaos.  It calls for three-separate wars merging into one giant global conflict.  It adds in, – and I’m not making this up, – UFO / Alien contact, earthquakes, terrorism involving the uses of weapons of mass destruction and a crashing global economy.  What’s the point?  Well the point is that this will set the conditions for the rise of the universal strong man that will come to power offering peace and solutions to all the world’s problems.  He is to, – and get this, – present himself as Jewish Messiah, Jesus, the Mahdi and Buddha all rolled into one.  He will display supernatural power.  [Didn’t I read something about that in the Bible?] Are you starting to see a trend?

THE THREE-PART PROPHETIC TEMPLATE

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matthew 24:32-35)

Prophecy, as laid out in the Bible alone, is the key to unlocking both the direction and meaning of world events.  So we begin to explore the ramifications of those prophecies by examining the outline of coming events that they provide.  Now some will scoff here, believing that no ancient book can predict the future.  At this time I offer just two lines of thought in its defense.  First there is the unblemished record of Biblical prophecy already fulfilled.  Take for instance the over one-hundred prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming.  Grant Jeffrey writing in Jesus: The Great Debate, figured the probability of anyone fulfilling just 17 of those prophecies at one chance in 480 billion x 1billion x 1 trillion.^[iii]  Second, since Einstein, scientists will tell you that space and time were created – at a point in time, as it were.  So there was a time, (ahem), when space and time did not exist.  Therefore, The First Cause of our universe, God, – must exist, – as the Bible claims, – outside of the constraints of time and space (else there would be a time when God did not exist).^[iv]  Therefore, to God, – all time is viewed as present. Therefore, prophecy is just God’s revelation of His eternal present!  Got it?  Well anyway with that in mind, let’s begin to explore God’s Prophetic Template.

 PROPHECY FULFILLED

In evaluating the days in which we live I’ve found it helpful to divide God’s word into three categories; – Prophecies Fulfilled, Prophecies in Process and Signs of the Age.  We’ll look first at those passages in Scripture that have been substantially fulfilled already.

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  The Jews Re-Gathered – There are many prophetic passages that apply, but perhaps one of the foremost and signal prophecies given for the beginning of the End of the Age is Isaiah 11:11-12. It reads:  “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people…he will assemble the scattered peoples of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.”  The first time God called His people back was after the Babylonian captivity, so that Israel could receive her Messiah at his first coming.  This second re-gathering signals the near end of history; – so that Israel will be in the Land to receive the Messiah who is to return in Glory and power.  The Jewish return began with the Zionist movement of the late 19^th  It was hurried along by Hitler’s attempt to destroy the race during WWII and it continues to this day.  The Jews survived as a nation for over 1,800 years without a homeland, – just as God promised.  In Leviticus 26:33 God had warned Israel that He would “scatter you among the nations.”  Through Isaiah He promised them that He would again call them to the Land.  “I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’” (Isaiah 43:5-6)  That promise is echoed over and over again by the prophets.  And through Ezekiel he confirmed the permanence of the call.  “They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever.” (Ezekiel 37:21, 25)  Following: Some specific sub-prophecies.

• A Language Restored – Hebrew was a language as dead as ancient Chaldean. Yet God had promised to restore it.  “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the LORD.” (Zephaniah 3:9)  He gave one determined scholar the vision of restoring the language for Temple worship.  Today it is a vibrant spoken tongue.
• A Land Again Fertile – For 18 centuries, – after the Romans got through with it, – Israel was a desert wasteland.  In one example, Isaiah 27:6 promised “Israel shall blossom and bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit.”  Tiny Israel now supplies Europe with 90% of its citrus fruits.
• Increased Rainfall – As written in Joel 2:23 God promised that when Israel returned from its exile, He would cause “the rain to come down for you.” And it has!
• Return of the Ethiopian Jews – This is a very specific one. Zephaniah 3:10 promised: “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, The daughter of My dispersed ones, Shall bring My offering.”  Beginning in the 1980’s Israel organized airlifts to bring the Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

• Israel Reborn In A Day – Israel’s reestablishment as a nation on May 14, 1948 shook up the world, and reoriented much of the Church’s view of prophecy. It was literal indeed!  And it was all about Israel.  Isaiah 66:8 predicted that miraculous birth.  “Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?”

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  Jerusalem Is Jewish Again – When the IDF, – The Israeli Defense Force, – took Jerusalem during the ’67 War, it was a fulfillment of Christ’s own words. In Luke 21, Christ warned of the impending destruction of Jerusalem by Roman armies which occurred in AD 70.  The early Christians took His warning to heart and left the city as the Roman legions were gathering.  Despite the fact that about 1.1million Jews were slaughtered during the capture of Jerusalem, – not one Christian is recorded to have lost their lives in the siege.^[v]  Jesus went on to describe the ensuing scattering of the Jews throughout the world and that Jerusalem would remain in the hands of Israel’s enemies “trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)  Then Jesus goes on to tie that end of the Gentile Era to accelerating birth pangs that will signal the End of the Age.  “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:29-31)  Now a little speculation here!  Psalm 90:10 gives 70 years as the length of a generation.  And we are told in Luke 21:32, “this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place.”  Today we find ourselves over 40 years into the window of this generation that saw the recapture of Jerusalem.^[vi]

 The rebirth of the Jewish State is often referred to by prophecy scholars as the ‘Super Sign’ that signals that Christ’s return is near at hand.  God has called His people back into the Land, – just as He said, – and established them there as a nation, – just as He said.  Further He promised in Amos 9:15: “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.”  As God has fulfilled His promises to restore Israel, so the Enemy is preparing the world for his ultimate rebellion.  It will all be played out during the Tribulation.  That’s the next area we will look at in our Prophetic Template.

[i] Number of Earthquakes by Year, Johnstone Archive, Updated November 17, 2012,   http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/other/quake1.html

[ii] Worldwide Surge in ‘Great’ Earthquakes Seen in Past 10 Years, NBC News, October 25, 2014

[iii] Grant R Jeffrey, Jesus: The Great Debate, pg 229-239, 1999

[iv] Missler & Eastman, Alien Encounters, pg 138, 1997

[v] Chuck Missler, Prophecy Conference 2006, Q&A Session

[vi] For the material on this subject, I consulted Jack Kelly’s Seven Major Signs of the Second Coming, December 30.  Mr Kelly argues that the window for prophetic fulfillment is obtained by adding 70 years to either the 1948 or 1967 dates.  He therefore sees the earliest possible fulfillment of all End Times prophecies as 2018.  That would mean the Rapture could come no earlier than 2011.  In my humble reasoning, – fulfillment could occur any time during the life span of that generation.  That would preserve the doctrine of imminence as applied to the Rapture of the Church.