The Study of Last Things
by WordExplain
Bringing Truths from Different Books of the Bible into Focus, Perspective, and Understanding.
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Eschatology The Study of Last Things by WordExplain Bringing Truths from Different Books of the Bible into Focus, Perspective, and Understanding. |
“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in a day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons” (Isaiah 66:8) |
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We
live in an age of anxiety. Some worry about global warming. Others fear the
rising threat of a nuclear Armageddon from North Korea or Iran. Others are alarmed
about escalating world population and the strain of humanity on global
resources. Are we nearing the end of the age? There
are a great many prophecies in the Bible that have come true precisely as
predicted. Others await future fulfillment. The angel Gabriel revealed to
Daniel in the sixth century B.C., for example, a chronology linking the death
of the Messiah and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish
temple (Dan. 9:24-27). Jesus himself also predicted His
own demise and the invasion of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Within
forty years of His death, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and leveled the Jewish
temple in A.D. 70. Jesus’
followers asked him about signs of the end of the age (Matthew 24). Jesus listed off a number of things
that would occur. There would be false Messiahs, wars, international disturbances,
famines, and earthquakes. “But,” he said, “that
is not yet the end.” But
then Jesus listed something very specific. When they would see “the ABOMINATION
OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee
to the mountains ….” That, Jesus said, would mark the beginning of “a great
tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until
now, nor ever will.” Jesus continued, “Unless those days had been cut short, no
life would have been saved …” Jesus’
prediction is sobering indeed. Clearly He predicted a world-wide series of
catastrophes, not merely the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple,
devastating as that was. So
this defiling of the Jewish temple and the ensuing Great Tribulation which
Jesus predicted are still future to our time. How close are we to the events
Jesus predicted? Consider this. Jesus knew that the temple of His day would be
destroyed. He knew Jerusalem would be devastated. He knew the people of Israel
would be scattered all over the world, and that Israel would cease to exist as
a viable nation for many centuries. For
over eighteen centuries, there was no state of Israel. But something remarkable
has happened. The prophet Isaiah asked, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has
seen such things? Can a land be born in a day? Can a nation be brought forth
all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons” (Isaiah 66:8). In my lifetime, the unthinkable has
happened. Israel was reborn as a nation on a single day, May 14, 1948! The
most important piece of the jigsaw puzzle of the end of the age is now firmly in
place. There could be no fulfillment of end-time biblical prophecies without
the existence of the State of Israel. The end is drawing nearer. Are you ready
for the end?
Prepared by James T. Bartsch Email Contact: jbartsch@wordexplain.com Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) |
