But let’s begin in Matt 24, which is a description of the Tribulation period when the age of Israel reconvenes.
Matt 24:1-14
24:1 And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down."
3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. 6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 10 "And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. 11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. 12 "And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. 13 "But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. 14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
NAS
Now as this is a description of the Tribulation period, which Church age believers will not be on earth for, we can still discern the signs of the times. Mat 16.
Mat 16:1-3
16:1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 But He answered and said to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3 "And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?
Luke 12:54-56
54 And He was also saying to the multitudes, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out. 55 "And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it turns out that way. 56 "You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?
NAS
Let me first say that the discussion of the ‘end times’ is often scary for many people.
Fear comes from ignorance. Fear of the unknown is why people are scared of ‘end times’ discussion.
But I hope to make it known to you.
Supernatural evidence exists that we are living in the end times.
According to the Bible, which we will see has overwhelming evidence of God as the Author, the end times will be exciting for the believer in Jesus Christ.
The believer is protected and even promoted at the return of Christ.
This will begin the greatest period in all of human history, it is not ‘the end’ for believers.
It is not the end of history, but Christ’s return will be the opening event in the greatest adventure in the history of mankind.
The greatest single theme in Scripture is the Second Coming of Christ.
While there are approximately 300 Old Testament passages that predict the first Coming of the Messiah, to die for the sins of the world, there are over 2400 verses in the Old and New Testament that reveal God’s promise of the return of Christ, to rule the earth in perfect environment.
Now for 2000 years Christians have anticipated that the Lord would come back in their lifetime, because He said He would come back to set up His kingdom, and it has not happened.
So #1; why should we think the Lord is coming back in OUR lifetime, and #2; why do the prophecies of the end times prove the Bible is true?
Well,
#1; the truth is that no previous generation has ever witnessed the fulfillment of even a fraction of the prophecies that we have seen since the mid-twentieth century,
and
#2; these prophecies written thousands of years ago are now coming true before our eyes in this world, things which the writers could not have known without direct guidance from an all-knowing Being.
As we analyze the evidence, we must note that there are two types of predictions.
There are a number of broad or general prophecies that describe general conditions that will exist when Christ will return.
Then there are specific unique predictions, which according to the Bible must take place before His return.
We will do our best to look at both, keeping in mind when these things were recorded on paper (or whatever substance they used): thousands of years ago.
When we are finished, I think you will see that we are certainly living in ‘end times’, and therefore everyone needs to make their peace with God before His soon return.
(I will tell you how at the end of our message)
General Biblical Prophecies:
- Deception in the world concerning the rise of false Christs.
Christ means Messiah, the promised One from the OT. It wasn’t the last name of Jesus. It was the title for Jesus. (i.e.- the Passion of THE Christ)
Matt 24:4-5
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
NIV
The Living Bible says it a little differently…
Matt 24:4-5
4 Jesus told them, "Don't let anyone fool you. 5 For many will come claiming to be the Messiah and will lead many astray.
TLB
Significantly, there are NO historical references to any false Messiahs before the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
In fact, the first appearance of a false Messiah occurred after the resurrection of Jesus. The Jewish scholar C.G. Montefiore wrote, “Of false Messiahs, we know of none among the Jews until Bar Cochba in 131 C.E.”
The genuine always precedes the appearance of the counterfeit.
(No one was making counterfeit American dollars before the American dollar was invented.)
Throughout history, a false Messiah has appeared approximately once every century since the days of Christ.
HOWEVER, a practical explosion of false Messiahs has appeared in our generation.
The false Messiahs of our day include David Koresth, Sun Myung Moon, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, L. Ron Hubbard, Lord Maitreya, and most recently Rael.
There are also numerous others that have claimed to be God in the flesh, the Messiah who has come to save the world.
The rising number of false Messiahs in our generation is preparing our society for the spirit of Antichrist worship that will manifest itself in the worship of the prophesied Antichrist in the last days.
This is the one that will be a world ruler in the end days before Christ’s return, as the Bible also predicts the formation of a one world government from which he can lead the world.
(Such as seen in organizations like the United Nations, NATO, European Union, etc…)
How a man could have written this 2000 years ago and seen the great technology and communication that would allow this to happen, I do not know.
Unless of course there was supernatural guidance by the God of the universe.
- Wars and rumors of wars.
Regarding His return to earth, Jesus Christ said
"And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
NAS in Matt 24:6-7
Since the close of WWII, the number of wars throughout the world has increased tremendously.
In 1981 Michael Kidron and Dan Smith wrote a military study, “The War Atlas”, that concluded the world has not known a single day without some nation waging a war or conflict somewhere on earth from the end of WWII until 1982.
Dozens of new nations demanded independence and old empires disintegrated, and “there have been about three hundred wars since 1945. There has been no single day free of war and few islands of tranquility.”
From 1982 until 1991, there were another forty-two wars according to “The New State of War and Peace” by Kidron and Smith. The 1990’s and new millennium has continued this trend of growing warfare.
There were more wars in the last 50 years of the 20th century than in all of the first 1950 years combined. (PT BOB)
Today, the standing armies and reserves of the worlds’ nations now contain hundreds of millions of soldiers.
The major powers today could mobilize hundreds of millions of troops if needed for global war.
An international think tank, the Club of Rome, issued the ‘Reshaping International Order Report’, which revealed that almost 50% of the world’s scientists are now involved in weapons research. (that’s ½ million scientists)
The continued arms buildup in Russia, China, America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Third World is setting the stage for the cataclysmic Battle of Armageddon, predicted in the Bible.
The increase of wars is also accompanied by incredible amounts of money now spent on weaponry.
The $3 billion spent on a single Trident nuclear submarine would pay for 16 million children to attend school for one year in the developing nations.
The money spent on one advanced fighter plane would provide the funds to establish 40,000 village pharmacies in poor nations.
Over 100 million people throughout the world are now employed by the military or defense industries.
I am not getting on a soapbox for disarmament or feeding the hungry!
I am sharing this with you to let you see the fulfillment of this prophecy, and the supernatural source of the Bible.
We must realistically acknowledge that we live in a dangerous world filled with totalitarian dictatorships that represent a serious military threat to our freedom and our physical survival.
However, the awesome new scientific discoveries and massive military budgets have combined to produce devastating weapons of mass destruction that have the potential to destroy a large part of the human race.
Another prophecy in Revelation tells us that 1/3 of the human race will be destroyed. (if you are a believer you won’t be here)
When else in history was this possible, if there were no nuclear bombs, or chemical and biological weapons??
When else in human history were there weapons of mass destruction, that could potentially wipe out the human race?
I am reminding you all of this to state the fact that these prophecies are coming true right before our eyes, even though this was written about 2000 years ago as having come from the mouth of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said there would be wars and rumors of wars, and that is happening much more than any other time in human history.
- Famines
Christ warned that there would be famines that would be widespread and devastating, leading up to the final conflict of Armageddon. (Mat 24:7)
John’s Apocalypse, the book of Revelation, also describes terrible famine in the last days.
Rev 6:5-6
5 And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine."
NAS
A black horse, signifying famine, that terrible form of judgment; and he that sat on the horse had a pair of balances in his hand (v. 5), signifying that men must now eat their bread by weight, as was threatened (Lev 26:26), They shall deliver your bread to you by weight.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
However, it seems this famine, as all others, fell most severely upon the poor; whereas the oil and the wine, which were dainties of the rich, were not hurt; but if bread, the staff of life, be broken, dainties will not supply the place of it.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
Rev 6:1-8
(The Roman coin denarius, here translated shilling (ASV), was the equivalent of a man's wages for a day of work. One measure of barley or grain was the average daily consumption of workmen).
(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
After a full day of work, there will not even be enough earnings to feed a man’s family.
We face drought and famine conditions throughout significant portions of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Millions are at risk of famine: North Korea, Sudan, and China are currently unable to properly feed their populations.
According to a recent “Annual Study of the UN Population Fund”, the amount of agricultural land worldwide is decreasing rapidly.
Deserts are growing at the rate of 14.8 million acres every year.
Over 26 billion tons of precious topsoil is lost each year, and the valuable tropical rain forests that contribute significant amounts of our planet’s oxygen are shrinking every year by millions of acres.
I say this not to scare anybody, but to remind you that 2000 years ago the Bible said this would happen.
And while all this loss of natural resources takes place, the world’s population is growing at the rate of more than 210,000 people every single day.
While it took the time from the creation of man until World War I to produce a global population of two billion people, it is remarkable that another two billion people will be added to our current global population during the next forty years!
The world’s population now exceeds 6 billion, with the population expected to exceed 8 billion mouths to feed by 2026, according to the census brief “World Population Profile:1998”, and will reach 9.3 billion by 2050, if we are still around.
I say that again because this is a sign of the end times according to the Bible, when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back. Don’t think human history will go on and on. In fact, according to the worsening conditions of the world, it cannot go on for much longer.
- Pestilences (Disease and Plagues)
Rev 6:8
And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
NAS
Rev 6:8
That the pestilence is referred to here is rendered more certain by the fact that the Hebrew word deber (OT:1698), "pestilence," which occurs about fifty times in the Old Testament, is rendered thanatos (NT:2288), "death," more than thirty times in the Septuagint.
Compare Ezek 14:21: "I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence," deber (OT:1698)-Septuagint, as here, thanaton (NT:2288). See also 2 Kings 17:26.
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
Worldwide pestilence and plague would be a sign that we were living in the generation when Jesus the Christ would finally return.
Rev 6:8 has the prophet John giving a terrifying vision of the coming holocaust during the seven-year tribulation on the earth, when God will unleash the terrible plagues that will decimate one-quarter of the world’s population.
In April 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a frightening report that “at least 30 new infectious diseases with no known treatment, cure, or vaccine have emerged in the past 20 years”.
Their report, published on the internet, stated: “New infectious diseases can emerge from genetic changes in existing organisms and appear suddenly in new populations. At least 30 new disease agents have been identified over the past 2 decades, and new agents are being added with disquieting regularity.”
This modern explosion of infectious disease is a direct result of the increase in air travel, growing urbanization, and poor sanitation.
Many diseases of the past, including bubonic plague, are re-emerging as deadly threats to humanity.
The WHO recently reported that disease such as malaria, smallpox, diphtheria, and yellow fever are also making devastating comebacks.
Unfortunately, many of these diseases are becoming drug-resistant superbugs.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science declared that “overuse of antibiotics is leading to a world in which the drugs are no longer effective.”
A new form of malaria that causes paralysis and death has infected over 300 million victims worldwide and the disease no longer responds to the traditional treatment, quinine.
The health authorities decision to eliminate the use of DDT, the most effective pesticide against the mosquitoes that carry malaria, has allowed malaria to once again claim hundreds of millions of lives in the Third World.
Public health doctors are fighting a losing battle against the new scourge of 53 sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
The new epidemic of STDs is a modern form of pestilence that is a direct result of the widespread sexual immorality and perversion of this generation.
Public health doctors estimate that as many as 40% of all single, sexually active adults in North America are infected with a sexually transmitted disease.
The deadly AIDS virus is the most dangerous plague in history. It is now the number one killer disease worldwide, ahead of malaria and tuberculosis.
As of December 1, 2000, the United Nations/World Health Organization reported that more than 22 million had already died of AIDS and that another 36.1 million were currently infected with this fatal disease. The vast majority of those currently infected live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The latest updated death toll reveals that AIDS is the worst epidemic in human history, exceeding the Black Plague of the fourteenth century and the 20 million killed by the Spanish Flu in 1918-1919.
Over 11 million people worldwide die form tuberculosis (TB) every year. This is aggravated by a new deadly drug-resistant TB strain.
The Laboratory Center for Disease Control in Ottawa, Canada, reported that tens of thousands of North Americans have already become infected with a new drug-resistant form of TB that kills over 70 percent of its victims.
- The Gospel of the Kingdom preached in all the world.
Jesus predicted in Matt 24:14
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
NAS
The sharing of the Gospel in the whole world has been made much more encompassing and rapid by the increase in travel and technology.
The last 50 years has seen a great increase in the acceptance of Jesus Christ as the God and Savior of the universe, even in countries with false religions.
In the Muslim nation of Indonesia, more than 20% of the population has recently accepted Christ.
Despite decades of dedicated missionary efforts, largely by England and the United States, by 1900 only 3 percent of Africans had become followers of Jesus Christ.
However by 2000, over 45% of the five hundred million people living in Africa have accepted Christ.
Before WWII Christianity was almost unknown in South Korea, yet today up to 40% of their population follow Christ.
The Lausanne Statistics Task Force on Evangelism concluded that the number of born again Christians (Joh 3:3) has grown three times faster than the world’s population during the 17 years from 1980-1997.
John 3:3
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
(explain ‘born again’ is not something weird)
In 1430, one person in 99 of the world’s population was a Christian.
In 1790, one in 49 was a Christian.
In 1940, one in 32 people throughout the world was a Christian.
In 1970, one in 19 was a Christian.
In 1980, one in 16 was said to be a Christian.
In 1983, one in every 13 people were Christian.
In 1986, one in 11 was a Christian.
In 1997, one in 10 people in the world were Christian.
God is allowing the word of His Son to spread very rapidly before His Second Coming to the earth.
God always gives grace before judgment.
He will give people many chances to believe in His Son before each of their lives is over.
He is now increasing the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ to spread throughout the world, so no human being will have the ability to say “I never heard this gospel”.
Christian radio broadcasts are now reaching almost half of the worlds’ 360 mega-languages, covering 78% of the earth’s population.
The internet has made the gospel message travel worldwide and in many different varieties and sources.
The touch of a finger can lead to hundreds of biblical websites for those who are really seeking to know the Truth, in an instant.
For another example, even in Communist China the underground church is now estimated to have more than 100 million followers of Christ, where in 1949 there were thought to be less than 1 million.
Every year, more than 300 million Bibles, New Testaments, and Scripture selections are distributed throughout the world.
- The Apostle Paul’s warning signs of the last days.
2 Tim 3:1-5
3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.
NAS
Paul wrote to Timothy and prophetically warned him of these spiritual conditions that would characterize the people living in the generation when Jesus Christ would return to establish His Kingdom.
This prophecy so accurately depicts today’s world, even in the greatest country of America, that it could have been read in this morning’s newspaper.
Paul’s prophetic list of the symptoms of our disintegrating North American and European society reveals that our world is standing at a spiritual crossroads.
The “last days” could very well be in our generation.
Specific Biblical Prophecies:
History reveals that none of the following predictions were ever fulfilled in any previous generation of the last 2000 years.
The unusual nature of these prophecies also suggests that it is almost impossible that they could be fulfilled again in a following generation.
Jesus encouraged His believers with these words:
Luke 21:28
28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
NAS
1. The rebirth of the nation Israel in 1948.
Throughout the entire Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, God repeatedly prophesied that the land of Israel, the ancient land of Canaan, was the Promised Land that the Jews would be able to enjoy forever.
In Gen 13:14-15, we see that God made an eternal covenant with Abraham and his descendants, that God would give them this Holy Land and would rule it as the Messiah.
The prophet Ezekiel described in his great vision of “the valley of dry bones” Israel’s final return in the last days, leading to the return of their long-awaited Messiah.
Ezek 37:11-14
11 Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.' 12 "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD," Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 "And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.' "
NAS
No other ancient people has lost its historic homeland for many centuries and then recovered its territory to resume its national existence once again.
Yet Israel defied astronomical odds to take its place as a Jewish nation in 1948, after almost 2000 years of persecution and exile among the Gentile (non-Jewish) nations.
This restoration of the nation of Israel was prophesied in Eze 37 and Matt 24.
Many OT prophets foresaw this restoration of Israel, and that is what motivated the Jewish people for so many centuries to return to the Promised Land to await their coming Messiah.
During the last century, millions of Jews from more than 70 foreign countries as diverse as Russia, Morocco, and Ethiopia abandoned their ancient homes, possessions, and neighbors to undertake an arduous journey toward the fulfillment of their age-old Passover dream: “Next year in Jerusalem”.
Over 600,000 Jews returned to the new Jewish state in 1948.
Think of the coordination involved, and the odds of this attempt NOT being squashed by the angry, violent Arab nations around them.
Now throughout human history, most nations were not immediately recognized as nations. It took decades and even centuries for lands to evolve into independent nations, such as Egypt, England, and France.
Yet the prophet Isaiah predicted something that was unheard of; a nation taking form in one day.
No one, from ancient times until now, has ever witnessed a nation being created so quickly.
During a hearing before the British Royal Commission on Palestine, David Ben Gurion, as chairman of the Jewish Agency, announced, “The Bible is our only mandate. The mandate of the League (of Nations) is only a recognition of this right and does not establish new things.”
Remarkably, when the British Mandate over Palestine, authorized by the League of Nations, ended at midnight on May 15, 1948, Israel’s’ first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declared publicly that Israel was once again a nation and now took its rightful place on the stage of world history.
For a more detailed Old Testament prophecy that predicts the EXACT DAY of the reformation of Israel, on May 15, 1948, go to www.gbible.org and research it for yourself.
Now regarding this prophecy of Israel again becoming a nation in the end times, there are 10 other related factors and prophecies which are only being revealed right now.
a. The miraculous restoration of the Hebrew language.
The Hebrew language was spoken by the Jews for centuries, and is what most of the Old Testament was written in.
However, the Hebrew language had ceased to be the common spoken language of the Jews long before the days of Jesus Christ.
After exile of the Israelite captives from the 10 tribes of northern Israel to Assyria in 721 BC and the exile of the Jewish captives from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in 606 BC, there were relatively few Jews still surviving in ancient Israel.
Following the 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the 50,000 Jews who returned to Canaan in 536 BC had adopted the Babylonian Aramaic language and lost the normal use of Hebrew as their daily language.
The priests who served in the second Temple in Jerusalem after 516 BC were the only Jews who still used the ancient Hebrew language.
Most of the Jews living in Israel in the first century days of Jesus spoke Greek, Aramaic(the ancient Babylonian language), or Latin (if they dealt with the Roman government).
However 2500 years ago, in 520 BC, the prophet Zephaniah said that God would cause the returning exiles to restore the ancient language of Hebrew.
Zeph 3:9
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
KJV
A study of historical records confirms that no other nation throughout the history of the nations has ever lost its natural language and later recovered it as a living language after a period of centuries.
For example, there are no cultures in the Middle East still speaking the ancient Egyptians, Sumerian, or Chaldean languages from ancient times.
Eliazar ben Yehuda was a Jewish Hebrew scholar living in Palestine who believed that God told him to restore the Hebrew language to the Jewish people, to use the “tongue of the prophets” in ordinary conversation.
After his death in 1922, his 16 volume Hebrew language dictionary was published, giving the Jews a modern resource to learn their ancient language again.
Up to May 15, 1948, Palestine was ruled by England under the League of Nations.
Then when the Jewish exiles returned to the Promised Land from 70 different nations and languages, the new Israeli government and military wisely used compulsory Hebrew language classes run by the army to bring together these widely divergent Jewish exiles into a united Israeli people by teaching them the revived Hebrew language as their common language in their restored homeland.
Today the inhabitants of Israel can truly join together in one Hebrew voice and call “upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent”.
The restoration of the ancient tongue of the prophets certainly qualifies as one of the most extraordinary miracles and unique biblical predictions ever fulfilled.
b. Arab-Israeli Conflict
King David prophesied about 3000 years ago in the book of Psalms that certain peoples and nations would be against the Jews and try to eliminate them as a nation.
This has happened both in ancient times and in modern times.
“Coincidentally” the same peoples listed by David 3000 years ago are the same exact nations that are members of the current Arab League of Nations, who violently oppose the existence of modern day Israel.
The prophecy is found in Psa 83:1-8.
Ps 83:1-8
O God, do not remain quiet;
Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
For, behold,
Thine enemies make an uproar;
And those who hate Thee have exalted themselves.
3 They make shrewd plans against Thy people,
And conspire together against Thy treasured ones.
4 They have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,
That the name of Israel be remembered no more."
5 For they have conspired together with one mind;
Against Thee do they make a covenant:
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab, and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
They have become a help to the children of Lot.
NAS
In the last days these peoples will join to make one last joint effort to destroy Israel, before the Messiah comes back to save them.
The following list details the ancient tribal name and its corresponding equivalent nation in the Middle East today.
Ancient tribe Modern national name
Edom, descended from Esau, Jordan
Brother of Jacob.
Ishmaelites, descended from Arabs
Ishmael, son of Hagar.
Moab, son of Lot Jordan, east of Dead Sea
Hagrites, from one of Hagar’s sons. Jordan and NW Saudi
Arabia
Gebal, ancient Byblus Lebanon north of Beirut
Ammon, son of Lot Ammon, capital of Jordan
Amalek, descended from Esau Southern Jordan
Philistines, from Ham Palestine and Syria
Tyre, a Phoenician city Lebanon
Assur, founded Assyria Iraq, Syria, Iran
Children of Lot, Moab, and Ammon Jordan
The hatred of the Arabs for the Jewish people was first predicted 4000 years ago through God’s prophetic command to Hagar, Abraham’s concubine.
The Lord commanded that she should call her son Ishmael
Gen 16:11-12
"Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son;
And you shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.
12 "And he will be a wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone's hand will be against him;
And he will live to the east of all his brothers."
NAS
To this day, and intensifying since Israel became a nation again in 1948, the Arab descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael live with hatred toward the Jewish descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac.
This hatred is obvious in the suicide bombings and terrorist attacks against innocent Israeli people.
c. The return of the Ethiopian Jews to the restored nation of Israel.
The prophet Zephaniah predicted that the Ethiopian Jews would finally return from thousands of years of exile to come home to the Land of Israel.
(Approximately 3000 years ago, during the days of King Solomon, a group of Jews including representatives from each of the 12 tribes immigrated to Ethiopia with Prince Menelik, the son of King Solomon, and his mother, the Queen of Sheba.)
Zeph 3:10
10 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
My worshipers, My dispersed ones,
Will bring My offerings.
Isa 43:6
6 "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,
The north refers to Russia and the south refers to Ethiopia.
Another passage from Isaiah prophesies about the land of Ethiopia and the coming Millennial ‘rest’ or Sabbath.
Isa 18:1-4
Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, 2 Which sends ambassadors by sea,Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,"Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin,To a people terrible from their beginning onward,A nation powerful and treading down,Whose land the rivers divide."
3 All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.
4 For so the LORD said to me,
"I will take My rest,And I will look from My dwelling place Like clear heat in sunshine,Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
NKJV
Remarkably, during the period from 1989 to 1991 following the end of the Ethiopian civil war, tens of thousands of black Ethiopian Jews known as Falashas were flown home to Israel in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of Zephaniah.
Although they followed many of the Jewish rituals of worship and feasts such as Passover, they had no knowledge of the Feast of Purim or Hanukkah because these festivals were instituted in the centuries after they were separated from their race.
d. The astonishing fertility of Israel.
The prophet Isaiah also predicted that Israel would become fertile in the last days.
Isa 27:6
6 Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob;
Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.
NKJV
Before Israel became a nation again in 1948, the land of Israel was desolate for almost 2000 years, since the times of Christ.
The Roman legions, when they destroyed Israel in 70 AD, stripped the land of its trees and burned its orchards as part of its scorched earth policy.
The Turkish absentee landlords displayed no genuine concern for the land and allowed the removal of almost all trees for firewood for centuries.
In Mark Twain’s book “The Innocents”, he comments about his 1867 tour of the Holy Land:
“There was hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soul, had almost deserted the country.”
However, the returning Jews have transformed the Promised Land into the most agriculturally efficient land on earth according to the United Nations.
The value of the agricultural crops produced annually exceeds 2 billion dollars.
Today, Israel supplies over 90 percent of the citrus fruit consumed by over 500 million Europeans, and has annual agricultural exports to Western Europe exceeding $802 million.
The astonishing fertility of Israel in the end times is verified by these yields:
Peak yields of tomatoes reach 202 tons per acre!
1.2 million roses per acre are grown in greenhouses each season!
Annual milk yields per cow reach an average of 2,640 gallons.
In the Negev Desert, peak yields of citrus reach 32 tons per acre.
The terribly dry environment forced the Jews to innovate and develop remarkable new drip-irrigation techniques that ensure every drop of water is delivered directly through to the plant’s roots.
Utilization of the pure fertilizer provided from the minerals found in the Dead Sea has allowed Israel’s farmers to turn the deserts into lush gardens growing bananas, mangos, and grapes.
The rainfall in Palestine increased dramatically during the last century. (coincidence?)
The returning Jewish exiles planted two hundred million trees!
The OT prophets Joel and Isaiah prophesied about the increased rainfall and fertility of Israel in the future.
Joel 2:21-24
21 Fear not, O land;Be glad and rejoice,For the LORD has done marvelous things! 22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;For the open pastures are springing up,And the tree bears its fruit;The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, you children of Zion,And rejoice in the LORD your God;For He has given you the former rain faithfully,And He will cause the rain to come down for you--The former rain,And the latter rain in the first month. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
NKJV
Isa 35:6-7
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
NKJV
As a result of the unprecedented reforestation, Israel’s climate is beginning to return to the original conditions of the ancient past when Israel was called “a land of milk and honey”.
e. The rebuilding of Jerusalem.
One of the most fascinating and little-known prophecies is the 25 century old prediction by the prophet Jeremiah that the city of Jerusalem will be precisely ‘rebuilt for the Lord’ in the last days in a very particular sequence.
Jer 31:38-40
38 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 "And the measuring line shall go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. 40 "And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever."
NAS
The order and modern equivalents, in parenthesis, are as follows:
38 "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel (northwest corner of Temple Mount) to the Corner Gate (Jaffa Gate). 39 "And the measuring line shall go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb(northeast of the corner gate on the ancient wall); then it will turn to Goah (Schneller’s Orphanage).
40 "And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes (ancient cemetery), and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron (follows the ancient Brook Kidron), to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east (an ancient walled up gate near the sealed Eastern Gate), shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever."
Now this is exactly how it happened when Jerusalem was rebuilt!
In a book by George T.B. Davis called “Fulfilled Prophecy That Prove the Bible”, the expansion of the modern city is detailed as precisely following the ancient prophecy of Jeremiah, written 2500 years ago.
What are the odds of this happening? What is the chance of Jeremiah guessing the order of the corners and sides of Jerusalem being reconstructed?
Professor Peter Stoner concluded in his book “Science Speaks: An Evaluation of Certain Christian Evidences” that the odds against the rebuilding of the Holy City fulfilling this precise prediction by random chance were only one in 80 billion.
Here is how he explains its likelihood of happening exactly as Jeremiah wrote about it.
“It is rather easy to find the number of ways in which the city of Jerusalem might have grown in its first nine steps. There are six definite corners to the old city. Certainly the growth might have started from any one of these corners, to say nothing of the sides. Let us say then, that the first development could have come at any of these six corners. Having built at point number 1 it could have next built at any of the old corners, or gone on in any one of these directions from number 1; thus, the second expansion could have come as any of 8 places. Continuing this on for the nine points and multiplying the results together, we find that the probability of Jeremiah writing this prophecy, from human knowledge, and having come true would be about 1 in 8x1010.”
f. The prophecy of Jerusalem being an “unwalled city”.
The prophet Ezekial predicted thousands of years ago that in the end times Russia and the Arab nations would invade Israel.
Ezek 38:11
11 and you will say,' I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gates,
NAS
Zech 2:4
4 and said to him, "Run, speak to that young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.
NAS
The reason this prediction is so significant is that when this was written, it was unheard of for a city, town, or village to have no walls around it for defense.
The prophets themselves must have been baffled.
The Jews knew this was a description of the end times, but they could not understand how or why Jerusalem and Israel would have no walls.
Well thousands of years later it is not until this last century in the 1900’s that the development of long-range weapons have made walls useless for defense.
Something unthinkable when it was written in the Bible make perfect sense now and only now. Coincidence?
g. Israel’s plans to rebuild the Temple.
It has been predicted thousands of years ago that the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem in the end times, when the Anti-Christ will rule, pretending to be God. Isa 2:2, Rev 11:1-2, 2Thess 2:3-4, Dan 8:14.
Destruction of the Temple
Prophesied by Jesus
Luke 21:5-6 "And while some were talking about the temple, that it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts, He said, As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down."
Destroyed in 70 A.D.
It was destroyed by four Roman legions under the command of Titus. The Jewish people have not been able to practice animal sacrifices since that time.
The Temple was burned, so the gold melted and ran into the cracks in the stones. That is why the destruction was so great, to find all the gold.
According to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in “The Jewish War” page 303, who was in Jerusalem at its destruction, records that trees and timbers were cut down in a 10 mile circle.
“The Romans, though it was a terrible struggle to collect the timber, raised their platforms in twenty-one days, having as described before stripped the whole area in a circle round the town to a distance of ten miles.”
Jerusalem was totally destroyed and as Jesus had predicted - not one stone was left upon another. When the Temple was set on fire the Roman soldiers tore apart the stone to get the melted gold. The Menorah and vessels were carried to Rome and the treasury was robbed.
As Daniel had predicted the Temple was destroyed after the Messiah had come, not before.
Bible scholar Ray C. Stedman comments on the predictions of Jesus and their fulfillment in history a few years later,
In Luke 21:20 we have other details of this predicted overthrow of the city and the Temple. There Jesus adds, "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near." Forty years later the Roman armies under Titus came in and fulfilled the prediction to the very letter. With Titus was a Jewish historian named Josephus who recorded the terrible story in minute detail. It was one of the most ghastly sieges in all history. When the Romans came the city was divided among three warring factions of Jews who were so at each others' throats that they paid no heed to the approach of the Romans. Thus Titus came up and surrounded the city while it was distracted by its own internecine warfare. The Romans assaulted the walls again and again, and gave every opportunity to the Jews to surrender and save their capital from destruction.
During the long siege a terrible famine raged in the city and the bodies of the inhabitants were literally stacked like cordwood in the streets. Mothers ate their children to preserve their own strength. The toll of Jewish suffering was horrible but they would not surrender the city. Again and again they attempted to trick the Romans through guile and perfidy. When at last the walls were breached Titus tried to preserve the Temple by giving orders to his soldiers not to destroy or burn it. But the anger of the soldiers against the Jews was so intense that, maddened by the resistance they encountered, they disobeyed the order of their general and set fire to the Temple. There were great quantities of gold and silver there which had been placed in the Temple for safekeeping. This melted and ran down between the rocks and into the cracks of the stones. When the soldiers captured the Temple area, in their greed to obtain this gold and silver they took long bars and pried apart the massive stones. Thus, quite literally, not one stone was left standing upon another. The Temple itself was totally destroyed, though the wall supporting the area upon which the Temple was built was left partially intact and a portion of it remains to this day, called the Western Wall. (Ray Stedman, What’s this world coming to?)
2 Thess 2:3-4
3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
NAS
Israel, now that they are a nation again since 1948, has also drawn up plans to rebuild the Temple.
h. The Red Heifer sacrifice.
An important part of Jewish worship in the Temple is the purification ritual of sacrificing a red heifer, which is a cow.
The red heifer sacrifice is necessary to produce the waters of purification, as described in Numbers 19.
Then with the waters of purification the Temple objects and stones on the Temple Mount can be cleansed, as they have been spiritually defiled through numerous bloody conquests.
*This ritual cleansing is necessary to prepare for resumption of animal sacrifices in the 3rd Temple according to Jewish law.
It is interesting that today there are Jewish groups that are preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple by raising a breed of pure red cattle, which they hope will eventually produce a pure red heifer.
It must be without spot or blemish; a perfect pure red heifer.
When one is found that meets the strict qualifications of Numbers ch. 19, it will be sacrificed on the Mount of Olives directly opposite the sealed Eastern Gate.
Then the Temple will be purified for future worship and animal sacrifices.
Recently the Jews thought they had the perfect spotless red animal, but it developed some white hairs from a bruise and therefore was disqualified. Num 19:2
2. The revived Roman empire.
Dan 7:3-7 "And four great beasts [evil powers] were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion [the Chaldean Empire, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq] and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear [the Persian Empire, from India to Egypt, western Asia, the Arabian desert, and the Persian gulf]. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat!' After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard [the Macedonian Empire, in Europe], which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast [the Roman Empire], dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
It is interesting today that there are two unions of nations forming in Europe: the European Union and the Western European Union.
These could be the reformation of the Roman Empire.
Daniel also received an interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s remarkable prophetic dream about a gigantic metallic statue.
This statue represented the 4 world empires that would rule from the time of Daniel to the time of the Millennial reign of Christ.
Dan 2:31-35
31 "You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32 "The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them. 35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
The first 3 Gentile world empires are Babylon, “the head of gold”, Medo-Persia, “the chest of silver”, and the Grecian Empire, “the thighs of brass”. The fourth empire, Rome, is called the “legs of iron”.
It succeeded the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great and was prophesied in this statue to split into two portions, symbolized by the two legs.
This prediction was fulfilled when the Roman Empire was severed into a western empire under Rome and an eastern empire under Constantinople.
The revival of this divided Roman empire could also be symbolized here by the WEU and the EU.
We simply do not know exactly which nations will represent which empire. We don’t know exactly how it will play out.
But it is amazing to see these unions forming in Europe, uniting so many nations that have been divided for thousands of years.
Dan 2:36-43
36 "This was the dream; now we shall tell its interpretation before the king. 37 "You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory; 38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39 "And after you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 40 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. 41 "And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43 "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.
The Lord gave Daniel divine understanding to interpret the king’s vision that revealed the fourth empire, Rome, would be revived in the last days in the form of a ten-nation confederacy or superstate.
This vision revealed that the ten “toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”
This accurately describes the nations of modern Europe that would include both powerful and weak member states.
These 10 future nations will unite into this superstate and give their power to an evil dictator, the Antichrist, for a period of time until God destroys it as in Dan 7:8-11.
Dan 7:8-11
8 "While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts.
In the Tribulation there will be a revived Roman Empire, and the ten horns represent ten nations.
9 "I kept looking Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow,
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
10 "A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were opened.
11 "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.
This is also seen in Dan 2.
Dan 2:44-45
44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. 45 "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy."
NAS
This fourth beast is Rome, a world power between 146 B.C. and 246 AD. In 146 B.C. the Romans took over Corinth and destroyed the greatest art treasures of the ancient world.
They were very vicious, and they conquered anyone who got in their way.
However, their cruelty was harnessed in great self-discipline, so that it simply aroused fear in their enemies, which made their conquests easy. (like Satan)
Ten nations out of the Old Roman Empire will come together to form a new Roman Empire.
England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Libya, Egypt, all of North Africa, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Austria, Yugoslavia, the Balkans, and Greece were all a part of the Roman Empire.
We do know that the USA is not a part of this empire.
The revived Roman Empire of the upcoming Tribulation period is generally called the king of the West, which could mean western European nations.
We do not know exactly which nations the ten horns are. We do know that there will be a majority of nations opposing one nation, Israel.
Psa 46:6-9 says, "The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.
["Lord of hosts" is one of the titles of our Lord Jesus Christ, representing freedom through military victory.]
Come, behold the works of the Lord [the wonderful way God has preserved believers in military service, especially in combat], who has wrought desolations in the earth [Jesus Christ controls history and works on behalf of client nations who are facing a military crisis]. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire."
According to Grant Jeffries, in his book “The Triumphant Return”, there are many events going on in the European Union which point to the revived Roman Empire.
In 1991, the leaders of Europe signed the Maastrict Treaty, which consolidated the 15 nations of the EU into the world’s first true superstate.
Both the prophecy of Daniel 7 and John’s predictions in Rev 13 and 17 confirm that the Roman empire would be revived in the final days before Christ’s Millennial reign on earth.
IN 1957, after 2 devastating world wars and the death of 50 million people, the political leaders of Europe held a conference to plan an unprecedented European superstate.
This would create a unique confederation between the major nations of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman emperors.
Initially 6 European countries signed the 1957 Treaty of Rome and laid the foundation for the future United States of Europe.
A powerful European statesman named Henri Spaak, the former secretary-general of NATO, admitted during a BBC documentary on the European Union: “We felt like Romans on that day… We were consciously re-creating the Roman Empire once more.”
The EU is an economic, political, and military union right now.
It has a directly elected European Parliament with 626 members which has gradually increased its powers over laws and taxation since the Treaty of Amsterdam on May 1, 1999.
The EU created the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
When I went to Ireland last summer, I got to experience my first Euro-dollar; which is the one currency now available throughout Europe (quite a step towards a one-world monetary system and one-world government as mentioned in the Bible)
They have also created the European Central Bank and the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The political consolidation of the EU has produced a common European c
