by jimwalton » Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:48 am
1. Ezekiel 38.11 speaks of "unwalled villages." These have been around for centuries now.
2. Isa. 11.11; Jer. 16.14-15; Ezekiel 38.8-9; Lk. 21.24 mention that Israel will be restored to their land and have a land of their own. After 2000 without one, Israel became a nation state on May 14, 1948.
3. Many Jews will convert to Christianity (Rom. 11.25-26). Though Jews are coming to Christ, I think the verse speaks of more than just what we're seeing now.
4. Matt. 24.14: The Gospel will be preached to the "whole world". May be more proverbial than literal. Modern technology is making this literally possible. So this is mostly happening now. Of the over 7000 languages in the world, the Gospel has reached most of them, though 2000 still need a Bible in their own language.
5. False messiahs and false prophets. (Mt. 24.24-26; Lk. 21.8). This has never stopped, but will increase towards the End. It could be true already. The Internet is FULL of such: people who twist, distort, deprecate, and downright lie about the Bible and Christianity. I have these conversations every day on this forum. It is rampant. So this is happening now.
6. An apostate Church: the church not even believing in the Bible, not teaching the Bible, and instead teaching lies about what the Bible is and what it says. Even pastors and priests denying what the Bible says and distorting it. This is happening now. "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark."
7. An increase of communication around the world. Knowledge increasing (Dan. 12.4), and the world being able to see things all at the same time (Rev. 11.3, 7-10). This is happening now.
8. A temple in Israel on the Temple mount. It's impossible to know whether Ezekiel means this to be literal or metaphorical. But there's at least no physical, literal temple on the Temple Mount right now.
9. Natural disasters. An increase of environmental cataclysms. We see this happening now. These verses may also symbolically refer to political and social upheaval, which we are also seeing now.
10. Wars and rumors of wars. Not happening right now, but the world is on a knife's edge of tension. This could happen literally over night.
11. Global famine, a global pandemic, and economic collapse and disaster. Umm, we could be seeing this now, but maybe not. We'll have to see how all this plays out.
12. The large-scale martyrdom of Christians. This is happening in many countries around the world, but not so much in the West.
13. The appearance of the antichrist. Many candidates, many accusations, no solid evidence yet.
1. Ezekiel 38.11 speaks of "unwalled villages." These have been around for centuries now.
2. Isa. 11.11; Jer. 16.14-15; Ezekiel 38.8-9; Lk. 21.24 mention that Israel will be restored to their land and have a land of their own. After 2000 without one, Israel became a nation state on May 14, 1948.
3. Many Jews will convert to Christianity (Rom. 11.25-26). Though Jews are coming to Christ, I think the verse speaks of more than just what we're seeing now.
4. Matt. 24.14: The Gospel will be preached to the "whole world". May be more proverbial than literal. Modern technology is making this literally possible. So this is mostly happening now. Of the over 7000 languages in the world, the Gospel has reached most of them, though 2000 still need a Bible in their own language.
5. False messiahs and false prophets. (Mt. 24.24-26; Lk. 21.8). This has never stopped, but will increase towards the End. It could be true already. The Internet is FULL of such: people who twist, distort, deprecate, and downright lie about the Bible and Christianity. I have these conversations every day on this forum. It is rampant. So this is happening now.
6. An apostate Church: the church not even believing in the Bible, not teaching the Bible, and instead teaching lies about what the Bible is and what it says. Even pastors and priests denying what the Bible says and distorting it. This is happening now. "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark."
7. An increase of communication around the world. Knowledge increasing (Dan. 12.4), and the world being able to see things all at the same time (Rev. 11.3, 7-10). This is happening now.
8. A temple in Israel on the Temple mount. It's impossible to know whether Ezekiel means this to be literal or metaphorical. But there's at least no physical, literal temple on the Temple Mount right now.
9. Natural disasters. An increase of environmental cataclysms. We see this happening now. These verses may also symbolically refer to political and social upheaval, which we are also seeing now.
10. Wars and rumors of wars. Not happening right now, but the world is on a knife's edge of tension. This could happen literally over night.
11. Global famine, a global pandemic, and economic collapse and disaster. Umm, we could be seeing this now, but maybe not. We'll have to see how all this plays out.
12. The large-scale martyrdom of Christians. This is happening in many countries around the world, but not so much in the West.
13. The appearance of the antichrist. Many candidates, many accusations, no solid evidence yet.