Many people talk about seeing the "signs of the times." They see wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and nations have risen against other nations. Wars have been going on for centuries, as well as earthquakes and nations have been in conflict continually. The War to End All Wars really wasn't, and natural disasters have been common throughout time. What would make people believe that these are the last days on Earth spoken about in the Bible?
The chapter of Matthew 24 (in the Bible) is critical to understanding the signs of the times. The timeline that Jesus gave to His disciples of coming events in the world is as follows:
1.) The disciples of Jesus ask, "What will the signs of Your coming be? - They want to know the time of the "end of the age."
2.) Jesus begins to talk about spiritual deception happening with "false-christs" ("anti" in the Greek means 'instead of' rather than 'against')
3.) Jesus is warning his disciples about many people who come, calling themselves "christ", instead of the one true Savior. Their sole purpose on earth is to DECEIVE people.
4.) There are wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places.
5.) KEY POINT: directly after this statement, Jesus says "All these are the BEGINNING of sorrows."
So people scoff at these being the last days because all THESE things happen regularly on the earth. We have all these signs occurring in the world today - that is without question.
Moving on...
6.) Then THEY (assuming non-disciples of Christ) will deliver the children of God up to tribulation and kill them. We see this happening all over the world today. This is TRIBULATION, but not the GREAT TRIBULATION.
7.) Hatred begins for all believers in Christ - this too is happening all over the world.
8.) Many will be offended (because of the message of Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation)
9.) Men will betray each other.
10.) False prophets will rise up and deceive many. - This is happening more than ever in the world today!
11.) Lawlessness abounds and the love of many grows cold. - There is a lack of love, even within the church today with the spirit of division and offense inside the church.
12.) HE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED (Matthew 24:13)
13.) Finally, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations, and THEN THE END WILL COME (Matthew 24:14).
We are approaching this point in the timeline of signs. Christians are being persecuted all around the world, love within the church has grown cold, and betrayal abounds. False prophets have risen in every part of the world, deceiving many away from the message of Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation. The world is all about religious tolerance, seeking desperately to offend no one, but living with offense and persecution from the world toward the church of Jesus Christ, his faithful disciples. The gospel is being preached all over the world as a witness to all nations. We are sitting at this point right now.
What comes NEXT?
14.) THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (this requires the arrival of the ANTI-CHRIST) on the world scene who will stand in the holy place and declare himself to be God.
15.) Those is JUDEA, the Jews, will flee to the mountains. This must done very quickly as Jesus says not to go back into the house for anything.
16.) This is the point that GREAT TRIBULATION begins and is worse than any tribulation to ever be on the earth before this time.
17.) The days will be shortened for "the elect's sake" (Matthew 24:22)
18.) False christs and false prophets will arise, doing false signs and wonders that have the power to possibly even deceive the elect.
FINALLY....
19.) At the end of this tribulation time, the sun will be darkened (solar eclipse - sign) and moon will not gives its light (lunar eclipse - sign)
20.) Stars fall from heaven and powers of the earth are shaken.
21.) The sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory.
22.) He sends His angels with a sound of a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Notice this happens AFTER the Great Tribulation, and is the final coming of the Son of Man. This is the timeline of events that Jesus gave His disciples in chronological order, so we could definitely know all the things that must take place before His return.
I wanted to show this to you, as I have recently been shown this truth by the Spirit of the Lord. None of this is my own opinion, but rather just walking slowly through Matthew 24, showing that Jesus Himself laid out the timeline of events. These are the signs that we are to watch for, and as the watchman on the wall, I am blowing my trumpet to warn all, close and far off, that Jesus is coming back soon!
So, with this knowledge, what do we do? Jesus gave us instruction in Matthew 28:18-22 (NKJV):
The chapter of Matthew 24 (in the Bible) is critical to understanding the signs of the times. The timeline that Jesus gave to His disciples of coming events in the world is as follows:
1.) The disciples of Jesus ask, "What will the signs of Your coming be? - They want to know the time of the "end of the age."
2.) Jesus begins to talk about spiritual deception happening with "false-christs" ("anti" in the Greek means 'instead of' rather than 'against')
3.) Jesus is warning his disciples about many people who come, calling themselves "christ", instead of the one true Savior. Their sole purpose on earth is to DECEIVE people.
4.) There are wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places.
5.) KEY POINT: directly after this statement, Jesus says "All these are the BEGINNING of sorrows."
So people scoff at these being the last days because all THESE things happen regularly on the earth. We have all these signs occurring in the world today - that is without question.
Moving on...
6.) Then THEY (assuming non-disciples of Christ) will deliver the children of God up to tribulation and kill them. We see this happening all over the world today. This is TRIBULATION, but not the GREAT TRIBULATION.
7.) Hatred begins for all believers in Christ - this too is happening all over the world.
8.) Many will be offended (because of the message of Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation)
9.) Men will betray each other.
10.) False prophets will rise up and deceive many. - This is happening more than ever in the world today!
11.) Lawlessness abounds and the love of many grows cold. - There is a lack of love, even within the church today with the spirit of division and offense inside the church.
12.) HE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED (Matthew 24:13)
13.) Finally, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations, and THEN THE END WILL COME (Matthew 24:14).
We are approaching this point in the timeline of signs. Christians are being persecuted all around the world, love within the church has grown cold, and betrayal abounds. False prophets have risen in every part of the world, deceiving many away from the message of Jesus Christ being the only way to salvation. The world is all about religious tolerance, seeking desperately to offend no one, but living with offense and persecution from the world toward the church of Jesus Christ, his faithful disciples. The gospel is being preached all over the world as a witness to all nations. We are sitting at this point right now.
What comes NEXT?
14.) THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (this requires the arrival of the ANTI-CHRIST) on the world scene who will stand in the holy place and declare himself to be God.
15.) Those is JUDEA, the Jews, will flee to the mountains. This must done very quickly as Jesus says not to go back into the house for anything.
16.) This is the point that GREAT TRIBULATION begins and is worse than any tribulation to ever be on the earth before this time.
17.) The days will be shortened for "the elect's sake" (Matthew 24:22)
18.) False christs and false prophets will arise, doing false signs and wonders that have the power to possibly even deceive the elect.
FINALLY....
19.) At the end of this tribulation time, the sun will be darkened (solar eclipse - sign) and moon will not gives its light (lunar eclipse - sign)
20.) Stars fall from heaven and powers of the earth are shaken.
21.) The sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven, all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory.
22.) He sends His angels with a sound of a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Notice this happens AFTER the Great Tribulation, and is the final coming of the Son of Man. This is the timeline of events that Jesus gave His disciples in chronological order, so we could definitely know all the things that must take place before His return.
I wanted to show this to you, as I have recently been shown this truth by the Spirit of the Lord. None of this is my own opinion, but rather just walking slowly through Matthew 24, showing that Jesus Himself laid out the timeline of events. These are the signs that we are to watch for, and as the watchman on the wall, I am blowing my trumpet to warn all, close and far off, that Jesus is coming back soon!
So, with this knowledge, what do we do? Jesus gave us instruction in Matthew 28:18-22 (NKJV):
Matthew 28:18-22
New King James Version (NKJV)
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.[b]
Even with all these things happening in the world, we have nothing to fear because Jesus is always with us, to love us and protect us. We are given these signs, so we can recognize what is going on in the world, and be expectant and ready for Jesus' return in great power and glory!
Matthew 24
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,[b] and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believeit. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Even with all these things happening in the world, we have nothing to fear because Jesus is always with us, to love us and protect us. We are given these signs, so we can recognize what is going on in the world, and be expectant and ready for Jesus' return in great power and glory!
Matthew 24
New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple
24 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
3 Now as He sat 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: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,[b] and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The Great Tribulation
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’[c]spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”(whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believeit. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
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