Imminency of the Rapture, Part 1
CityPoint,
As always, be a Berean (Acts 17:11). That means, you will do your due diligence to take what I say or write then search the Scriptures yourself to see if what I say or write is true. If you feel there is a discrepancy, challenge me. That goes for anything you hear about the Bible. The main reason the church has gotten off course is due to Biblical illiteracy. Believers have failed to be Bereans which allows wolves in sheeps clothing to speak heresy in the churches. Open your Bible, study it, and make sure what you are allowing your ears to hear are really true!
“search the Scriptures yourself to see if what I say or write is true”
I say the events that we will discuss point to an imminent Rapture for this reason: the events actually prove that all things are nearly in place for Jesus to return to earth to rule, and reign for a 1000 years. If we know, see, and understand that is true, then the Rapture is even closer. We will cover the Rapture in more detail in the near future. The items we will discuss should wake you up to the point that we do not have much time left. Get your house in order for yourself, lead your family in the way they should go, and ensure we are living circumspectly so others around us will desire Jesus.
“The items we will discuss should wake you up to the point that we do not have much time left”.
It is said like this: When you see Christmas decorations out in the stores, you know Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Christmas is like Jesus’ Second Coming, and Thanksgiving is like the Rapture. As we see things play out in the world, we can see that everything is falling into place for the Second Coming. Since that is true, the imminency of the Rapture is just that: IMMINENT!
The items we discussed last week and will continue at least for this week are all requirements for the final 7-year period before Jesus’ Millennial Reign. We are the generation seeing this play out. These are only a few mind you that I have narrowed down. Remember, the Bible references used are not exhaustive. You will easily be able to find additional parallel passages to what I provide below or any of our notes for that matter.
Event 1: Israel
We discussed the prior week the difference between Israel and the Church. This event is the regathering of Israel. God made His everlasting covenant with Israel (see prior notes). All are not fulfilled with that. Over history, Israel has been dispersed two different times. The first dispersion was prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10. We see them playing out in Daniel 1 then the dispersion coming to a close in Daniel 9. Remember, Daniel took Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70 years of captivity LITERALLY! This is another clue that other prophecies should be taken literally.
Remember, Daniel took Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70 years of captivity LITERALLY!
Israel was taken captive as they fell victim to many sins. The Lord promised He would chastise them if they did so. The timeframe was 70 years because God required 70 years of rest for the land as they did not provide a Sabbath for the land every 7 years over a 490 year period. That means, they skipped 70 Sabbath Years of rest for the land. God took back what was His.
We can read the different decrees for the first regathering of Israel in Ezra and Nehemiah, namely. In Daniel 9, Daniel knew the time was getting close, so he started to pray. Prayer was a major part of Daniel’s life as we can read throughout the book. This is a testimony to us all.
Prayer was a major part of Daniel’s life as we can read throughout the book. This is a testimony to us all
The second dispersion of the Jews occurred in AD70. This was nearly 40 years after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Jesus Himself prophesied this which is recorded in the Gospels. The temple was destroyed, and Israel was no more a nation shortly thereafter until….
Isaiah 11:11 has been a profound passage to me the last couple years since having my eyes opened to it. I will quote it, “It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea.” That’s interesting, a second time.
Now, let’s consider Isaiah 66:8. Isaiah prophecies, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” The prophecies of 11:11 and 66:8 were fulfilled in 1948 when Israel became a nation again. You can study how all that transpired and how quickly, literally it was simply announced in great turmoil. It was also the second time Israel was regathered.
It’s pretty phenomenal to read about the history of Israel after being regathered especially the wars they have won against overwhelming odds. Israel must be back in their borders for prophecy to be fulfilled. They aren’t going anywhere until the mid-point of the tribulation.
You can read Mark Twain’s writings on Israel and notice his language on how barren the land of Israel was when he visited it. You can read this article: https://m.jpost.com/opinion/unto-the-nations-505760 The interesting contrast is what we see in Israel today which is prophetic. Consider Ezekiel 36:8-15 which speaks of the Jews being fruitful in their land again. Even more profound is Zephaniah 3:9: “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord.” Obviously, Israel is regathered in unbelief at the current time, but their language has been renewed. Here is a good article: https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-miracle-of-the-hebrew-language-and-the-work-of-eliezer-ben-yehuda/
All that being said, Israel being regathered, fruitful in their land, a restored language, and more can be discussed is proof perfect that God has a plan for Israel, and we are leaping bounds ahead to final 7-year period before Jesus returns to rule and reign for a 1000 years. Praise HIM!
Event 2: Alliances
We see today the alliances being formed, so we know that it is close, which again points to the imminency of our time line.
In this section, we will look at Ezekiel 38 to see the alliances being developed that are a requirement for fulfilled prophecy. Commentaries don’t exactly agree as to when this war will take place as some place it before the final 7-year period, some say middle, some say at the end. I say it doesn’t matter. We see today the alliances being formed, so we know that it is close which again points to the imminency of our time line.
This passage of Scripture is referred to the Gog of Magog War. It is starkly different than the one described in Revelation 20. Remember the points of what was will be. The Gog of Magog is one of those. We will see one coinciding with the last days as well as another one at the end of the Millennial Reign. We will not go into the differences that are clearly evident between the two.
Keep in mind, the nations listed may have different names based on different translations. I use a New King James Version Bible which I will be quoting. We will discuss where they are located based on our maps today. Here are the allied nations: Magog, Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, and Gomer. These are the nations that will attempt to bring an invasion against Israel. It is only God who saves them.
Before I get into this, I would say the best explanation in simple terms that I have found that also tracks these nations through history is Chuck Missler’s book, Prophecy 20/20: Profiling the Future through the Lens of Scripture. I find interesting that this book was written in 2006 which makes it outdated, but he accurately predicted the rise of Turkey. How? Because he takes Scripture literally!
Magog has been identified as Russia. The reason for this is where Magog dispersed to following Babel. Most interesting is where it seems they actually landed and dispersed from after Babel is eastern Ukraine which places the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine as prophetically important. Gomer is also referenced as being in the southern Causases which has alliance with Russia today.
The prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal have been identified as the encompassing what we now know as Turkey. Turkey has been on the rise over the last years, and this is significant. Persia is Iran. Lots of Persia references in Scripture. It has only been identified as Iran since 1935. You can research that on your own. You can pay attention to news sources and see how deep in bed Russia, Turkey and Iran are with each other. This portion of the alliance is in solid state.
Ethiopia and Libya are obviously in Africa. The ancient names listed and is actually in some versions is Cush and Phut, respectively. Ethiopia in ancient times has been referenced as being part of what is now Sudan. Libya is agreeable covering the same geography as then. Remember, Ezekiel is naming locations based on his reference in his day, not ours. The interesting thing with Sudan is where they were when the 2020 Abraham Accords were being set up. Sudan made alliance with them which normalized peace with Israel. Those who take their Bibles literally all stood up and said hold your horses, Sudan will break the alliance. How do they know this? Sudan is part of the invading force. Just in the past couple weeks, Iran backed a coup in Sudan which has set that country in a state of war. Interesting, Iran (Persia) backing a coup to change the course of Sudan…
The protesting nations to this invasion are listed in verse 13: Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions. The three major players are Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish. Sheba and Dedan are located in what is now the UAE and the area surrounding it, some say parts of Saudi Arabia. You can view the Abraham Accords again here that simply set up the protesting nations. The merchants of Tarshish are viewed to be parts of Europe. All their young lions would be those who align themselves with these nations. Pretty crazy how you can see all this being set up.
Event 3: The Temple
The third temple is a requirement for the final 7-year period. We will review three references: Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:9-22, II Thessalonians 2:1-12. There are others, but again, we aren’t being fully exhaustive. You can do additional study on your own.
Daniel 9:27, says, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.” There is far more to unpack with this verse alone let along the full 70 Weeks’ Prophecy starting in verse 24. We will save that for a future study. Nonetheless, the anti-christ will make an end to sacrifice and offering and set up the abomination of desolation. Where does the sacrifices take place? The temple. What is the abomination of desolation? Setting up something as God but isn’t or an abomination of a sacrifice or both. Again, Antiochus Epiphanes was a type for this, but this specific verse wasn’t fulfilled in his time. How do we know that?
Matthew 24:9-22 is part of the Olivet Discourse. Again, this is a pivotal passage we will discuss in a future study in itself, but here we are focusing on the temple. In verse 15, Jesus specifically talks about the abomination of desolation as Daniel discussed. This negates how Daniel 9:27 was fulfilled in Antiochus’ day. Jesus specifically mentions the “holy place” as to where this abomination is set up. Where is the holy place? It is in the temple. Now, some say this was fulfilled in AD70. That can’t be true as there was no abomination of desolation. Yes, the temple was burned and “one stone was not left on another” (Matthew 24:1-2), but there was no abomination set up. Just as in other passages as we discussed in weeks prior, you can have long expanses of time separating fulfilled prophecy. Here in this passage, we have another as Jesus starts out discussing what will happen with the destruction of the second temple and what will happen in the third temple.
II Thessalonians 2:1-12 is a great passage talking about the third temple and the anti-christ. Consider verses 3-4: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” I believe those verses and this section nearly speak for itself. We will unpack this more in future studies, but you can see the third temple is a requirement.
Now, we must get to current events with the temple. We could go on and on about this. You should look up The Temple Institute: https://templeinstitute.org. Everything is pretty much in place and ready to go for the third temple. The Jews are just waiting for the go ahead to build it. We could discuss how there is room on the Temple Mount for a Jewish Temple. How the area that is open with space for the temple is probably where is originally set, now where the mosque is located. We could discuss the DNA testing and preparation of the Levites. We could discuss the temple emblems and Levitical dress. We could discuss the pool that is being prepared that is necessary for the cleansing bath, or the red heifers that are being prepared to cleanse the utensils. You can do your own research.
This week, May 17th at 6:30 at 4501 73rd ST, we will discuss more events that are in my top 7 of why our times are imminent.
MARANATHA!!
-Michael Gentosi