The
Bible declares that Jesus Christ will one day come back to earth to rule and
reign the world. In fact Jesus himself said that He would one day come back
to rule and reign the world:
''And
Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him
for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See
ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon
the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of
the end of the world?(Matthew
24:1-3)
Notice that the disciples asked Jesus about the signs of His coming. This
question was raised because Jesus had already been teaching His disciples
that He would leave the world but that He would one day return. In fact
Christ's second coming is one of the major themes of Old Testament prophecy.
The Jews always knew that the promised Messiah would come to earth to be the
king of Israel and king
over all the earth. The just did not know that His coming would be in two
phases, one to be an offering for sin and the other to rule and reign from
the throne of His father David.
But
does the Bible tell us when His second coming event will occur?
To
answer this question, we will have to answer another question:
What
will cause Jesus Christ to return to the planet earth?
We
will try to answer this question by examining some of the unfulfilled Old
Testament prophecies that relate to Christ's second Coming.
''For,
behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the
captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will
bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them
there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my
people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that
they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and
if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon
your own head; Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried
into your temples my goodly pleasant things . . . Proclaim ye this among the
Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw
near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords and your
pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble
yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round
about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.Let the heathen be
wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to
judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is
ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for
their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:
for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the
moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD
also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the
LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am
the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy
mountain: then shall Jerusalem
be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow
with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD,
and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt
shall be a desolation, and Edom
shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because
they have shed innocent blood in their land. But
Judah
shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem
from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have
not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in
Zion.''(Joel
3:1-5,9-21)
Notice that in the beginning of the passage, The Lord says that
He will gather all nations (the nations mentioned are primarily Middle
Eastern nations) to judge these nations and plead with them for parting His
land (Israel). Then The Lord goes on
to ask Tyre and Zidon (Modern day Lebanon) and all the coasts of Palestine (Modern day Palestinians) what they
have to do with him. The Lord then says that He will recompense them
upon their own head for taking His silver and gold and for carrying into
their temples His pleasant and goodly things. This might be a reference to
precious metals found in Israel
that were used to adorn Islamic temples throughout
Palestine
and the Middle East.
The
Lord says throughout the rest of the passage that there will be
multitudes of people of the Gentiles preparing for war in the valley of
decision. He says that He will roar His voice from
Jerusalem
on behalf of Israel.
He will wage war against these nations for coming against Israel. Egypt and Edom
(Modern day Jordan)
will become a total desolation for shedding innocent blood (probably
of Jews). The Lord then finishes the passage by saying that when He comes to
defend Israel from her
enemies, Judah and Jerusalem will dwell
safely forever.
In
Zechariah we read:
''The
burden of the word of the LORD for
Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth
forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the
spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round
about, when they shall be in the siege both against
Judah
and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make
Jerusalem
a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall
be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together
against it.''
(Zechariah 12:1-3)
The
Lord says in this passage that He will make Jerusalem
a cup of trembling to all the nations round about ,i.e., The nations that
surround Jerusalem and Israel, namely,
The Middle Eastern nations. The expression ''cup of trembling'' could mean
that the nations around Israel
would be drunk or intoxicated because of
Jerusalem. This exactly what we see happening today.
All the nations of the Middle East are in some way intoxicated with
Jerusalem. They are trying to do all they can to try
and divide the city and make it the capital of a
Palestinian
State.
The
Lord the goes on to say in the rest of the passage that He will make
Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people and that they will be cut in
pieces (destroyed) if they burden themselves with Jerusalem. In other words,
all the Arab world will be destroyed by the Lord for coming against
Jerusalem, and not only the Arab world, but also all the nations of the
world.
Zechariah continues:
''Behold,
the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of
thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the
city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half
of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people
shall not be cut off from the city.
Then
shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought
in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall
cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there
shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward
the north, and half of it toward the south . . . And this shall be the
plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against
Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,
and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall
consume away in their mouth.''
(Zechariah 14:1-4,12)
In
this passage the Lord says that He will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. These nations will take
the city, rifle the houses and ravished the women and take half of the city
into captivity. The Lord says that when this happens, He will go forth (come
back to earth) and fight against those nations that come against Jerusalem. He also says
that when He comes, He will touch the Mount of Olives in
Jerusalem
with His feet causing the Mount of Olives
to cleave in the midst and become a great valley. The Lord finishes by
saying that He will destroy the nations that come against Jerusalem with a certain plague that will
consume the flesh of the people of those nations, consume their eyes and
consume their tongue. This sounds like a nuclear effect. Some believe that
this will be caused a nuclear attack form Israel against her enemies. I prefer
to believe that this plague will be caused by the word that will come out of
the mouth of the Lord to destroy these nations which happens to have a
nuclear effect, because in Revelation we read:
''And
out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the
nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God . . . And the remnant
were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword
proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their
flesh.''(Revelation
19:15,21)
In
Revelation we read:
''And
the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the
water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth
of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of
the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.''
(Revelation 16:12-16)
In
this passage we read that all the nations will be gathered for the battle of
the great day of God Almighty. The nations will be gathered together at the
place called Armageddon. Contrary to many theories that describe Armageddon
as an event, The Bible says it is a geographical place. The word Armageddon
is a compound word that means "Mountain
of Megiddo". This place
is located in northern Israel
southeast of Haifa
and is a valley described by Dr.John F. Walvoord, a great prophecy scholar
as being fourteen miles wide and twenty miles long.
(
John F. Walvoord, Every Prophecy of the Bible, Chariot Victor Publishing,
Colorado Springs, Colorado,1990,1999,pg.600).
In
Psalm 83, we find an incredible prediction.
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.
They
make shrewd plans against Thy people, And conspire together against Thy
treasured ones.
They
have said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel
be remembered no more."
For
they have conspired together with one mind; Against Thee do they make a
covenant:
The
tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the
Hagrites;
Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the children
of Lot.
1.
Verses 2-3, “who hate Thee,” “against Thy people”— Those who hate God will
be against His people
Israel.
2.
Verse 4, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel
be remembered no more."— This is an almost word for word prediction of the
published statements of the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah and other Muslim groups,
and of the Iranian president. CHECK THEIR WEBSITES!
3.
Verse 5, “Against Thee”— When they make their goal to wipe out Israel as a
nation, they set themselves against God!
4.
Verses 6-8, the nations “who hate Thee,” (v.2)
“Edom, Moab,
Gebal, Ammon”— Jordan
“Ishmaelites, Hagrites”—
Saudi Arabia
peninsula
“Tyre”—
Lebanon
“Assyria”— Syria, Iraq
“Philistia”—
Gaza
“the
children of Lot”— These were Moabites and Ammonites, which in modern terms
is Jordan.
Jordan
is 95% Muslim. Included in
Jordan’s population are a million and a
half Palestinians. Note the phrase, “They [the other Islamic-Arabic nations]
have become a help to “the children of Lot.”
*
Conclusion
We
tried to answer the question:
What
will cause Jesus Christ to return to the planet earth?
This
question was answered to answer the question
When
will Christ's return Occur?
Our
conclusion based on Scripture is that Jesus Christ will return when the
nations that surround Israel,
namely, The Middle Eastern nations try to fulfill their desire to destroy Israel. This
desire to destroy Israel
will eventually bring the whole world to come against Israel under the leadership of the
Antichrist.
We
have seen for the past 60 years since Israel
became a nation on May 14,1948 , That the nations of the Middle East have
been trying to wipe
Israel
off the map.
Below is a summary of what
Israel
has experienced since 1948
1948-1949
From May 1948 of to July 1949 the War of
Independence
is fought. Israel wins an armistice after defeating troops from Egypt, Iraq,
Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
1956
Israel
and Egypt go to war over the Sinai
region.
1967
On June 5 the six-day war begins: Israel destroys the Arab air forces;
captures land three times the area of itself; and most importantly, The
Jewish people win the right to free control the city of Jerusalem for the
first time in over 2000 years.
1973
On Oct 6, during Yom Kippur,
Israel's Arab neighbors launch a surprise
attack. This war exacted a heavy toll on the Jewish state. Although no major
territory was lost or gained, most Arabs regarded the war as a psychological
victory.
1982
To end the PLO's attacks from Lebanon,
Israel
launches an invasion of that country.
1987
The Arab Intifada begins in the West Bank and
Gaza
strip.
2005
October, 2005 Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeated that Israel should be "wiped out from the map,"
insisting that a new series of attacks will destroy the Jewish state, and
lashing out at Muslim countries and leaders that acknowledge Israel.
2006
July,2006 Hezbollah starts war with
Israel.
Israel defends herself by
attacking Hezbollah in
Lebanon.
Although these signs are evidences that the return of Christ is close, we
who study Bible prophecy know that there are some other things that must
happen before the desire of the Middle Eastern nations to destroy
Israel
almost comes to complete fulfillment causing Jesus to come just in time to
rescue Israel
from total annihilation.
1.
There will be a
Russian-Islamic alliance of nations that will come against Israel
according to Ezekiel 38 and 39.
2.Jesus will come in the air to
Rapture His Church to be with Him in heaven according to 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18 and other passages.
3.
The Antichrist will appear as a political leader with a peace plan and will
confirm a 7 year covenant with
Israel. This covenant will allow the Jews
to rebuild their Holy Temple
and re-institute the sacrificial system of the Mosaic Law according to
Daniel 9:27.
4.The
Antichrist will brake his covenant with Israel in the middle of the 7
year covenant , will cause the sacrificial system to cease and will walk
into the Temple or set an image of himself which will be the Abomination of
Desolation according to Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15, and will demand to be
worshiped as god according to 2 Thessalonians 2:4.
5.
The Antichrist will receive political power from 10 nations of a revived
Roman Empire which will include the European Union and the Middle East and
become the head of a One World Government in the middle of the
Great Tribulation according to Daniel 7:23-25,Revelation 13:1-2 and
17:11-13, and will have a
rebuilt Babylon as his economic capital according to Revelation 18
6.
The Antichrist will then start to persecute the Jews and then the Arab
desire to see the destruction of Israel will almost become a reality
according to Daniel 7:25,12:1, and Revelation 12:1-6.
7.
When Israel is about to be destroyed, Jesus Christ
returns to destroy the Antichrist and the nations that come against Israel
according to Revelation 19:11-20.
As
we can see, all the signs that point to what will cause Jesus Christ to
return to earth have become a reality today. The very existence of Israel is being
threatened by the Arab world. The giant nations that surround tiny Israel have sworn that Israel will be wiped off the map.
Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise and the intention of the Islamic world
is to see Palestine
liberated from Israeli control.
The
first photo below shows Palestinians burning an Israeli flag in the
West Bank. The second photo shows Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah calling for
Israel's destruction
Jesus is coming soon, and to us , He gave this warning:
''And
they (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations: and
Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled . . . And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.''
(Luke 24:28)
The
Jews already fell by the edge of the sword, They have already returned to Israel, The times of the Gentiles is about to be
fulfilled when Jesus once and for all destroys Israel's enemies at His second
coming.
But
for us Christians, He said that when these things began to come to pass, we
should be on the alert, because our redemption would be close. This means
that the Rapture is just around the corner. Are you ready to go up when He
appears in the air?If not, make Jesus the Savior and Lord of you life and
you shall be saved.
''if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.''(Romans
10:9)
God
bless you!
Rodrigo Silva
02/16/2008
Apologies from the ministry
We
want to apologize for any spelling and grammatical errors in our writings.
As you might have noticed, we are from
Brazil
and English is not our first language. We do everything by ourselves
including the creation and editing of the
web site from our computer at home since we do not have a hired web
master. We do not have anybody available at the moment to help us correct
the English for us since this ministry is run by one person alone. Thank you
for your support and for taking the time to read our material.
Rodrigo Silva.
Please, send me your comments
prophecy@bibleprophecyinthenews. Com