The Lord Jesus Christ promised to return, to take His rightful reign over Planet Earth. The time of His return is marked in Bible prophecy by some clear, escalating signs. Many such signs are evident as contemporary of our day and age. We would do well to take heed to this timely warning. A message preached at Church For You, Elizabeth Park, South Australia, on 29 March 2020. www.cforu.net.
7 signs that indicate the nearness of Jesus Christ’s Return
Apostasy: A great falling away as Jesus Christ warned in Matthew 24:4, 5, 11, 24. There will be counterfeit miracles from the devil as seen in the mega-churches as the Signs and Wonders is a feature of the day, along with casting out Demons, and the “Health and Wealth (prosperity) gospel.
Gospel: The Internet, TV, satellites in space, iPhones and iPads and other electronic media has given the Gospel greater access to the Gospel.
Israel: Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by General Titus in A.D. 70 causing the diaspora, but prophesied in Isaiah 11:11, 12 that the Jews would regather and that Jesus Christ return to earth and sit on the throne of David for 1,000 years. Ezekiel 37:11, 12 speaks about the dry bones that will come alive, as the Jews migrating back to the Promised Land as represented — by the “Fig Tree” in Matthew 24:32; cf. Luke 13:. In 1948 Israel became a nation again in the “Promised Land” and will never be taken from them again.
Knowledge: There will be an explosion of technology and the: information (IT) as through modern technology, news travels in seconds. Daniel 12:4 speaks of running to and fro: with increased knowledge. Travel is so accessible and fast in these days. God's Word says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge... ’ (Hosea - 4:6). Hosea was not saying that knowledge wasn't available. the problem wasthe people had rejected it, which is the same today.
Immorality & Idolatry: It is recorded in Revelation 11:8 that Jerusalem is called Sodom because of immorality and Egypt because of idolatry (Rev. 11:8).
Disasters: Disasters and Catastrophes both man-made and natural would increase in frequency and intensity. There would also be wars and rumours of wars (Matthew. 24:6-8) as the world heads toward WWIII at Armageddon as the Armed Forces of the World gather against Jesus Christ and Israel. There are also strange, powerful and potent diseases and sicknesses (pestilences) which are hard to recover from. These pestilences cause fear and panic, death and economic collapse, leading to “Globalisation.”
Globalisation is the movement to a “One World, Global Village.” The Antichrist (Rev. 13:7), being the Beast inspired by Satan will be against God (Rev. 13:6),.and have power over all the world. ...Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number ofthe beast: forit is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (666) (Rev. 13:16-18)
(From "Faith and Freedom", dated April-May 2020, Page 2)
[0:00] Jude Jude Jude Just today I received an interesting Christian publication which numbered seven signs as we approach the coming of our Lord according to Bible prophecy.
[0:23] I wanted to just touch on those with you. Seven signs that our Lord is coming soon. Number one is apostasy. Apostasy. We see the Bible tells us of a falling away from the truth of the Word of God.
[0:39] We see many counterfeit miracles and mega churches that have a very superficial kind of message and at times quite false messages.
[0:50] So apostasy is certainly one of those signs that our Lord warned of at the time of his coming again. The second one is gospel. The gospel. The gospel has been under attack and has been watered down and has become very superficial.
[1:05] We see the gospel that is on the airways and presented popularly today is sometimes quite lacking in substance and missing the mark as to how we can trust Christ through faith by God's grace.
[1:21] It's very important that we get the gospel right. The third sign is Israel. Israel, of course, Israel is always in the news as we know. And we know that Jerusalem is the kind of epicenter of what will happen at the coming of our Lord Jesus.
[1:37] And we see through history as the Jews have abandoned, rejected the Messiah. And we see much that has led to destruction, the destruction of Jerusalem.
[1:49] We see now the coming together of the nation of Israel following the Second World War. As the Bible says that they would regather and return to the land where ultimately Christ will sit on the throne of David for 1,000 years.
[2:06] And it speaks of those times of the fig tree and such that we see nation, the nation of Israel has come to the fore. We see Israel certainly a sign. Sign number four you could say is knowledge.
[2:19] Knowledge. The Bible says that in the end times that knowledge shall increase. It's certainly the case today in what we call the information age. I like to say it's the age of smartphones but dumb people.
[2:33] But we see this sign of knowledge, the explosion of technology, the increase of travel. And the world is just ramped up with knowledge as it were.
[2:45] But yet sadly the true knowledge has been lost. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, the Bible says. Because they have rejected knowledge, it says.
[2:57] Another sign is immorality and idolatry. We know that in our days things have been accepted, have become accepted, which the Bible calls abomination.
[3:09] We know that it's recorded in Revelation 11 verse 8 that Jerusalem is called Sodom. We know that Jerusalem is called Sodom because of immorality and Egypt because of idolatry.
[3:23] We're seeing these signs happening right now. Sign number six you could say is disasters. Disasters. Certainly we've had our share of disasters of recent days.
[3:34] We see disasters and catastrophes, both man-made and natural. The Bible says that such things will increase towards the coming of our Lord, where ultimately we'll see Armageddon.
[3:45] And we'll see times of diseases and pestilences and sicknesses that are hard to recover from. And this will ultimately lead to the seventh sign. Globalization.
[3:58] Of course, we know the Bible speaks about a one-world kind of belief system, a one-world government kind of system, where ultimately it will become that one-world global village, headed by the Antichrist, ultimately, the beast that is inspired by Satan, and is the enemy of God and God's people.
[4:18] The Bible says that we should be mindful of such a time as this, as we see these seven signs, amongst many others, no doubt, that show us that things are ramping up towards that one-world order, towards that ultimate coming of Christ, to make right the wrongs and to take his rightful reign over planet Earth, which is currently in the hands of the God, small g, of this world.
[4:44] And I trust that you'll put your faith in Christ, knowing that we have that blessed hope of his soon coming, and we can trust in his promises and believe in him absolutely for his grace, and to know that he will ultimately come.
[5:00] As the Bible says, we can encourage one another, Maranatha, our Lord cometh.