”Unmistakable Signs” at the end of this present age.

Planet Earth is on a collision course with God! The rulership of the earth is changing hands. As God draws near, the earth will experience “unmistakable signs” that alert the whole world that the time is near. We live in those days even now.

“Both the Old and New Testament give clues concerning the last days and, as those times get nearer, the clues become plainer.” Alexander Fraser

The new Jerusalem – that Jesus is even now preparing for us – will come down out of heaven and descend over Israel and bring God the Father Himself back to the planet!

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. (Rev 21:2-3)

Jesus spoke about unmistakable signs that will come about before this happens. He spoke clearly about how the whole of creation – which presently longs for redemption – will transition from “this present age” to “the age to come”, which will move us into the Second Coming and then into Eternity.

Someone is Having a Baby!

Think “Birth Pangs” for a New Earth! Once started they won’t stop until there is a birth. These will come at the end of this present age. They are called birth pangs not “death pangs” because the emphasis is on what’s coming — the New Heaven and the New Earth and New Jerusalem. (Mtt 24/ Rev 21)

Here is a complete list of the “Birth Pangs” that Jesus spoke of in the Gospels. (Mtt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21)

1. wars and rumors of wars
2. nation will rise against nation / kingdom against kingdom
3. plagues
4. famines
5. terrors (“fearful events” NIV)
6. great signs from heaven
7. earthquakes
8. they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you
9. you will be hated by all nations because of My name
10. many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another
11. many false prophets will arise and will mislead many
12. lawlessness is increased
13. most people’s love will grow cold
14. gospel must first be preached to all the nations

Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain

Whatever dreadful things may happen on earth, they are all within God’s plan and under His sovereign control. God will only release pain and suffering upon His creation with Someone who has equally suffered – Jesus Christ, the Lamb Who was slain.

In Revelation 5, we see God the Father, seated on His throne in Heaven, and in His right hand is a scroll sealed with 7 seals. No one in heaven, on earth or even under the earth was found worthy to open the scroll. This sets John weeping greatly…. but then an elder announces that there is One worthy! Please note that it is the Lamb Who was slain, not the Lion of Judah, who is found worthy to open the scroll and to break the seals. As these seals are broken off the scroll, the hard labor birth pangs begin.

The scroll is the “Title Deed of Earth” and will transition this present age into the age to come. God is reclaiming His creation and will eventually restore the kingdom back to Israel. When the seals are broken off and the scroll opened the contents reveal another set of judgments: 7 trumpets and 7 bowels of wrath to be poured out on the earth.

Prayers of all the Saints

Amazingly, the “prayers of all the saints” will assist in releasing the judgments that will come to earth. In many respects our prayers are like the engine that drive the judgments to completion.

This is documented in Rev 8:3-5.

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. (Rev. 8:3-5)

Finally at judgment of the 7th bowl of wrath, the last of 21 consecutive judgments, a loud voice comes out of the temple from the throne in heaven as declares: “It is done!” (Rev 16:17) The earth is wiped clean of all evil and all that which are stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness are gathered out of the kingdom and thrown into the furnace of fire. (Mtt 13: 41)

The Beast from the Sea

So much of the end times scenario is had for us to imagine in affluent and comfortable 21st Century America. We don’t really know what evil looks like or feels like. We can’t hardly imagine that a national / world leader who will come to power that the book of Revelation can only describe as a “beast”. He will make the whole world worship him at the cost of losing their lives.

And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast ; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (Rev 13:4)

When Daniel described this same beast he spoke of him in the following terms:

The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it… He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law ; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time [42 months]. Daniel 7:23, 25

The Jews had it Right (just the wrong timing)

One of the great tragedies of human history is that the people of Israel, the Jews, knew instinctively that the Messiah would set up His Kingdom on this earth, sitting on David’s Royal Throne in Jerusalem. Remember the 11 disciples on the Mt. of Olives, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, just (seconds) before Jesus ascended to His Father:

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

Even the thief on the cross, dying next to Jesus, also understood this:

And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come [again] in Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)

The same may be said of the two disciples along the road to Emmaus, who were unknowingly speaking with Jesus:

”But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:21)

The Jews had such preconceived ideas of the Messiah’s reign that when Jesus did come the First Time they could not recognize Him. “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand”, so Jesus spoke to them in parables so that they might gradually open up to realize that their “messianic hopes” were false and misplaced.

But soon, and very soon, Jesus will come back and restore the Kingdom to Israel. He will come back riding on a white horse with His armies. He will “eat and drink” at His table in His Kingdom in Jerusalem with the Twelve, who will sit at His throne and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22:30)

Yours for the return of the King,

Jeff Gilbertson

Dr. Campbell Morgan on the prophetic parables of Matthew 13

These parables do not deal with the deepest facts concerning the Kingdom of God, neither are they parables which tell the whole story of that Kingdom.

They have no application to the age which preceded the first advent of our Lord, neither have they application to the age which shall succeed His second advent. They are simply His setting forth of truth concerning the process and history of the Kingdom during the period commencing with His first advent and ending with His second.

What, then, is the teaching of these parables in broad outline?

That this age is one of conflict from beginning to end; that it is characterized to a large extent by human failure; that it is an age in which God accomplishes definite purposes; that, as to the heavenly side, it is an age from which a people is gathered out to serve God throughout the countless ages that are to come as the revealers of His grace and His love; that, as to the earthly value, it is an age that prepares for the next and makes possible all that the King will do therein.

These truths must be understood. If we fail to perceive them, then our service may be sustained, but it will surely be defective. I pity from the depth of my heart the man who is labouring to-day in the hope that this age is to be consummated by the conversion of the world. I cannot personally understand where he gathers his comfort when he sees how heathendom is increasing proportionately with every decade as it passes, as he sees that even in so-called Christian countries, notwithstanding all the light that has come, and is still coming, notwithstanding all the undoubted progress that is being made, there is also along with the progress, retrogression; along with the increasing light, increasing darkness; side by side with a new sense of the Christ spirit in the age, an ever new revolt against that spirit.

For my own heart, at least, service would be impossible if I believed that this age were all. But I realize through the teaching of Jesus in these parables that this is an age of conflict, of conflict stern and necessary, when the enemy sows his tare (darnel) by the wheat, and that I have no right to attempt to uproot the tare (darnel) until the end of the age. Then as I understand this to be an age in which God is gathering out for Himself a people for heavenly service, and is preparing by all the processes of the years for that larger age of the Kingdom on earth that is to follow, I can take up my day’s work, and do it with full purpose of heart, knowing that the world’s great hope is the advent of the King, with the rule of the rod of iron, when the opportunity of righteousness will come in His own personal government of the affairs of men.

Seven Prophetic Parables in Matthew 13

In the seven parables in Matthew 13 we find the most complete description in the entire Bible of what the body of Christ will look like in the church age we presently live in and how she will continue until the end of the age! In Matthew 13 we read about, by way of seven parables, the present spiritual reign of Christ while He is absent from the earth.

In Matthew 13 we find both hints of success and failure! Jesus Himself explains in the Parable of the Sower that the reception of the Gospel would only be a weak “one in four” – those sown beside the road, on the rocky places and amongst thorns did not bear any fruit! We also find, “while men are sleeping”, satanically sown imitation tares growing amongst the “good seed” planted by Jesus – “An enemy has done this!” But then we find a passionate and joyful merchant who sells all he has to buy the field where the treasure is hidden.

Let’s Back up a Moment…

The Old Testament prophets saw only the 1st and 2nd coming of Jesus the Messiah. They did not see the “church age” we presently live in, from Pentecost to the “Glorious Appearing”. With clear voice they prophesied of a “virgin with child”, who would be “born in Bethlehem”. He would be called Emmanuel – “God is with us”. This long awaited One would be “pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities” (Isa 53)

Surprisingly then, they jumped ahead to the Messiah’s Second Coming, as if the time in between was of little to no importance. They saw “His Day of Vengeance”, His robe “splattered with blood”, His winnowing fork in His hand to “separate the wheat from the chaff”. After His return to earth they describe the “Millennial Kingdom”, with the King ruling the nations from Jerusalem with a rod of iron. (Ps 2, Daniel 2, Rev 19, Zech 14) The wolf will lie down with the lamb and the infant will play near the hole of the cobra. (Isa 11) The person who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed. (Isa 65)

All these are signs of Millennial blessing! But the prophets did not see the church age! They give us no clues to the condition of the church between the 1st and 2nd Comings of the Messiah. Only in the NT do we find the portrayal of the church in this period. These descriptions are mostly found in the epistles and in the Matthew parables of Jesus. For a mature bride, we must grow up in our understanding of Matthew 13. We need to handle accurately the messages of these parables and discern the genuine, “Jesus inspired” view of His church.

”I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

To me the starting point in dealing with this chapter is verses 34-35:

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Jesus, in describing the church age from His departure to His Second Coming, tells the people that they are hearing things hidden since the foundation of the world. That means that they could not look back into the Old Testament to find descriptions of the church age and her condition until the harvest at the end of the age. If we keep this in mind we cannot use the millennial texts to cover “this present age”.

I have tried to get at this before but we are not to see this present age as one in which the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11) That is a Millennial text as surely as Zech. 14:9:

“And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”

”In that day” from this verse is so insignificant that it is easily overlooked but it is the KEY to understanding much of the Old Testament prophecies. It is announcing the day of the Lord, “the actual DAY” of His return to earth. Until then we are not to expect universal success or triumph of the Gospel but rather a gospel “witness” or testimony to spread over the entire globe!

Jesus told us that BOTH wheat and tares would grow up together until the harvest at the end of this age. He said that the kingdom of heaven would be like a net that takes in BOTH good fish and bad fish until it is full and then the fish are separated – at the end of the age!

He also said that the kingdom of heaven was like a mustard seed that would grow inordinately (abnormally) so that it would become a tree! Most of us have been taught that this means the universal success of the gospel as it travels into all the earth. From a small, insignificant beginning to world wide success and triumph. YET was not Jesus also just telling us that the kingdom of heaven would be a mixture of wheat and tares, good fish and bad until the end?

The reality is that Jesus was not predicting a spiritual success story but a breakdown of the church to remain in its “mustard seed form” and grew into a bizarre concoction of a great tree, in whose very branches nest the “birds of the air”. These same birds, it is so important to see, had already been explained BY JESUS in the Parable of the Sower as the “evil one”! I know it is difficult to renew your mind about this in one article but I offer this anyway!

In real life a mustard seed is an annual. It dies every year. It does not become a great tree. This is then either an incredible success story or hints at not just growth but growth with attending corruption! I believe the context of all the seven parables in this chapter render the second option the more accurate.

Just what is leaven?

We might just as well go on to the famous Parable of the Leaven. Short and sweet:

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”

Here again we are brought to either an incredible success story or growth with attending corruption! In this parable leaven is the focus. This makes it difficult to go with the incredible success story because every other time in the Bible leaven is tied to corruption!

Jesus told His disciples to “watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees…” Then they understood that he was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Mtt 16)

Luke 12:1 expresses the same thing: “Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

The apostle Paul had the same usage of leaven: “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor. 5:8)

Please notice that the leaven is “hidden in the flour” by the woman, not unlike the tares (a type of corruption) that satan sowed amongst the wheat while men slept. This “hidden” evil, once introduced, would be dealt with by Christ’s angels at the end of the age. It is extremely hard to make leaven in this one instance something as a metaphor for good. I believe it cannot be done. Again, the context of all the seven parables in this chapter renders this the more credible response.

Leaven is corruption in and of itself. It is called “sourdough” in Martin Luther’s German translation and, as such, renders the whole batch sour and, if not baked quickly, also corrupt.

The task at this hour is to see clearly the kingdom and to live as those who have insight among the people in the last days.

“Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many.” (Daniel 11:33, 35; 12:3; 10)

In Him,

Jeff Gilbertson

“As a Thief in the Night” by Samuel P. Tregelles (1813-1875)

It is a well known (and well worn) belief that Jesus will some day come back to earth “like a thief in the night”, catching many by surprise! Planes will suddenly fall out of the skies, school buses loaded with children will run off the road, etc. “Just like a thief would who is robbing your house”– He will come back again. That is pretty much the standard interpretation coming from the Evangelical church world-wide. His Second Coming is imminent. Or so the saying goes.

But upon further inquiry people are asking themselves if what they got taught in Sunday School still holds water today. Here is a time-tested look questioning that belief from one of Europe’s most prominent Bible scholars on the 1800s, Dr. Samuel P. Tregelles.

Yours, Jeff Gilbertson

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It may be well to point out the force of the passages which speak of the Lord’s coming “as a thief in the night”, which, we are constantly told, prove that the Lord intends His true saints to regard His advent as momentarily imminent. Such passages occur at Mtt 24:43; Lk 12:39, 40; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:10; and, Rev 16:15.

With regard to them all, it may be remarked that the emblem of “a thief” is obviously used to indicate not merely the unexpectedness of the coming, but its unwelcomeness! Further, this emblem implies the advent of one who comes to take away, not to give something to those whom he visits, for “the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.”

These considerations are surely sufficient by themselves to show at the first glance that it is not the Lord’s coming in its relation to the true believer, to him who “loves His appearing,” and to whom “grace shall be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” that is indicated, but its relation to the false professor of the Name of Jesus, the “evil servant,” whose words in the parable, “My lord delayeth his coming,” show that he neither expected his lord’s return nor desired it.

But the point is not one of inference, however clear: the passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:4 says with the utmost plainness that the coming of the Lord “as a thief” does not bear this character to His people, but to those who are “in darkness;” for when they shall say Peace and safety,” etc. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

The passage in Luke 12:35-48 deserves special study:

35 “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36 “Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 “Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38 “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

39 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40 “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

41 Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart, `My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

The Lord speaks first of the watchfulness of His true people (Luke 12:35-38). Next we find a hint that there will be some to whom His return will be unwelcome (Luke 12:39, 40). With an immediate apprehension of the fact that two differing classes of persons must be under mention, Peter puts the inquiry of verse 41. The answer makes it clear that two classes were intended; the “wise steward” (Luke 12:42-44) and “that (other) servant” (Luke 12:45-48), the representative of the false professing Church. There is a clear connection between the words “when ye think not” (Luke 12:40) and “when he looketh not for him” (Luke 12:46). The Lord does not place before His true, loving, faithful servants His advent as an event to occur at an hour when they think not: these words of caution, though spoken to all, are intended only for the “tares” that Satan has mingled with the “wheat.” It is the rule in Scripture, in dealing with mixed bodies, to address words of warning to all, which are only meant to apply to some of those addressed, it being left to the individual conscience to make the application (Compare Heb. 6:4-9).

When God Plays the Trumpet…

Please forgive my obvious bias on this subject since, in an earlier life, I was a Band Director for two years in a small school district on the western edge of Wisconsin.

The first time in the Bible when God plays the trumpet, mountains shake and lightning flashes, and He descends down on Mount Sinai. Here is the account from Exodus:

“When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”… So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled….

Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. (Ex 19:13-19)

If I have this right, God blows a trumpet, this signals to the people to go up to the mountain and then God comes down on the mountain!

Another time when we hear the trumpets, seven priests are blowing them. This is where we see Joshua, following in Moses’ famous footsteps, leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land. But to get into the Promised Land they had to defeat one last enemy – the walled city of Jericho.

“Seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark ; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.” (Joshua 6:5)

If I have this right, seven priests blow seven trumpets on the seventh day on the seventh time around the city, and then the people give a great SHOUT!, and then God comes down on the wall and flattens it, and the people go up and take the city.

God seems to love the trumpet so much that He even dedicated an annual Feast for “Trumpet Blowing” and rest amongst the Israelites!

Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’” (Lev 23: 23-25)

If I have this right, God commands His people to blow trumpets on the first day of the seventh month as a reminder to rest – to enter into a “Sabbath rest”! Did you know that Jews around the world still celebrate this festival under the name of Rosh Hashanah, which is their New Year, a day of memorial and the day of judgment.

If you know your “Old Testament typology” you know that there are seven yearly feasts, and that the first four feasts, the “Spring feasts” – Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost – have ALL been fulfilled in the New Covenant, through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

HOWEVER, after the “Summer Gap” there remain the last three feasts to be fulfilled, the “Fall feasts” – Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The NEXT feast to come on God’s prophetic timetable will commence on the seventh month, the first day, with God Himself playing the trumpet – THE Feasts of Trumpets!

This must make one think of the words of Jesus found in Matthew 24: 29-31

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened… stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken…. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

Since I have brought up Jesus I think it best to skip ahead to the last book of the Bible where it is recorded that Jesus speaks as though it were a loud voice like a trumpet.

”I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet… Rev 1:10

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” (Rev 4:1)

I want you to put this all together now and realize that there is coming a time when a scroll with seven seals, which is right now in the Father’s right hand, will be opened by Jesus, the “Worthy Lamb”. As Jesus begins to open the scroll and finally breaks open the seventh seal, there will follow that incredible silence in heaven for about half an hour.

After that staggering silence all heaven breaks forth with clamor as the seven angels are given their trumpets and prepare their lips to blow! While they are “warming up”, another angel takes from the golden altar before the Throne an incense burner filled with fire and hurls it down to the earth, signaling “the beginning of the end”, and that the heavenly assault is about to begin!

You will see by reading in further in Revelation 8 -11 that at the last trumpet, the Seventh Trumpet, “the mystery of God is finished” and Jesus Christ will take “His great power and will begin to reign”. (Rev 11:17) This is the EXACT MOMENT when “we who are alive and remain” on the earth will be caught up to be with Jesus, forever.

”For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” I Thess 4: 16-18

Amen. ”Lord God, we long for THAT trumpet to blow once again. So come Lord Jesus. Maranatha!”

“Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Rev 5:2)

One of the most beautiful portions in all of Scripture is the scene in heaven of God on His throne surrounded by the worshipful four living creatures and the 24 elders from Revelation 4 – 5. In the midst of the creatures and the elders we see the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Who is also seen as the slain Lamb!

Songwriters for centuries have powerfully portrayed this scene with songs such as: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; The Lamb Who is Worthy; Worthy, O Worthy are You Lord, Revelation Song, etc”

Here is one such example:

”Worthy is the Lamb, Seated on the throne,
Crown You now with many crowns You reign victorious,
High and lifted up, Jesus Son of God
The Darling of heaven crucified,
Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb”

Most often the Lamb is seen as above: “slain for the sins of the world” and therefore most worthy. However, in Rev. 5 (which is the source of all these songs) the Lamb, because He was slain, is found worthy to open the scroll and break open its seals!

The focus is on the sealed-up scroll in the Father’s right hand and Who is worthy to break its seven seals!!

Right here is where, I believe, God is sovereignly shifting the focus of the church from looking backward to the cross to looking forward to the scroll.

His First Coming was about mercy, His Second Coming is about judgment.

I say “Halleluiah” to that!

You see, the scroll is the “title deed of earth” and as Jesus takes it from His Father’s right hand the creatures and the elders fall down in worship! All of heaven (and earth for that matter) recognize what is taking place: Jesus will break the 7 seals and open the scroll, the title deed of earth, and bring to an end “this present age” and usher in Eternity – “the age to come”.

Prior to this point, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was found worthy to open the scroll. This fact sent John weeping greatly… Finally one of the elders told him to stop weeping for there is One who is worthy to open the scroll and break open it seals.

“Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Rev 5: 5)

Sadly, one of the most beautiful (and real) scenes in the Bible lies buried under clouds of confusion and uncertainty. And this all because the devil has misled the church over the past centuries into quarreling over the timing of the rapture!!

God forgive us and have mercy!

Can I say it again:

There is no portion of Scripture more disputed and dissected than the last book! There is no other book in the Bible that we allow ourselves the “freedom” to say that “We don’t get it…” or that you can interpret it as you want to! We even teach classes on the four “accepted” different interpretations of the book of Revelation!

Dear Saints, Don’t we understand what we are saying?

> Can there really be four different interpretations of the book of Revelation? Why don’t you use that same symbolism and approach with the cross? That’s what the Muslims and Hindus do…

> Can you really live at peace with your Creator and say to Him: “That stuff at the end of the ages– I just don’t get it!“

Might I suggest the unthinkable: Just read the book!

Read with me Revelation 5

Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”

But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen ” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Now go to the Lord in prayer and in humility and ask Him for insight and understanding. Read it again and again… Read more and more. You will be stunned when you see that by breaking open the seven seals, Jesus releases judgments on the earth in real time and space like Moses released God’s judgments upon the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.

Maybe you want to fast. That’s what Daniel did!

“So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes…. Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.” (Daniel 9:3, 20-22)

Actually, I am pointing to Daniel here very purposefully as Daniel unlocks our understanding of the book of Revelation. The two books must be treated as companion volumes.(i.e. Apocalyptic I, Apocalyptic II)

Much of the poor exegesis currently in vogue comes from not reading Revelation in context with Daniel and the other 100 plus End Time Scriptures scattered throughout the Bible. For a case in point, try reading Zechariah 14, Psalm 48, Isaiah 63 and Joel 2-3 and see if you can make any sense out of them!!

You might find out that you have a huge gap in your belief system…

Yours Until He Comes Again,

Jeff Gilbertson

Three Parts of the Second Coming: Rapture, Reward and Return

When the subject of the Second Coming came up amongst the Twelve disciples, Jesus was quick to reply that they should:

“See to it that no one misleads you…”(Mtt 24: 4, Mk 13: 5, Lk 21:8)

Well, two thousand years later this word from Jesus still remains “living and active”. One of the biggest parts of not being misled is to know for yourself where you are headed!

We must “take pains with these things” so that when false teaching creeps in we can recognize it and refute it. We must “search out the Scriptures daily” and fill our hearts with the truth so we will be ready and awake in “that day”.

The apostle Paul went so far as to “beg” the Thessalonians not to be quickly shaken or disturbed from false teachers who went about purportedly in Paul’s name teaching a different doctrine and urged them to hold fast to what he had taught them and that they were to “encourage each other with these things”. (I Thess 4:15-18; 2 Thess 2:1-3)

If the body of Christ can grasp the timing and the magnitude of the Second Coming with these three words – Rapture, Reward and Return – I believe that we will be well on our way to standing strong when all else about us is falling.

Right now we are far from being able to edify each other about the Blessed Hope of His appearing. To put it plainly, the deadlock is this:

First Christ “comes on the clouds” to gather His bride in the air and then He “comes on a white horse” to wage war with the Antichrist and his armies back on earth. Not seeing these two separate events, which are seen clearly in the book of Revelation, has resulted in a church caught in a “chess-like stale mate”! Neither side seems willing to budge…

If I were to describe the end times scenario with a few more words it would look like this:

”At the Last Trumpet we will be ‘caught away’ to meet Christ in the air (Rapture); He will reward all saints of all time at this meeting in the clouds (Reward); then ‘heaven will invade earth’ as the armies of God follow their leader who is riding on a white horse with a sword in His mouth to execute judgment on all the nations.”

There it is in one (long) sentence… what has been debated, disputed and hacked up for 2000 years.

1. Rapture “He is coming with the clouds”

”Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him.” Rev 1:7

When Jesus left this earth last time, He was standing on the Mount of Olives and a “cloud received Him out of their sight”. (Acts 1: 9) In the same way He will come again – with the clouds. (Mtt 24: 30, 26:64; Dan 7:13)

Paul also saw this vision even before John on the island of Patmos:

”For the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (Latin ‘rapture’) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (I Thess 4: 16-17)

Jesus is currently seated in heaven at His Father’s right hand. He must remain in heaven UNTIL the “period of restoration of all things”. (Acts 3:21) At the last trumpet, which is in a series of seven (Rev 8-9) “the time has come for the mystery of God to be finished” (Rev 10:6-7) and for “the dead to be judged… and to destroy those who destroy the earth” (Rev 11:18)

Jesus Himself told His disciples that He would come “on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” And right at that moment He would “send forth His angels with great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from one end of the sky to the other. “ (Mtt 24: 30-31; Mk 13: 26-27)

In the beauty and majesty of God this heavenly scene was not only shown Paul and John but also Daniel in a “night vision” about 2700 years ago!!

”And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented to Him, And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” (Dan 7: 13-14)

2. Reward “He is coming with His rewards”

”Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me.” Rev 22:12

At this incredibly grand meeting “in the air” with Jesus, the angels will gather with the dead in Christ with their new transformed bodies. These are joined by those who have just been caught up from earth and given “changed bodies” (I Cor 15:51-52).

At this glorious moment, unequaled in human history, Christ will reward His servants:

”The time [has come] for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great. (Rev 11:18)

Once again Paul understood this moment and remarked to Timothy at the end of his life:

”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Tim 4:7-8)

3. Return “He is coming on a white horse”

”And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon is called Faithful and true; and in righteousness He judges and wages war… And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following with Him on white horses.” (Rev 19:11,14)

After the vast “gathering in-the-air”, once the saints have been rewarded, Jesus will mobilize this huge army to return to the earth and finish the last battle for ownership of earth with the Antichrist and his armies. This battle is commonly know as the Battle of Armageddon.

What most people can not imagine is that the saints are riding with Jesus on white horses as He brings the final judgments on the earth. We will not be fighting but we will be “following Him” as seen in Rev 19: 14.

For further clarification of this please notice that in Rev 17 we are also shown as being “with Jesus” as he wages war on the beast (the Antichrist)

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Rev 17: 12-14)

I know that for many of you this thought of Jesus reigning on earth for 1000 years is new and even more stunning is that after He “delivers up the kingdom to God when He has abolished all rule and all authority“ (I Cor 15: 24), God Himself will come down from heaven with the New Jerusalem and together He and His Son will rule and reign here on earth forever! (Rev 21-22)

To solidify that last scene, I want to close with this quote from George Ladd, esteemed professor of New Testament and Greek at Fuller Seminary and one of their original faculty members:

”Throughout the entire Bible, the ultimate destiny of God’s people is an earthly destiny. In typical Greek thought, the universe was divided into two realms: the earthly or transitory, and the eternal spiritual world… However, biblical thought always places man on a redeemed earth, not in a heavenly realm removed from earthly existence.” (A commentary on the Revelation of John)

Yours for the least in the Kingdom,

Jeff Gilbertson

Daniel, the “missing link” to understanding the End Times

In my journey to comprehend the enormous subject of the End Times and to open up my heart to the book of Revelation (and all the end time passages — there are over 150 chapters in the Bible that deal with the subject!), I can honestly tell you that one verse has stirred my thinking like none other.

That verse is Matthew 24:15.

Here is the verse in its larger context. Read it slowly and out loud:

14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains… 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Mtt 24:14-15, 21)

In Matthew chapters 24 – 25, we find Jesus describing to His disciples “the sign of His coming” (parousia) and the keys to being victorious at His Second Coming. IN the middle of this passage, Jesus abruptly shifts the storyline to the prophet Daniel.

Why Daniel of all the Old Testament prophets?

Jesus could have mentioned the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc. but He pointed to instead to Daniel and to the reference there of the “Abomination of Desolation”. Curiously enough, it is in Daniel (and only Daniel) we read about the Abomination of Desolation in the Old Testament. Jesus pointed His disciples back over 500 years to help the gain understanding on what would happen over 2000 years in the future.

I believe that it is right here — in the “red letter” words of Christ — that we have our “Missing Link” to unlock the End Times!

“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) (Mtt 24:15)

In the parallel passage in Mark a small caveat is added: “But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand ), then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. ” (Mk 13:14)

The “It” that Jesus indicated will one day stand in the holy place, “where it should not be” is the Antichrist. Jesus said that when you see “It” — also called the “beast” in Rev. 13 — standing in the holy place (and that place is the temple in Jerusalem!), then that is like the “CRACK” of the starter’s pistol. The “man of lawlessness” is being revealed (2 Thess. 2) and the end of all things is just around the corner…

”It is called the Abomination of Desolation because it is an Abomination to God that results in the Desolation of the nations by His Great Tribulation judgments. The Antichrist brings tribulation to the saints using his worldwide government (Rev. 13). God brings tribulation against the people in the Antichrist’s empire by the 21 numbered judgments.“ (Mike Bickle)

To fully grasp the context of the above quote, I want to review with you briefly what I believe is the setting of the last 3 1/2 years (1260 days) of earth as we know it, during what Jesus called the Great Tribulation:

There will be 21 consecutive judgments, growing in intensity and frequency. Jesus takes the scroll, sealed up with seals, from His Father and opens the 7 seals judgments, which in turn opens the scroll to release the 7 trumpets judgments. Finally, the 7 bowls of wrath are poured out on the earth. At the last trumpet, Jesus will return to earth with the dead in Christ and we who remain will be caught up together with Him. When the last of the “Bowls of Wrath” is poured out, a loud voice cries out from the throne in heaven: “IT IS FINISHED!” (Rev 16:17)

Before the 7th trumpet sounds and Christ returns “coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him” (Rev 1:7), a staggering number of people on earth will be killed — over 1/2 of the world’s population (as you can ascertain from the judgments of the 4th seal and the 6th trumpet).

Jesus tells us that if we are to comprehend all of this we need to go back into the book of Daniel and look for answers.

Who (or what) is the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?

When you turn to the book of Daniel you read about this “abomination of desolation” in three main passages:

Daniel 9:27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Daniel 11:31 “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.

Daniel 12:11 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”

It would takes pages and pages to explain who “he” is and who “he” is not… My desire is to whet your appetite and get you reading for yourself. In Daniel we have the clearest picture of the Antichrist and his character to be found anywhere in the Bible.

Before we go any deeper into this subject I want to clear up one little-known fact:

The name “Antichrist” is really a misnomer.

If you do a word study on the name “antichrist”, remarkably you will find that it is only cited five times and all of those are in the epistles of I and II John .

“Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour.” 1 John 2:18

For more light on this I want to turn you to the NIV Study Bible:

“John assumed his readers knew that a great enemy of God and His people will arise before Christ’s return. That person is called ‘antichrist’ (vs. 18), ‘the man of lawlessness’ (2 Thess 2: 3) and ‘the beast’ (Rev 13:1-10). But prior to him, there will be many antichrists.”

In Daniel not only do we read about the abomination of desolation but also we see an “unveiling” of the Antichrist. In the following passage from Dan. 7 you can read about him symbolic language. Don’t be dismayed by the symbols (i.e. 4th beast, ten horns.) As you will see, the context will usually give the meaning: “the ten horns are ten kings”.

Symbols describe realities!

“The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time [3 1/2 years]. But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. ” (Dan 7:23-26)

Here is the Antichrist and THIS is what Jesus wanted us to understand!

Truth be told, we need to read and re-read Daniel as it is the Old Testament’s equivalent of the New Testament’s book of Revelation. Perhaps this is where the trouble of our “muddled interpretations” of the Last Days! These two books are “center stage” and yet most of us are content with knowing about Shadrach and Meshach in a fiery furnace and Daniel in the lion’s den and that Jesus will return on a white horse and save the world someday…

Take this one example:

“Now I [Gabriel] have come to give you [Daniel] an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” Dan 10:14

Surely you know of the spiritual warfare in connection with Daniel’s three weeks of prayer and fasting BUT did you also know that the answer Gabriel brought him was two chapters on the Antichrist!

The book of Daniel Shows us the End Times Timeline.

What I find most compelling in Daniel is the accuracy of the “length of days” and timing of the end of the age. In Daniel we find the BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END of the Last Days. You can read it all in one verse straight from the mouth of Gabriel. (Please do a study someday of who Gabriel talks to in the Bible!!)

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.’ In the middle of the ’seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” Dan 9:27 (NIV)

1. BEGINNING

The Antichrist will “covenant with the many” for seven years Dan 9: 27a

2. MIDDLE

The “abomination of desolation” will come in the middle of those seven years (i.e. 3 1/2 years or 1260 days) (Dan 9: 27b, Mtt 24:15/ Mk 13:14, 2 Thess 2:4 Rev 13:5)

3. END

The Antichrist’s destruction in the lake of fire (Dan 9: 27c, 2 Thess 2:8, Rev 19:20)

I found an excellent graph for this exact timeline that I think will be helpful. (Please note that they use the title “Rule of the Prince” for the Antichrist.) It shows the correct place for the 1260, 1290 and 1335 days of Daniel 12:7, 11-12. You would laugh your head off if I told you of all the confusion and contradiction from just these three verses you can find in one hour on the Internet!!

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Part 2

The Type, or the Antitype

In closing, I want to touch briefly on one of the main struggles you can experience in trying to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) about the End Times. I am not trying to be too cryptic here but I feel I need to use these two words to help us move forward.

1. TYPE – A type is a person, place, thing, or event that is a foreshadowing of a future person or event.

2. ANTITYPE – The antitype or thing the type foreshadows is greater and clearer to understand.

“For example, a rubber stamp is a type. It is not clear and simple to understand. However, its antitype, that print that appears when the rubber stamp is pressed on paper, is much clearer than the type. The type was a shadow, or promise of the revealed antitype to come. We must never expect the type and antitype to be the same… Remember too, that the antitype is always superior to the type. If it were not, there would be no need of the type. The antitype is always clearer and more revealing. ” (by Grady Scott)

In the following verse I think you will agree with me that Moses is the type and that Jesus is the antitype:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14).

Melchizedek, the “king of peace” (Heb. 7:2), is another the type of a Jesus, a Man who would be called “Prince of Peace”, the antitype, who is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.

I like how A. W. Pink has developed this thought in this quote:

“As it is in the natural world, so it is in the spiritual: there is first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. So there is first the shadow, and then the substance; the type, and then the antitype.”

Well, dear brothers and sisters, we ALSO have type/antitype of the Antichrist!

Pharaoh was a striking and accurate type of the Antichrist.

“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Ex. 5:2). The Pharaoh had magical resources at his disposal (Ex. 7:11), but not as great or powerful as the antitype, the Antichrist; the lawless one (2 Thess. 2: 8-9)

Many see in Nimrod an obvious type of the Antichrist.

Gen. 10:10 informs us that the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babylon and we all know where that led. Fast-forward to the end of the Bible and we see Babylon again, this time depicted as the Great Harlot sitting on a scarlet beast, “drunk with the blood of the saints”! (Rev 17)

In 168 B.C. Antiochus IV was a type of the Antichrist. The Jewish holiday Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the forces of Antiochus IV. He exalted himself by using “divine epithets”, which no other Hellenistic king had done, such as “Theos Epiphanes” which means “God Manifest”.

In 70 A.D. armies from another type of the Antichrist, the Roman Emperor Titus, completely destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish.

Both of these men were not the fulfillment but the foreshadowing!

So was Nero, Napoleon, Hitler, Saddam Hussein…

If the church could grasp this one truth much insight and strength would come to the body. But since we have already a doctrine / theology that splits into “a, pre, and post”- millennium and splits again into “past, present, future and symbolic” interpretation camps, we are weak and fractured!

God help us!! (If what I just wrote makes no sense at all consider yourself one of the fortunate ones.)

Church, take courage and strength from Daniel!

“Those who have insight [at the end of the age] will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12:3

Yours for the least in the kingdom,

Jeff Gilbertson

P.S. Just to good to leave out:

“Almost everyone looks at the book of Daniel with a sense of wonder and anticipation, because this is usually regarded as a prophetic book foretelling the future. This is true. The book of Daniel, together with the book of Revelation, marvelously unfolds future events as God has ordained them in the program of history. By no means has this book yet been fulfilled, neither has the book of Revelation. These two books, one from the Old and one from the New Testament, remarkably complement each other in their symmetry and harmony. The book of Revelation explains the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel lays the basis for the book of Revelation. If you would like to know God’s program for the future, it is essential that you understand this book of Daniel.”(Ray Stedman)

He will come just like a thief in the night!

There is so much bewilderment about the “How and When” of the promised return of the Lord Jesus that I hardly know where to start. Many people that I talk with often say that they just can’t get “sidetracked” by the End Times since it is so muddled. As if studying the Second Coming is “off on a tangent“!

Nevertheless, I feel an urgency in my heart to keep “chipping away” at the faulty theology imbedded at large in the body of Christ on the Last Days. I want to examine with you one of the verses that I believe has been appallingly misunderstood in regards to the Second Coming:

“The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”
1 Thess 5: 2

For decades the church has fed itself the continuous line that the “Day of the Lord” would come unexpectedly — like maybe even before I finish typing this sentence… AAAAHHHH!

This “sudden and sneaky” Rapture fever has served the church quite well in evangelism, I guess. Have you not seen the portrayals of lightening flashing in a crowded church service and then after the smoke clears a few are “left behind”, broken and repentant and start to REALLY seek the Lord, etc.?? You might have read the popular book series touching on these themes.

Well, it might make for good “YouTube” hits, but it is poor theology.

Yes, Jesus will come like a thief in the night… to those who are not watching!! To those who are asleep.

Read it for yourself:

I Thess 5:4-6 “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day [of the Lord] would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”

Revelation 3:3 “So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” — Jesus

Revelation 16:15 “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” — Jesus

Matt 24:33,36 “Even so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door… But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” — Jesus

Just to be clear on this last verse, which seems to be is the fountainhead of the confusion, we WILL NOT KNOW “that day and hour” — which is an oft repeated theme of the New Testament — BUT we are to know that “He is near”. Jesus went on to compare it to watching the trees budding in spring and showing a “hint of green” in their leaves and recognizing that summer is near! (Mtt 24: 32)

Thankfully, more and more believers are “waking up” to the truths of these and other scriptures. Believers are finally taking the time to seriously think through their faulty theology of a God who wants to “catch the world by surprise”. The following is a quote from one such believer:

“We all ‘know’ that when Jesus returns, it will be ‘as a thief in the night’, a totally unexpected surprise, about which He has given us no clues about what to watch for and expect. This is the ‘doctrine of imminence’, the foundation of the pre-tribulation rapture error. We have also repeatedly heard that God has no interest in, or intention of, revealing His timing to us, preferring, if you will, that He might catch us all by surprise. It has also been well ingrained into our minds that any form of ‘date setting’ is not only foolish, but forbidden. But are these commonly held beliefs necessarily valid? Or have we misapplied what Jesus was trying to convey to His disciples? Is He really trying to sneak up on everyone to catch them unaware?” ( For the entire article see: Ed Spurlin)

The dreaded problem of “Dual Application”

Before we can look deeply into the End Times we must all have a clear understanding that when the Scriptures speak of “the last days” there is often little or no more clue than just that: “In the last days” or “In that day” or “ A day of the Lord is coming. (see Isaiah 2: 2-4,11,17, 20; Micah 4:1-7; Zech. 14: 1-9)

Many times there is a dual application that is unspoken or hidden and we need to “search out the matter” to know if the writer is speaking of a day soon to come in his generation or if this was fulfilled in the cross or will be fulfilled in the Second Coming!

A well know example would be Isaiah 9:6-7

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”

Certainly much of this was fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus but there is still “a day coming” when Jesus will rule the nations from David’s throne in Jerusalem with a rod of iron and the government of the whole world will rest on His shoulders. Hallelujah!!

As I now describe the coming birth pangs that Jesus gave us to “recognize the times“ we need a clear understanding that this passage may have a dual application to a time to come shortly in Israel ( 70 A.D.) and a second, broader application to come “at the end of the ages”. I always find that Jesus Himself is the key to unlocking the most difficult passages!! (e.g. Mtt 24: 15)

Here is a complete list of the “Birth Pangs” that Jesus spoke of in the Gospels. (Mtt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21)

1. wars and rumors of wars
2. nation will rise against nation / kingdom against kingdom
3. plagues
4. famines
5. terrors (“fearful events” NIV)
6. great signs from heaven
7. earthquakes
8. they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you
9. you will be hated by all nations because of My name
10. many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another
11. many false prophets will arise and will mislead many
12. lawlessness is increased
13. most people’s love will grow cold
14. gospel must first be preached to all the nations

The whole point of Jesus telling us to “watch and pray” is that we would watch the obvious signs in the world and in the church and pray for His wisdom and guidance. In Mark, Jesus distinctly told His disciples to “Be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.” (Mk 13: 23)

Dear Saints, Jesus wasn’t keeping them in the dark, like a “cloak-and-dagger” spy novel! That was not and is not the heart of God!! He let them know “IN ADVANCE”, step by step, point-by-point, what would take place.

As it was in the days of Noah

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. ” Mtt 24:37

In Matthew 24, we see that Jesus said that His second coming, His “parousia”, would be just like the days of Noah. Just days before the world-wide flood, the people of Noah’s time were carrying on with “business as usual”. We know that Noah built his ark for at least 100 years but he did not know when it was going to rain until God told him that it would come in just seven days.

The significance I want to draw out of the parallelism to Noah and the Second Coming is two-fold:

#1. We need to be like Noah “alert and sober” and careful to be walking in righteousness before our God.

Gen 7:1,4 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time…For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights.”

#2. The “sleepy” people of Noah’s day were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” right up until the very day Noah entered the ark, even though the “sign” of pending judgment grew daily right before their eyes! For them “that day” came like a thief in the night!

Mtt 24:39 “And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

Finally, I want to close with one last encouragement from noted Bible teacher Rick Joyner who has summed up these thoughts very well about knowing the times you are living in:

“Even the best map is useless unless you know where you are. Every Christian should know where they are on the path of life, and they should also know the signs of the times in which they live.”

Yours for the least in the Kingdom,

Jeff Gilbertson

Remember Lot’s Wife

The Lord spoke to me quite clearly the other morning. It seems sleep “escaped me” and I woke rather early and was stirred to look into the metaphor or “word picture” that Jesus left His disciples in talking about His Second Coming: “Remember Lot’s Wife.”

Here is the passage in its immediate context from Luke 17:

”It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Luke 17: 28-33

To give my own context, I was preparing a seminar on Eight End Times Essentials that my daughter and I were doing for two local churches, when the Lord directed me to Luke 17 and these short cryptic words: ”Remember Lot’s Wife”.

If you “Google” this verse you will find thousands of hits and most of them are directed at the unsaved — as though we can “scare folks toward Christ”! After all, the image of a pillar of salt is quite graphic! Here is just one example: ”Do not delay, trust Christ today! Obey the Lord.”

I don’t blame or judge those who would use this passage for a call to conversion but I would ask us all to look closer to find the true meaning of these words. Please notice that Jesus was talking to Peter, James, and John – the 12 apostles: And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it…. And just as it was in the days of Noah..” Luke 17:22, 26

Therefore we need to first of all look at the church in these verses.
– Why is Jesus bringing us the word picture of Lot’s wife?
– What is there in her “looking back” that we need to take to heart?

In these three short words ”Remember Lot’s Wife” I believe Jesus has given us a library to explore concerning the Last Days and His Return!

1. “Head for the Hills”.

To start with we must see that Jesus spoke this to His disciples as pertaining to events surrounding His Second Coming and as a warning of urgency!

“On that day” there is no time to “go back and get your goods”!

Whether you are on the rooftop or out in the fields on “that day”, the message is the same – “Flee! Don’t go back.” In the broader context of Luke 17, we see that Jesus spoke of “that day” as when the “Abomination of Desolation” stands in the holy place. This is seen in the parallel passages from Mtt 24:15 and Mk 13:14.

“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.” Mtt 24: 15-18

It will take the utmost of urgency and resolve for the world-wide Bride of Christ in “that day” to move quickly and without regard to the “things of this world”. Alfred Plummer has written tersely about this verse to “Remember Lot’s wife”:

“The application is to absolute indifference to all worldly interests as the attitude of readiness for the Son of Man”.

The great question I believe for this generation, for this hour, is how do we know that we will not follow Lot’s wife example? The only answer is that we are living NOW the life that will endure to the end THEN!!

We need to be like Daniel and the Hebrew youths!

They came as captives from Jerusalem into a difficult setting — Babylon under the rulership of an anti-christ figure Nebuchadnezzar– but they never wavered. They CAME prepared! They came with an understanding of their time, an awareness of their time! They did not learn in Babylon, “on-the-job”, the lessons of faith and trust that would see them through the fiery furnace and the lion’s den.

They came prepared to face the giant.

We need this same sense of urgency that Jesus left as an example for His disciples. We must be prepared on short notice to “head for the hills”, having made the decision in our hearts years earlier to “absolute indifference to all worldly interests”.

Many believers will be offended by GOD in the last days. “And then shall many be offended…” (Mtt 24: 10) As Mike Bickle from IHOP has shared many times:

”The prepared, prophetic church ALONE will have the answers to keep multitudes from being offended at God in the End Times.”

2. Don’t look Back.

Here we see the real tragedy of this situation. Just before the goal-line (i.e. the small city of Zoar) Mrs. Lot lingered, tarried, hesitated… “remembered” and looked back! Her own husband and daughters were just a FEW meters in front of her in the safety of the city limits
of Zoar.

The angel had just told them the night before that they must– “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Well, true to his word, as soon as Lot reached Zoar with his two daughters “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” (Gen 19) At this point, Lot’s wife revealed her true heart as she turned her head to “look behind” at the burning memories of Sodom.

“And she became a pillar of salt” Gen 19:26 And a memorial that stood most likely for generations! The famous 1st century Jewish historian Josephus reports that he saw this pillar of salt in his time! It must be noted here that Lot’s wife was “touched by an angel”. She was directed by an angel to head for the hills and to not look back. Few of us have had such divine intervention (let the reader understand).

If we study closely the life of Lot, we will see that this “looking back” of his wife’s did not happen with out some gradual decline. I believe we can see a slow, steady turning, like a giant ocean liner at sea making a U-Turn. Lot intended at first, when he separated from Abraham, to live in his tent apart from the people of Sodom (Genesis 13:12). But he was gradually drawn away, moved to the city, and was connected with the citizens there by marriage. Lot moved further and further from the Kingdom of God and settled in closer and closer in the kingdom of this world.

He too “hesitated” and “lingered” when it came his time to “Flee!”

Gen 19: 15-16 “When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.”

What was the big lure of Sodom?? Was it the blatant lust and living for the flesh? Don’t be too quick to judge!

“Now this was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Ezekiel 16:49-50

Someday, possibly in the not-too-distant future, we will also be told to “head for the hills”! Saints, we need to wake up out of the “fog” of fear of the End Times, the book of Revelation and the proclaim the Return of the King!

I will close with one last quote from CS Lewis’ classic The World’s Last Night:

“He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead“’ says the Apostles’ Creed. “This same Jesus’ said the angels in Acts, “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” “Hereafter’ said our Lord him self (by those words inviting crucifixion), “shall ye see the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of heaven.” If this is not an integral part of the faith once given to the saints, I do not know what is.”

Yours for the least in the Kingdom,

Jeff Gilbertson