Signs of the End Part 1, 2,3,4,5

Signs of the End 
Part 1 of 5 
Prophecy - Signs 
Monday, April 04, 2016 
Pete Garcia 



Neither the Old Testament nor the New paints a positive picture of peace of the world leading up to and including "the 70th Week of Daniel"(aka the Tribulation). 


God has intervened three times in the past on a global scale, and will twice more in the future.  


The Bible states that conditions will become so wicked in the future that if God doesn’t intervene no flesh would survive.  It would seem as it were, that the world will continue to atrophy until the point in which the geopolitical, societal, and religious situations become so irreconcilably wicked that God will once again intervene in the affairs of mankind in order to redeem those who are His, in perfect synchronization with the plan He’s had since before the creation of the world.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

It is in the dispensational understanding, which we recognize that God chose to reveal His plan progressively, accordingly to the era, receiving a little more of what the overarching plan is.  In other words, God didn’t chose to reveal everything He could to Adam.  He didn’t reveal everything to Abraham. Nor to Moses.  Yet, the varying amount each received would collectively speaking, paint the total picture of God’s plan for the ages.  This is an important concept to grasp because it not only explains how God has chosen to operate, but also why.


Man’s Fall to the Flood


At the Garden, and before the fall, Adam was given dominion over the earth.  He was God’s chosen agent to rule over the Creation kingdom as theocratic administrator.  When Adam and Eve sinned they committed open rebellion against their Creator and essentially handed over that kingdom to the enemy, Lucifer.  In that light, they forfeited their right to rule and bequeathed the title deed to the earth, to the usurper. (Gen. 1:26-28, 3)  Since that time, Lucifer (or Satan) has remained the defacto, albeit, temporary, administrator or manager of the earth ever since. (Luke 4:5--6, 1 John 5:19)


From the fall of Adam, until the time of Noah, we have this period that the Bible has relatively little to say about, yet covers a period (based of genealogies found in Gen. 5), of around 1,656 years.  The observations about the following can be made of this specific time period;

1. There was no written Word of God (that we know of) in which man could use to understand God’s intent and purpose for their lives here on earth. 
   
   
2. It is assumed, that men and angels, were in much more direct relations than at any point after the flood.  We see the results of the fallen angels, and potentially Satan’s attempt to corrupt man’s genepool through the ‘hybridization’ of the sons of God and the daughters of men. (Gen. 6:1-4, 2 Peter 2:4-5, Jude 1:6)
   
3. It is then assumed, that there were also good relations, or sanctioned relations, between angels (not fallen) and mankind, who served God in relating to man, God’s plan’s and intentions.  Enoch prophesied and is presumed to have had some writings that was copied and/or preserved down through history. (Jude 1:14-15)
   

The net result being, mankind’s wickedness grew exponentially until the point, in which the threshold of man’s redemption had been crossed, and God would have to wipe man off the face of the earth and start over with only Noah and his immediate family.  Considering the longsuffering and patience of God, (who’s character hasn’t changed from then until now), the condition man was in must have so egregious, and irreversible, that God had no other choice. Again, in God’s omniscience, this was not a surprise, but perhaps, a foreseen reality that still pained God to have to see play out.  (Gen. 6:5-7)


Curiously, Jesus stated that the Days just prior to His return, would be like the days before the Noahic flood.  This brings some interesting things to mind we often don’t consider;

1. The only way Jesus could have known what the days of Noah were like, is if He were there.  So in saying it without coming out and saying it, He is declaring His eternality and Godhead by stating what life was like in the days of Noah, which at that time was 2,500 years prior.  This is in the same vein as when He told the Pharisees in John 8:58that before Abraham was, I am, He here is stating as a matter of fact, what life was like then.  Nothing in the Tanakh (Old Testament) mentions the conditions that Christ is saying here as ‘buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage’.  (Luke 17:27-28)
   
2. Jesus then, having perfect knowledge of the Antediluvian (pre-flood) world, would also know about the Nephilim, which were the offspring of the Sons of God and theDaughters of Men.  Interesting that He would reference this as being similar to the time just before His return, in that man has once again, crossed (and continues to cross) the threshold of unlocking the genetic secrets of mankind, as well as other technological barriers providing for instantaneous communication and information, space travel, teleportation, etc.  Just as it is with the discovery and scientific efforts to resurrect ancient animals (mammoths, sabre tooth tigers, etc.), so to would discovery of those giants (if not already) to bring them back via genetic manipulation.  We are the only generation since then that has had that capability.
   
3. There isn’t any point inside the confines of the 70th Week itself that will bear any sense of normalcy as to support ‘marrying and giving in marriage’, etc.  A massive departure of believer’s simultaneously, one divine judgment after another, and all powerful satanic signs and lying wonders will rule the day.  The days of Noah and Lot, must represent the time leading up to the 70th Week.
   

Conclusion


While we struggle with the increasingly antagonistic and antichristian decline of the United States and Europe, we need to recognize that this is exactly where the Bible says we would be in the last days.  It is difficult to maintain a positive outlook on life when so many things are falling apart in the world, and it seems as if evil has the upper hand.  Let me assure you, that it only ‘seems’ that way.  We know how the story ends, and if our story ends a little earlier than before Christ physically returns for His bride, just know that either way, you will be in the Rapture either being resurrected, or translated alive.  Also remember, that Jesus and the other writers in the Bible remind us of one important thing concerning the accuracy and comfort in the study of Bible prophecy...and now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. John 14:29

Linky-linky

ColonelZ, please don't forget that we like links here. Where did this article come from? I'm looking forward to seeing the other four parts, with their accompanying links too. The first part was pretty interesting.

Signs of the End 
Part 2 of 5 
Prophecy - Signs 
Saturday, April 09, 2016 
Pete Garcia 



And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:


 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Luke 17:26-27


The catastrophic flood of Noah’s day, not only wiped all traces of the antediluvian peoples from the face of the earth, but also changed the geographic landscape of the earth’s continents.  It was during one of Shem’s descendants, Peleg’s (Gen. 10:25) era, which the earth was divided.  There is much speculation and discussion about what this exactly means, but a curious note in the Book of Jasher (2:11) says--It was Peleg who first invented the hedge and the ditch, the wall and bulwark: and who by lot divided the lands among his brethren.


Along with centuries old scholarly discussions on the subject who have debated between some violent and sudden form of continental drift, or the separation by mass migrations of the offspring of Noah, either way, it happened during Peleg’s day, which was around 111 years after the flood.  Keep in mind, that Genesis 10, provides an overall summary of Noah’s descendants and their dispersion across the face of the earth and is summarized as such inverse 32.  When proceeding on to Genesis 11, take note that mankind is united there on the plains of Shinar near Babel so that Genesis 11:1-9, is an expansion of just one of the grandsons of Noah (as mentioned in chapter 10), prior to their global dispersion from Babel.

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Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).  Genesis 10:8-12

The Flood - Babel

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Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose topis in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

My position on this has changed over the years, going from what was the traditional view for the location for the site of Babel (southern Iraq), to now, more northern Iraq/Syria.  A more detailed summation of this is outlined in Answers in Genesis, but the conclusion is one in which I tend to agree with.  The below is the summary of that article:


It has been shown in this paper that, based on biblical, historical, geological, and geographical evidences, the Tower of Babel was most likely built in the Khabur River triangle of North Syria, somewhere inside a triangle marked at its points by Tell Brak, Tell Aqab (near Amuda) and Tell Fakhariyah; and could not have been located anywhere in southern Mesopotamia, as has been traditionally believed.


There are a myriad of reasons why northern Iraq/Syria makes more sense, but the top three for this author are:

1. If you were building a tower, which in part, was to serve as an escape for a future flood, you wouldn’t build it in a flood plain.  You’d start in the mountains or on higher terrain.
   
2. It is likely, given the proximity to the time of the flood itself, most if not all of southern Iraq, would still be under water.  It remained marshlands up until the time of Saddam Hussein, who drained it in an attempt to punish the Shia Muslims native to that area back in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s.
   
3. The current borders we have, are largely artificial arrangements from the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), which resulted in the British and French carving up the Middle East upon the conclusion of World War 1 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.  Historically, by the time of the Babylonian kingdom- through the Seleucid Kingdom (312-63BC), Babylon and Syria were largely synonymous.
   

But the location aside, we now turn to the “why” of the tower.

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But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.  Gen. 11:1-9

The Tower at Babel is significant, not in that God fears ziggurats or skyscrapers, but in what man was trying to accomplish by building it.  First, man was attempting to create a means of escape, should the flood happen again.  After all, the flood, during the time period of Genesis 11:1-9, was still recent history.


  Interesting to note as well, that where the timeline is given for the descendants of Shem (so and so begat so and so, and lived xxx years), there is none for Ham and Japeth.  So it is possible that Peleg was alive during Nimrod’s day, who began the world’s first dictatorship.  But the tower was also significantly disturbing for a far deeper reason, in that it would serve as a means to reconnect with the divine order, as it was prior to the flood.  Consider the following observations:

1. It is as innate to man to want to ascend into the heavens, as it is of animals to follow their natural instincts.  The reasons man wants to ascend, is that man was created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-28), and man was built with eternity in his heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  In other words, man is not just a physical being, but also a spiritual one.  And when Adam and Eve fell at the Garden, they forever severed that divine connection they once had. 
   
2. Man’s actions at Babel were in open rebellion against God’s directions in Genesis 9 to spread out over the face of the earth.  It would seem that God’s Rainbow Covenant with mankind in Genesis 9, was either not remembered, or was lost to subsequent, post-flood generations.
   
3. The Apostle Paul wrote that Satan’s domain is not in some dark, shadowy cavern of Hell, but in the air.  (Eph. 2:2)  Satan resides in what we would call, the first andsecond heavens, or the atmosphere and space surrounding earth.  Nothing good would come of building in the ‘high places’ that reached into Satan’s domain.
   
4. Some have suggested that they were attempting to build a ‘star-gate’ or inter-dimensional portal to reconnect with the supernatural world as they once had before the flood. Considering that we are doing the exact same thing now with projects likeCERN, it’s not unreasonable to assume that man was incapable or unwilling to attempt it.
   

Beyond Babel


When Jesus was describing what the conditions on the earth would be like at the end of the age, He didn’t reference back to the time of Joshua, or Moses.  He spoke specifically to a time before the earth was divided by nations, when the supernatural, violence and wickedness ruled the day.  But He also spoke about a specific incident, which occurred after Babel, which was infamous for its wickedness when He said…

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Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.  Luke 17:28-30

We get the clearer picture in Genesis 18-19, of what life was like there in Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham and Lot’s day.  Clearly, God didn’t destroy the world with a flood for marrying, eating and drinking.  Neither did He wipe Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the earth for eating and drinking, buying and selling.  The pre-flood world was a time of extreme corruption, deviancy, and wickedness. 


 Sodom and Gomorrah was a place of the same making.  A microcosm if you will, of what life was like before the flood.  (See 2 Peter 2:4-8, Jude 1:6-7)  Babel was the way station between the two.


Conclusion


Consider the old Genesis 11 adage; what God has separated, let not man put back together.  After all, we started out as one race and one system, and it seems only natural that despite the genetic, cultural, and linguistic differences that God separated man with back at the Tower of Babel- humanistic man would ultimately at the end of the age, try and return back to that
The Tower of Babel incident, forced God’s hand to act in the interest of mankind. 


 Granted, it wasn’t a surprise to God, as He is omnipotent, but He knew He would have to act on account of the disastrous potential there.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone that as we (this generation) draw closer to the final moments of human history that we not only see this convergence of prophetic signs but we also see the amalgamation of cultures and beliefs back towards a singular system.  This return towards unification as it were, being the largest, yet most overlooked sign, serves as clear, providential evidence of where we are on God’s calendar.


We’ve seen in just this past century, man’s ability to overcome this separation with the endorsement of English as the universal language.  This is because for the two centuries prior to American dominance, the British Empire was worldwide, and they of course, spoke English.  Just as the geo-political conditions were perfect for Christ’s first coming, (pax romana, universal Koine Greek language, Roman roads), so too is our day primed for another direct divine intervention. 


We have the technological means to overcome linguistic differences through artificial translators.  We have launched into space.  We are attempting again to build inter-dimensional portals.  We have made the world small again with the advent of the Internet age.  Wickedness and violence are the norms of the day. 


 Homosexuality and other deviant lifestyles are being promoted as the “new normal” by the highest levels of political office around the world.  Anyone who dares to stand against this onslaught of lawlessness, unfortunately, often feels the wrath of the full weight of the political, societal, and media powers upon them.


Man’s attempt to reconnect with the divine outside of Jesus Christ and the Bible simply reinforces the reality that man is not just a flesh and blood being, but also spiritual.  Man desires something greater than himself, yet apart from God.  This was why man turned to thedark arts and secret knowledge in the past in order to gain access to that divine power that he once had access too. 


The significance in relation to today’s world is that technology has come to replace the secret arts in unlocking the things man desires most.  We are crossing divine ‘red lines’ which once crossed, can’t be undone.  As we get closer to that point of no return, God is going to recall those who are His, back to Himself to unleash the full weight of His wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth.  So while the days seem dark, and the world is fully engaged and mocking God’s seeming disengagement from the affairs of man, we must remember His words…


Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.  Revelation 3:10-11

The Fig Tree Generation 
Part 3 of 5 
In Defense of the Faith 
Sunday, April 17, 2016 
Pete Garcia 



This is the third of five articles relating to the 'Signs of the End'.  We are looking at the points in human history where God has intervened in huge, earth shattering ways to alter the course of mankind.  The next event in which God has directly intervened into the affairs of mankind was and still is, the most significant one.
  
It is where God, robed Himself in the flesh of a man, through a birth which defied the very laws of nature, came and lived a perfect and sinless life.  At the culmination of His life, and at the appointed time, He then willingly died for men at the hands of the Romans (Gentiles) and the Jews, so that He could redeem mankind back to Himself.  This Man, who left heaven became in effect our Kinsman Redeemer.  Those before Him looked for His coming.  Those after, look back at what was wrought there at the cross of Calvary.  His 33 ½ years here on earth have become the epicenter of all human history.


Going forward from Adam’s day, we see a narrowing process in which out of the race of mankind, a particular people were set aside.  (Gen. 12:1-7, Exodus 19)


  Out of these people, a particular family.  (Gen. 22:15-18) Out of that family, a particular tribe. (Gen. 49:8-12)  Out of that tribe, a particular bloodline. (2 Sam. 7:12-16) Out of that bloodline, the Messiah. (Matt. 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38)

In His life, Jesus Christ validated the prophetic Scriptures by fulfilling His manner of birth, place of birth, time of birth, youth, ministry, and His death…thus proving without a doubt, that the OT prophet’s words were in fact the very words of God. 


 In His death He became thePassover Lamb which would take away the sins of all mankind and thus, conquered sin.  In His resurrection, He defeated death.  His death, provided the justification that in Himself, one can only find eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and the necessary redemption to one’s Creator.  His resurrection then proving, that life really only begins, after one dies and enters into the eternal order.


Jesus’s coming then, as foretold from the beginning, (Gen. 3:15), was shrouded in secrecy, so as to prevent the usurper, Satan, from further agitating God’s plan of redemption.  Now, God doesn’t fear what Satan knows, or can do because Satan is only allowed to do what God allows.  But, to minimize the amount of divine interference necessary (think Noahic Flood), and to continue to allow men to have free will, God chose to hide His plan in plain sight.  He did this by way of progressive revelation, in which His plan was revealed piece by piece, over a period of 1,600-2,000 years, to men from all walks of life, and geographically situated on three separate continents. 

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However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.                    1 Cor. 2:6-8

In His first advent (meaning arrival), Christ came as promised in the OT, and offered the Kingdom to the Jews of His day.  His message…from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17) was a legitimate offer specifically for all the Jewish people (Matt. 10:5, 15:24), with the prerequisites for its arrival laid out in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).  This message would later change towards the end of His ministry due to the continued rejection by the Jews and their leadership, in which from that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. (Matt. 16:21)


The Jew’s rejection of Him was already known by God before He ever sent His Son to them.  (Isaiah 53:3, Dan. 9:26, John 15:25), yet, God still sent Him because He is faithful, even when we are faithless. (2 Tim. 2:13)  This plan to redeem mankind, was thought of before Creation occurred (Eph. 1:4), and would find its first major fulfillment, in the coming of God to man in the form of Jesus Christ.  It was at that specific time, that God knew the conditions would be perfect for the initiation and distribution of the Gospel of Salvation (Gal. 4:4-5);

1. The Koine Greek was the common language of the day, and happens to be one of the most precise and specific languages ever developed by man
   
2. Pax Romana (Roman peace) was in effect, which allowed for the quick transmittal of the Gospel throughout the known world then.
   
3. The Messiah would have had to come before the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora (AD70) (Dan. 9:24-27), but before the Jews’ lost their right to judicial punishment (Gen. 49:10).  This in effect, left a small window of time for His life and death that the Jewish people should have recognized. (Luke 19:41-44)
   

Prior to His death, Jesus explained to His disciples in great detail about the things to come preceding the end of the age.  On the Mt. of Olives Jesus began laying out for them general signs of the end, which although present in every generation, would be like birth pangs, and becoming increasingly intensified and ultimately culminating in one generation. (Matthew 24,Mark 13, Luke 21) He first began by sharing with all the disciples upon departing the temple, how the temple would be destroyed (vs.3) with not one stone left upon the other.


As they arrived on the Mt. of Olives itself, four disciples out of the group came up to Him privately and inquired about His previous comment concerning the destruction of the temple.  It was Peter, James, John, and Andrew (Mark 13:3-4) and He would begin one of His longest discourses regarding the time and events surrounding His second advent.  Remember, He had been previously telling them since Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13-28), that He was first going to have to go to Jerusalem, and be handed over to the officials to be executed. 


Now He was talking about events that would necessitate long periods of time such as the destruction of the temple, false messiahs pretending to be Him, earthquakes, famines, wars, and then, an ultimate desecration of the Holy of Holies...which would by implication mean, another temple would have to be rebuilt.  He concludes the signs of the end, by the description of the end with…then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matt. 24:30) But He did not leave them in the dark necessarily.  Capping off this discussion, He gave them the Parable of the Fig Tree. 


The Fig Enigma

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“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you,this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.  Matt. 24:32-35

The disciples, being Jews and having a working knowledge of their Scriptures, would have understood the parable to be a reference to Israel, since several OT prophets and writers had used figs and fig trees as being symbolic references to national Israel.  Not only that, but having seen Jesus earlier in the week, curse a barren fig tree on the way into Jerusalem, and seeing the immediacy of that curse being carried out as early as the next morning, should have sparked some curiosity and understanding in their minds about the true nature of the parable Jesus was saying.  So follow the logic here…


Figs and fig trees had come to be symbolic of national, political, Israel. This would have been understood by His disciples.  [Judges 9, Jeremiah 24, Zech. 3:10]  Jesus had already explained in the Olivet Discourse prior to the Fig Tree Parable, that the temple would be destroyed and all those signs would have had to occur.


Earlier that week, Jesus curses a barren fig tree, and note the mention that the ‘disciples heard it’.

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“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”  And His disciples heard it.” Mark 11:12-14

The next morning, the tree was shriveled up.  So when Jesus says, learn this parable from the fig tree…He was referencing the fig tree they saw Him curse.

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Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” [Mark 11:12-14, 20-21]

Jesus, the Creator, would have known already that it wasn’t the season for figs.


  This was intentional so that He could use it later as an illustration for the ‘Parable of the Fig Tree’. Now learn this parable from the fig tree…that national Israel’s unwillingness to accept Him was a sign that Israel had not yet reached its season for bearing fruit.  They (that generation—Matt. 23:36, would not see the Messiah again, nor would Israel until the season was right (vs. 37-39).


Jesus, pointing back to the barren fig tree, references the understanding of the season as being similar to seeing all the signs He listed out for them in the Olivet Discourse.  Only that generation (who saw all the signs) would be the ones who would not pass away, until all these things find fulfillment. 


Conclusion


For those people (primarily the preterist and amillennialist) who promote the idea that the disciple’s generation were the ones who saw all the signs and we need not look any longer, should remember, that the destruction of the temple as mentioned by Christ, was not included in the Olivet Discourse proper, per say and is separate from the signs of the end of the age.  Jesus mentioned the destruction of the temple to all those with Him as they were departing the temple, not as they were sitting on the Mount of Olives.  It was only the four disciples who privately came up to Him later on the Mt. of Olives to further inquire about the signs of the end of the age.  So the generation mentioned in the Parable of the Fig Tree, would be that generation which saw the signs Jesus alluded too as being marker’s for the end of the age.


Those signs include; wars, rumors of war, false prophets and false Christ’s, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in many places, would be like birth pangs.


  In other words, they would escalate in both frequency and intensity, until reaching a culmination point that the 20th and 21st centuries could easily qualify for.  More people have died in the 20th century due to war, famine, and pestilence, than the previous 20 centuries combined.  Likewise, there has been many coming who have either claimed to be Christ, or claimed to represent Him, and have led tens of millions astray.  Furthermore, the increase in frequency and intensity of earthquakes within the last twenty years, reached a fever pitch.


But Jesus pointed to a specific event in Matthew 24:15, in which the Abomination of Desolation would be the key sign for those in Judea, to flee as fast as they could.


 (vs. 16-22)  This is interesting primarily, because Christ had begun this entire block of Scripture with the comment that not one temple stone would be left on top of the other...which most certainly would include the Holy of Holies.  For a Holy of Holies to be there to be desecrated, there first needs be a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem again.  For a Jewish temple exist, there would need to be a Jewish government in place to allow it.  For a Jewish government to exist, the world would have had to come through two world wars in order for the land and the people to be prepared.  But first…they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.  Luke 21:24

Signs of the End: 4 of 5 
Prelude to War: The Rapture 
Prophecy - Signs 
Monday, April 25, 2016 
Pete Garcia 



The next major event in which Christ breaks into human history is the Rapture of the Church.  This oft-contested and vigorously debated event will absolutely happen.  Where the confusion lies, is when.  Some hold that it already happened in the past.  Some hold that it is still yet future.  Even some are either ignorant of, or care not, when and how it occurs.


Speaking to His disciples at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus revealed to His disciples that He Himself would build a Church (ecclesia).  But this wouldn’t be just any ‘church’, nor would it be a religion or denomination.  This one could only be entered by God’s grace, through our faith, and admittance could only be by the baptism of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ Himself. This was no ordinary Church because the very gates of hell itself (appropriate imagery considering the location) could not prevail against it.  This Church wouldn’t be built by around traditions and rituals, but on one founding principle: that Jesus is the Christ, and the Son of the living God.  (Matt. 16:17-20)

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“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  John 14:1-3 NKJV

Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus further clarified that when He departed, He would go and prepare a place for them.  But He did not leave them without hope.  He said that when He left, He would send a Helper (the Holy Spirit) who would draw all men unto Himself.  (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7) This Holy Spirit would be the one who baptized those who believed into this multi-membered, singular, body of Christ.  (1 Cor. 12:13)  Believers would be ‘sealed’ until the day of redemption, and that day, being the day of Christ, the day of the Rapture of the Church. (Eph. 1:13-14, Philippians 1:6, 10, 2 Thess. 2:2)


So the disciples saw their Lord crucified.  They saw Him risen from the dead.  They witnessed Him walk through walls, eat, appear and disappear, be touched.  They witnessed His ascension into glory, and they witnessed the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  They witnessed and saw the power of God the Holy Spirit as He moved amongst God’s chosen.  And so it has been these last two thousand years.


  God drawing men, women, and children, from every tongue and tribe that has existed lo these many years. 


Yet, this time of the church will not last forever.  God very clearly through His apostles and His Son, lay out rather succinctly when and how this Church age will one day draw to a close.  It’s at this closing, that God will go back to settle His unfinished business with the Christ rejecting world, and bring Israel to the point in which they cry out ‘blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’.  (Matt. 23:39, Rev. 1:7, Zech. 12:10, Jer. 30:7-11)

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But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thess. 4:13-18

It was given to the Apostle Paul to explain this mystery, a mystery (musterion) being something that had not yet been previously revealed in Scripture. Paul explained to the Thessalonians and later to the Corinthians, that the dead would still participate in the Rapture event.  In fact, those believers who had already physically died, were in heaven already in their spirit form awaiting that Day so as not to continue on ‘naked’, or without a physical, glorified body.  (2 Cor. 5:1-5)  This is consistent with Paul’s teaching that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:6-  Both Peter and Paul, alluded to the imagery that our bodies we currently inhabit, are as ‘tents’, compared to the glorified bodies (buildings) we will one day inhabit. 
  
But one has to wonder, why…

1. …are the dead included in the act of the Rapture?  And if they (the dead in Christ) are already in heaven, why not just keep them where they are, and instantaneously transform them there?
   
2. Why are we meeting Christ in the air, as opposed to either earth or heaven?
   
3. …is there even a Rapture event to begin with?
   

Conclusion

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For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph. 6:12

I believe the answer to these questions are very much in line with that of a military operation.  It is very much true, that as believers in Christ, our battle isn’t with sword or gun, but with philosophies, with vain thinking, and with pseudo-“Christian” organizations who prey on the weak-minded and scripturally illiterate.  We battle the satanic and demonic doctrines behind the men and women who are influencing millions.  And thus, the Rapture is a formal declaration of war, by way of removing of His ambassadors unto Himself, in enemy territory, against the enemies of God.  (2 Cor. 5:20)


‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’ says the Lord.  (Hebrews 10:29-31)


Those who have died in Christ since Pentecost will return with Christ to receive their reward of a glorified, immortal, imperishable body, in the air, to showcase them, along with the living, in front of the entire demonic host.  This is why Christ calls us up to the air and not directly into Heaven itself.


This is why the dead are included in this event.  This is why there is even an event like the Rapture to begin with.  Clearly, both in word (Rev. 3:10) and in type (Rev. 4:1-2), the Rapture happens before God pours out His wrath (all 21 judgments) upon the earth.  It is this author’s belief, that prior too, or at, or just after the Rapture, Satan is cast out of Heaven once and for all.  His access is caught off and being confined to earth, his fury is then directed squarely at Israel.


How is the Church kept from the very time of something that impacts the entire earth, and all those who dwell on it?  Answer; the Rapture.  If you read Revelation 12 and understand that it is a broad sweeping summary of thousands of years of history, you then understand that the woman is Israel, and that she gave birth to the Messiah.  You’d see Jesus’s entire life, death, and Harpazo (Rapture in Latin) captured in a single verse (12:5). 
 
There then is a gap between His ascension and our deliverance now going on 2,000 years, as the next passage seemingly jumps into the last 3 ½ years of the Daniel’s seven year, 70thweek.  We know somewhere between verse 5 and verse 6 there was 2,000 years of history, out of which, 1,878 years Israel spent in her own wilderness of Diaspora.  It is this author’s belief, that it is possible, that at the Rapture we displace Satan and his demonic host who once had access to the throne room of God to accuse us, has been cast down forever.  (Job 1:6-12, Rev. 12:10)

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And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”  Rev. 12:7

In Revelation 3:10, Jesus says that the overcomers (1 John 5:5) are promised something…Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.  This is that time, in which Paul corrected the Thessalonians about in 2 Thess. 2, that the antichrist (lawless one) can’t be revealed until the Rapture occurs by removing the Holy Spirit’s open presence in the planet, via the Church, through removing the vessels He’s sealed into.


It’s not that the Holy Spirit could be removed or set aside because He is God and He is omnipresent.  But what is understood, that just as the Holy Spirit was present on the earth, prior to His given and fiery show at Pentecost, so too will He exist after the Rapture…it’s just that His role will be different than it was during the Church Age.  But until that Day, we keep looking up…

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For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,  who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.  Philippians 3:20-21

Signs of the End: 5 of 5 
The Second Coming 
Prophecy - Signs 
Monday, May 09, 2016 
Pete Garcia 



The final event in which Gods interjects directly into the affairs of fallen man, is what we know as the Second Coming.  The reason we call it the Second Coming is that this will be the second time Christ physically returns to the earth.  This is opposed to the Rapture of the Church, where we believers are physically caught up to meet Christ in the air and go back with Him to the Father’s house for a period of time.  No, when Christ comes at the Second Coming, there will be no mistaking it for He will return and the whole of creation will serve as a witness.  The sky will split open, and the armies of heaven will follow Him, making the grandest procession a king had or will ever make.


The Second Coming is as different from the Rapture of the Church, as His First Coming was from His second.  In the first, He came wrapped in human flesh, as a humble servant.  In His second, He returns in His glorified form as the victorious King of kings.  The first coming He allowed men to mock, beat, and crucify Him…but at His Second, He speaks a word and millions are slain.   He masked His divinity at His first coming, so He could redeem men, as a man.  He will not mask His divinity in His second coming....for every knee will bow at His Kingship.  At His first, only a Star marked His place for a few shepherds.  At His second, the world will see the sky’s parting and be in terror.  He is the rightful heir, and the world that remains in that time, will be awestruck at His coming and even those who are in hell will see His coming.  (Rev. 1:7)  The sky will part for Him and the armies of Heaven will follow. Revelation 19:11-16 says…

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Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

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KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.

Those who mock the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church and say there is no singular, specific passage that points to the Rapture happening before the 70th Week, are in denial of one specific point.  That point being, that there is likewise no singular Old Testament passage that states Christ will come in two stages; first as the humble Servant, and then second as the reigning King.  They can’t do it, because there aren’t any.  There are passages that speak to His death (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53), and there are those which speak to His ruling and reigning.


 (Psalm 2, Isaiah 11)  The reason they can’t is because that is the way God designed our Scriptures.  He knew that if fallen and unregenerate man, who under the suppression and control of Satan, would not have allowed God’s plan of redemption to play out as it did.

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But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 NKJV

Yet, even though Christ did what no man could do by conquering sin and death at His death, burial, and resurrection, the world viewed His time here largely as a failure.  In fact, if you were to ask many a Jew today, why they don’t believe Jesus was the Messiah, they would state emphatically, that He failed to usher in the Kingdom.  This then has been their problem since that first century, where the Jewish people have since had a partial blindness placed upon them.  (Romans 11:25-29)  They are unable to recognize that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled every one of the prophetic passages from the Tanakh which spoke to His First Coming.  Jesus stated, that they (the Jewish people) would not see Him again, till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Matt. 23:39)  This according to Zechariah 12 and Revelation 12, will not happen until past the halfway point of the Tribulation.  Christ will return, and the Jewish remnant alive then, will finally recognize Christ for who He is…the Messiah and King, the rightful heir of the throne of David.

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“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.  Zech. 12:10

Before the Second Coming, were we to work our way backwards from that moment, we would see the world and its inhabitants, being tenderized and pummeled by a series of 21 divine judgments.  The judgments are sequential, and they decimate the population of the world by upwards of 3/4th.  That means, were the 70th Week of Daniel (the Tribulation) period to begin tomorrow, with a current global population of seven billion, at the end of it, only around two billion would remain.  The judgments are also two-fold; first to destroy a Christ rejecting world, and the second, to bring those who would be saved, to redemption, namely, Israel.  (Jeremiah 30:7-11)  So working backwards from the end, the outline is as follows:

• The Second Coming-where Christ physically and visibly returns to the earth in judgment and war.  Upon completion of this war, Antichrist and the False Prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire, and Satan is bound in the Abyss for 1,000 years.  (Rev. 19:20, 20:1-3)
  
• The Battle of Armageddon-where the Antichrist and the armies of the world gather to siege Jerusalem-all who participate against Christ are slain (Zech. 14:12-15, Rev. 19:17-21)
  
• The destruction of Babylon (both spiritual and commercial) (Rev. 17-18)
  
• The seven Bowl (or Vial) Judgments-unknown, but considering the increased severity, probably many (Rev. 16)
  
• The seven Trumpet Judgments-1/3rd of the population is killed (Rev. 8-11)
  
• The seven Seal Judgments-1/4th of the population killed (Rev. 6-
  

Assessment


So let us recap and summarize the major events we have covered thus far;


The Flood


The first major intervention into the affairs of man is the Noahic flood.  From the expulsion from Eden to the flood, we see around 1,656 years have transpired.  The world had rapidly declined to the point that our omnipotent God knew, that He would have to destroy most of mankind in order to save it.  Theologians and scholars have overwhelmingly concluded, that due to the prime conditions on earth, man’s long life spans and lack of genetic imperfections, the global population then would have been in the billions, and only eight people were brought through it.


The Tower of Babel


The next major divine intervention after the Noahic Flood is the tower of Babel incident.  This would have likely occurred around 200-350 years after the Flood.  Two interesting sites speaking to this are here and here.  The second link is from a Jewish site and posits that the population (he does the math) is around 920,000.  I have also included the strong possibility, that the traditional site we think the tower was (now, southern Iraq) was likely still under water.  See here for that link.  According to Genesis 11, God knew that nothing would be impossible for mankind to do so long as they were united, and again we raced to a point in which God needed to intervene to save man from Himself. 


The Coming of the Christ


As foretold in numerous Old Testament Scriptures, a holy and righteous God would have to become a man, in order to redeem a fallen man.  We see this as early as Genesis 3:15, but would from Adam’s day, take 4,000 years to see its fulfillment in the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.


  The Christ (Messiah) was foretold to have to be ‘cut off’ at the 483rd year mark from the proclamation to rebuild the walls and streets of Jerusalem.  (Daniel 9:24-26)  That proclamation, was given by king Artaxerxes to his Jewish cupbearer, Nehemiah in 445BC.  (Neh. 1-2)  The Messiah would also have had to been born before legal right was taken from Israel (around 6AD), but before the temple was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans. (Gen. 49:10, Dan. 9:26, John 18:31)  The Christ would have had to been born before Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, so as prove His historical lineage, both of which, were lost beyond 70AD.  The Christ would have had to been from the tribe of Judah, and from the lineage of David. 


 Matthew 1 attests to the lineage from Jesus’s stepfather, Joseph, and Luke 3 recounts the lineage back to David from Mary’s father…but both from the line of David through Nathan, of the tribe of Judah.  The only historical figure from history, who fits that bill, is Jesus of Nazareth.


Rapture


The Rapture of the Church is not about making one generation the lucky lottery winners who never see death.  The Rapture of the Church is all about removing the Church whom Christ built (based on His death, burial, and resurrection) and finalizing His foreordained commitments and promises to the nation of Israel.


  Jeremiah 30:7-11, Daniel 9:24-27, Luke 21:24, Romans 11:25-29, and many other passages speak to things and events which will happen to the nation of Israel that either haven’t happened yet, or have not found their completion since Christ’s first coming. In other words, Christ is removing His bride the Church, in order to wrap up His unfinished business with the nation of people who He initially came to offer the Kingdom too.  The Church has no business being in the 70th Week of Daniel.  While true, there will be those (many) who come to faith in Christ after the Church is removed at the Rapture, they are not the Church.  In order to be in the Church, one HAS to be sealed by the sealing of the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.  (Eph. 1:11-14, 4:30)  We are a purchased possession.  (2 Cor. 1:21-22)  We are given the righteousness of God and have become new creations. (2 Cor. 5:17-21)  We have no business (according to Jer. 30:7-11) in the Tribulation.


  That is not by John Nelson Darby’s design, but by God’s.


2nd Coming


This is that final intervention by God into human history, were we see God’s vengeance, finally right all the wrongs that have happened since Genesis 3.  Jesus comes, along with His saints (Zech. 14:5, Jude 1:14, Rev. 19:6-8, 14) break open the sky and wage immediate and devastating war against the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and their armies.  After this, Jesus judges the nations in the ‘sheep and goat’ judgment, and only those ‘sheep’ are allowed to enter into the Millennial (1,000 year) perfect and long awaited, reign of Christ from David’s throne in Jerusalem.  The Church, will come down with the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21) and will rule and reign with Christ for that thousand years.  The Millennial reign then, serves as the “front porch” of our eternal destiny with God.


Conclusion

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“The non-intervention of God bears very heavy interest, and He is greatly to be feared when He does nothing. He moves in long orbits, out of sight and sound. But He always arrives. Nothing can arrest the judgment of the Cross, nothing shakes the judgment-seat of Christ” PT Forsyth, The Justification of God

The intent with these series was to show that God has not sat silent, away, and uninterested in the affairs of man.  He has long been working to bring about our redemption, through a series of shaping and forcing functions which have steered us to where we are today.  Countering that is Satan and his host of fallen angels.


  Why God has allowed Him as much free play as he seemingly has, is unknown by us at this point, but it is believed, that our free will has much to do with it.  Yet, here is what the Bible foretells of what has happened, and what must happen.  While not being exclusively exhaustive in everything, I believe this provides decent outline of things to come.  Having said all this, may our prayer ever be, Maranatha. 


 Come Lord Jesus.