Signs of the End of Days
Notes
Transcript
The Signs
The Signs
Saturday, Oct. 7th, 2023 Hamas launched an assault on Israel and sparked what has now been a 6 month conflict.
There has been unease and unrest over the whole situation.
How does this relate to Jesus coming back.
We have know for sometime that there would be 2 solar eclipses come through America within 7 years of one another.
There are bible verse that seem to point to eclipse-like events happening in relation to end times signs.
Supposedly the second eclipse will pass through 7 cities named Nineveh in the US and Canada.
Some say the paths of the eclipses cross and particularly interesting points.
This past weekend there was an earthquake in NYC.
It is rare to have one there.
NY is obviously a haven for sin and debauchery
And then there are those passages about earthquakes.
What are we to make of all these “signs”?
What are we to make of all these “signs”?
I did a writing project in college on William Miller
A baptist preacher in New England who did some calculations based off world events and biblical prophesy.
He began preaching that Jesus would return on October 22nd, 1844.
Thousands of people listened to Miller and began preparing for the end to come.
Oct 22nd came, but Jesus didn’t and the date was given the title “The Great Disappointment”
That wasn’t the first, and definitely wasn't the last, time someone set a date for the return of Jesus.
There has been a fascination with it since the very moment Jesus ascended into heaven
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
The disciples asked Jesus before He ascended if He was bring the kingdom of God, to which Jesus tells them it is not for them to know when the Kingdom will come.
They kept watching until an angel told them “stop watching, He will come back the same way He left, and you will know it when He comes.”
So for 2000 years people have been looking for signs, just like the ones we have been reading about and watching TikToks about.
What does the bible say about signs of the end?
What does the bible say about signs of the end?
One of the most quoted passages about the end times is from Matthew 24.
3 While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus replied to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. 6 You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these events are the beginning of labor pains.
You hear the signs:
False Messiahs - we have those right
Wars and Rumors of wars - definitely have those
Nation rising against nation- oh yea
famines - yep
earthquakes - yep
Then there is a section on persecution of Christians - we have that too
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
the sun darkened!!
All those seem like things happening RIGHT NOW...
But they also happened for the past 2000 years.
Imagine being in Europe in the early to mid 1900’s when many of those countries were being overtaken by one power after another.
hundreds of thousands of Jews murdered.
mass hunger
It would have hit most of those marks, but no Jesus.
A total solar eclipse happened in Europe in 1914 that would have been visible throughout the war torn countries.
Another happened in 1945, during WW2
All that to say, the things we are seeing today are not unique to our world.
Are they signs of the end, yes, but maybe not the immediate end.
All the things listed in Matthew 24 are to be expected in the end, but they have been happening for 2000 years and will likely get worse.
Jesus COULD come back, but what we do know, if we keep reading, is that we will NOT know when He will come back:
Matthew 24:42–51 (CSB)
42 Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. 44 This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and starts to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The “Sign of Jonah”
The “Sign of Jonah”
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 39 He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
The Jews were asking for a sign and Jesus said no sign would be given but the “Sign of Jonah”.
Now people are pointing to the 7 Ninevehs along the path of totality and making the case that this is the “sign of Jonah”.
But if you keep reading.
40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching; and look—something greater than Jonah is here.
What Jesus is saying is that the pagan people of Nineveh heard the words of Jonah and repented of their paganism, but an EVEN GREATER Jonah is here and many and Israel will “be condemned by the men of Nineveh, for they believed and you did not.”
This isn’t an end times prophesy, it was a point Jesus is making about those who do not trust in him.
What about Revelation 6:12?
What about Revelation 6:12?
12 Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood;
There are a variety of views of what this represents, but it seems to be talking about the coming of the Lord’s Day and the preparation of the Day of Judgement.
That being said, what we have experienced in the last few months COULD be signs of this, but likely are not.
We should probably expect something MUCH greater than a small earthquake in NYC or an even larger one in Taiwan.
It will likely be something totally unlike ANYTHING we have ever seen.
Plus there are 5 other seals/stages before this one.
So what?!?!
So what?!?!
Is this the end? maybe…hopefully…but we really CAN’T/WON’T know
1 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
36 “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.
We won’t know, so we are crazy for trying to figure it out.
What we do know is the He will come back, so:
Are your ready?
I think much of the discussion and the worry that comes from videos like we have seen is that people kind of know that what the Bible says is probably true, so when stuff like this happens we begin to give these ideas more attention than usual.
Maybe this should get your attention!!
Here are 3 things I thing we can learn from this:
Here are 3 things I thing we can learn from this:
1) Be informed
1) Be informed
If you want lots of views on social media, you should probably start googling random town names and come up with all kinds of theories as to why this is the end, people will listen and share all that you write.
We love the crazy stuff.
For real though, you need to BE INFORMED.
Read the WHOLE bible not just the verse that prove your point.
Get the FULL Perspective, not just the verse here and there.
And don’t listen to all the fringe ideas without DOING YOUR OWN research.
14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2) Be Ready
2) Be Ready
Jesus is coming, don’t wait to get yourself ready.
Jesus tells a parable about virgins waiting for the bridegroom in Matthew 25.
The point is that some of them weren’t ready for Him when He came.
this follows Matt 24 and all the end times talk.
Be Ready!
This is often what happens at funerals or when tragedy happens in life.
Don’t wait for destruction, act now.
3) Be Sharing
3) Be Sharing
The time is limited, what are you living for?
What are you waiting for?
What are you focused on?
We are called to Go and Make Disciples as we are going, the time is running out for billions of people.