Could Jesus Be Coming Soon?
Return of the King: Week 1
CCCAG 4-18-21
Scripture: Ezekiel 37; Isaiah 66; Zechariah 12; Luke 24; Revelation 11
I’m excited for today! We are talking about Jesus coming back!
Warning! We will be going through a ton of Scripture today- so open up your bible and be prepared to turn quickly. For your convenience, if you want to follow in your bible, I listed the major scriptures on the back of your bulletin.
First place we will look is Revelation, chapter 22.
Jesus speaks 3 times in this final chapter. In verse 7, He says…
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:7
In verse 12, He says…
12 “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. Revelation 22:12
And in v. 20, it says…
20 He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Revelation 22:20a
In Matthew 24, Jesus says,
“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:27
– If you’ve ever seen lightning, you know it comes quickly. When Jesus comes back, He’s not going mess around. He’s going to come in a flash.
Prayer
Ever since Jesus ascended to heaven, people have been asking, “How soon until Jesus comes again?”
This has been an increasingly popular question among those in the church.
In the last several years, many people have been asking several questions,
1. Where is God?
2. What is God up to right now?
3. Are we living in what the Bible calls “The Last Days”? And…
4. If we are in the Last Days- what does that mean for me?
In this series, “The Return of the King, we will look to scriptures and find the answer to those questions.
Ever since I became a Christian I have heard over and over again that “Jesus would return soon,”
it was one of the ideas that kept me on the straight and narrow when I was a younger Christian.
Like many things in life as time went on that truth got pushed kind of to a back burner in my mind as I just lived life. Intellectually I knew this to be a fact, but it probably wasn't one that really motivated me or had any impact on how I lived.
This has been changing lately. World events have driven many of us back to scripture, and I now believe He may return very soon.
- I believe we are within shooting distance of the return of Christ. That fact alone makes this the most strategic time in all of history.
- I believe that over these next few months, and possibly years, you and I have a greater opportunity to influence the eternal destiny of more people than any previous generation before us.
- I also believe the opposite of that is true-
- I believe that our generation faces a greater temptation to fall away from our faith than any previous generation.
- This subject of the last days should not be one that fills us with fear, because perfect love casts out all fear. And God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and love and sound judgment (2 Tim. 1:7).
So over these next six weeks, I want to do everything I can to prepare us to walk with Jesus and shine for Jesus and help others come to Jesus in the days leading up to His return.
Main Teaching
Let’s jump in with both feet-
If you are over 54 years old, in a few minutes I’m going to show you how the most significant day of your life happened on June 7, 1967.
And if you’re younger than that, I’ll help you understand why your most significant day was May 14, 2018.
Why these dates? Because significant things happened to the nation of Israel on those days, and what happens to Israel always influences the world.
Small CAVEAT:
As we begin, I want to make one thing clear. When a pastor stands behind a pulpit to speak, he or she has a solemn duty to proclaim the Word of God. No matter who is standing here with an open bible to proclaim God’s Word, it should always be done with reverence and with much fear of God.
In speaking from the pulpit I know that most people appropriately want to look at everything I say as prophetic or from God.
I, like you, am a student of God’s Word. Therefore I want to make it clear when I’m speaking to the return of Jesus, I am proclaiming what the bible says.
I am not necessarily speaking prophetically- meaning I am not saying “Thus saith the Lord” as Him giving me supernatural revelation about the exact timing of HIS return
but saying instead “Thus saith the bible” in looking at what it says about the times we are living.
Now that I issued a disclaimer, let’s get started.
In every subject you can study, there is one key concept, or formula, or principle you must understand if you’re going to master that subject.
? To master math, you’ve got to understand addition. You can’t get to calculus without addition.
? To master English, you’ve got to understand what a noun is, or a verb.
? To master music, you’ve got to understand notes.
The same is true when it comes to the study of eschatology (which is the fancy word for the study of the end times). If you want to understand the events of the end times, you’ve got to understand Israel. Israel is the key to eschatology.
It is also the key for understanding the bible- the bible was written for all of us, but it was primarily written for a Hebrew audience, which is why I spend so much time and effort in my teaching to tie it together with the cultural it targets.
Ever since humanity fell into sin in Genesis 3, God has been laser-focused on building a community of people who relate to Him by faith. If you’re going to have a community, you’ve got to have a people. So, 4,000 years ago, God began to build a people. He started with one person, Abraham. “Abraham,” He said, “I want to bless you, and through you, bless the peoples and nations of the world.”
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Genesis 12:3
Abraham responded, and the plan of God began.
Abraham is the founder of the nation of Israel. Israel, also known as Jacob, was Abraham’s grandson. Through Israel, God has blessed the world. Through Israel, God has given us a Savior.
Through Israel, God has given us His revelation, the Bible. (64 of its 66 books were authored by Jews.)
Study the history of Israel and you’ll find some surprising and astounding things.
In today’s message, I want to show you seven events that have already happened to Israel and will help you see just how close we might be to the return of Christ.
Are you ready for this? Here’s where you want to start taking notes. Call this…
Seven Signals that Jesus is Returning
Signal number 1 is:
1. Israel has blessed the world. Genesis 12:2-3
The 4,000 year-old prophecy of blessing has been fulfilled, and continues to be fulfilled every day. Every time an individual puts their trust in Jesus, through Him, the nation of Israel is blessing the world. Every time someone reads a scripture, the nation of Israel is blessing them.
“Alright,” you say, but Jesus died for us 2,000 years ago, and the last portion of scripture was written 1,900 years ago. Has anything happened more recently to lead you to believe that Jesus might be coming soon?”
Well, 72 years ago, something else happened that fulfilled an ancient prophecy.
In Ezekiel 37, God showed Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones. Ezekiel says, “In that moment, God said:
5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:5-6
What’s this talking about? It’s talking about something dead coming back to life.
Verse 21 makes it more clear. The immediate fulfillment of this scripture was seen 70 years soon after it was written.
Israel was conquered by Babylon and scattered in the 6th century B.C., but God brought them back together 70 years later. It was a miracle.
And, that same thing happened to them a second time.
In 70 A.D. the Israelites were living under Roman rule. They rebelled and then defeated and exiled them, scattering them throughout the nations.
Instead of 70 years in Babylon , they stayed scattered for almost 2000 years.
This was the penalty they received for rejecting their messiah Jesus. And they did it to themselves.
In Matthew 27, Jesus is before Pontius Pilate, who is trying to get the crowd to allow him to free Jesus. The crowd keeps screaming to crucify Jesus and free the sinner- a murder named Barabbas. Pilate is already in trouble with the Roman government, so he decides to hand Jesus over to save his own skin.
Matt 27:24- So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves.”
Mat 27:25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
In 70 AD, this curse they called down upon themselves came to pass- Rome wiped out Jerusalem, and the Jewish people were scattered throughout the earth.
For the most part, for the last 2000 years they have been largely second class citizens wherever they existed.
But, God wanted everyone to know that He wasn’t done with Israel, so He said to Ezekiel, “Write this down.”
I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. Ezekiel 37:21
Here’s the second signal. It happened in 1948.
Fast-forward 2,500 years, and God did it again. The Israelites were scattered by the Romans. But after the Holocaust of World War II, Jews from around the world needed a place where they could be safe and free.
So in 1947, the British, who controlled what was then called the Transjordan region, granted the people of Israel the right to constitute their own nation.
On May 14, 1948, this is what they did.
Not only did Ezekiel foretell this event, but Isaiah did also too. And if Ezekiel’s prediction of Israel becoming a nation seems miraculous, Isaiah’s prediction seems over-the-top.
Because Isaiah asks:
Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Can a land be born in one day
or a nation be delivered in an instant?
Isaiah 66:8a
Yet that’s exactly what happened- by a simple proclamation- Israel was reborn in one day in May 14, 1948.
Israel went from being a people scattered with no homeland, to a self-sustaining, self-sufficient nation recognized by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
God said it would happen, and it did.
Once Israel was back in her land, the rest of the world went nuts. Because of the spiritual undertones of what is always happening with God’s plans for Israel, there is always an underlying level of irrationality when it comes to these people.
God predicted that too.
#3
In Zechariah 12, God said, once Israel was back in their land, the nations around them would reel around as if they were drunk. He says:
“Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering for the peoples who surround the city….” Zechariah 12:2
Do you know what kind of people surround the city of Jerusalem? Muslim people. In 1948, when Israel was granted statehood, every one of her Muslim neighbors went nuts.
Since 1948, The nations that surround Israel have vowed to drive her into the sea. From 2006 to 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council criticized Israel 68 times – three times more than any other nation.
Enemies go berserk over Israel. They send suicide bombers. They rain mortar fire. They dig stealth tunnels. They bring resolution after resolution to the U.N.
God predicted this, through the prophet Zechariah. And in case you’re wondering, Zechariah lived around 500 B.C. – At a time when Israel wasn’t a threat to anybody- they were just coming back from their Babylonian captivity.
And once the Romans scattered them, there was no Israel to drive anyone crazy. This prophecy, this prediction from God in Zechariah 12, could only be fulfilled after Israel was reconstituted as a nation.
May 14, 1948 was prophetically one of the most significant days in modern history. It was a day God foresaw and planned for. On that day, God sent a signal to say things were coming towards the end.
Another significant day came 19 years later.
#4
In Revelation 11, the Bible predicts that before the Messiah returns, Israel will own its Temple Mount.
Turn to Revelation 11
“Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who worship there. 2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Don’t measure it, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. Revelation 11:1-2
42 months is 3 ½ years.
An interesting part of this time is, according to Revelation 11, Israel will possess a Temple. But, Israel won’t possess the property around the Temple. That property will belong to “the nations.”
Interesting fact to keep in mind- although Israel was a nation at this point, it did not control Jerusalem, or all of the areas given to them by God after the Exodus from Egypt.
Keep that in mind because something astounding happened in 1967.
In May of that year, Egypt’s president Nasser ordered the U.N. Security Forces that were serving as a buffer between Egypt and Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula. He then cut off Israel’s access to the Straits of Tiran, severing Israel from a shipping route that was vital to Israel’s interests and endangering their national security. As Nasser did that, he began lining his elite troops along Israel’s southern border.
At the same time, Jordan and Iraq mobilized forces on Israel’s eastern border.
At the same time, Syria mustered her troops on Israel’s northern border.
Israel has no western border. That’s called the Mediterranean Sea.
Sensing an imminent attack, Israel launched a preemptive strike. From June 5th to June 10th, 1967. In this battle, they were outrageously outnumbered- about 3-4 to one.
Yet, Israel pushed back their Arab enemies on all three sides. They won on every front.
Regarding Jerusalem, we need to look at Jordan because they wee the enemy on the eastern front of this battle..
Jordan’s forces were so overwhelmed, they feared the annihilation of their entire armed forces, so instead of just withdrawing into their section of East Jerusalem, they moved their troops all the way back to the Jordan River, conceding East Jerusalem and the West Bank of the Jordan River to the Jews without a fight.
Without meaning to, on June 7th, 1967, Israel found herself in possession of the Temple Mount for the first time in 2000 years.
That is why, even though the world missed it’s significance, June 7th, 1967 may be the most important day of our lifetime so far. Because since that day,
5. Israel regained all of its ancestral and promised territory and in particular owns the Temple Mount. Revelation 11:1-2
In Luke 24, Jesus prophesied the significance of this. Speaking about what will come for the Jewish people for the next 1900 years.
“They [Israel] will be killed by the sword and be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:24
Listen! From the time of the Roman occupation until June 7th, 1967 Gentiles ruled Jerusalem. But on that day, East Jerusalem was united to West Jerusalem under the sovereignty of the Jewish nation. And the time of the Gentiles was fulfilled.
Ladies and gentlemen, according to Jesus, we are no longer living in the “times of the Gentiles.” Because Jerusalem is no longer being trampled by Gentiles.
The next step is for the Temple to be rebuilt.
There’s great opposition to that ever happening. But there are two groups in Israel that are diligently working on it.
Next, let’s check off signal number 6:
6. Today, the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Luke 21:24
Because here’s another interesting event.
For 50 years, there were claims that Jerusalem wasn’t really ruled by Israel, because the capital of Israel was Tel Aviv. No one was willing to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s legitimate capital.
But, on May 14th, 2018 President Donald Trump did what the previous 4 presidents promised to do, but never followed through: he moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to downtown Jerusalem.
After Trump’s lead, several other nations followed, so that today, Jerusalem is recognized as the capital of Israel.
Why is this important? Because the city of Jerusalem is no longer ruled by, or “trampled by” Gentiles. It’s ruled by her own people for the first time since 70 A.D.
I’m going to pause just for a moment. For newer people-
If this is the first time you’ve been exposed to Biblical prophecy, all of this might sound crazy to you. Trust me- it’s in there- that’s why I gave you the scriptures on the bulletin to look them up for yourself, or review the recording on SoundCloud or Facebook.
You may be asking at this point- what does this mean for me?
Before I answer that- Please Let me give you one more signal that we are in the end times before we talk about what all this means for us.
God has rules for the Jewish people regarding how to properly prepare the temple for worship.
According to Numbers 19, the only way to cleanse and sanctify the Temple is by the ashes of a red heifer – a red cow.
#7
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 2 “This is the legal statute that the Lord has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked…. 4 The priest Eleazar is to take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. Numbers 19:1-4
According to Jewish history, there have only been nine red heifers sacrificed since Moses, and the tenth will herald the Messianic Age.
The red heifers were thought to be an extinct bloodline- that we’d never see one again.
Two years ago, on August 28, 2018, a red heifer was born in Israel for the first time in 2,000 years.
The evidence is piling up. No rational person can deny that we are living in the end times.
If that is so, the rapture is imminent.
What is the rapture? - A word describing an event in the bible when Jesus comes to bring His church home, so they escape the judgment to come as described in the Book of Revelation-
The Apostle Paul tells us about the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
For many of us we have been hearing this for years. These words that inflamed our hearts when you were younger have grown cold as we have waited.
One of Jesus’ best friends while he was on this earth addresses that.
In 2 Pet 3:4 Peter said that there will be those who mock the idea of the return of Christ- that’s it’s been 1000’s of years and yet nothing.
But then he goes on to say this-
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
All Rise
Altar Call- if the trumpet blast was right now- react in fear or worship?
