A man called Harold Camping predicted May 21st to be Judgment Day and October 21st to be The End Of The World as we know it.
What does the Bible tell us about such a prophet:
“when a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:22 KJ21)
Our Saviour Jesus Christ made it clear to us that, though many can guess:
“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man — no, not the angels who are in Heaven, neither the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32 KJ21)
When will our Redeemer return?
The Jewish people and the Christians both expect the coming of the Messiah. Israel awaits “...he who should have redeemed Israel...” (Luke 24:21a KJ21) while the Christians are waiting for the moment “"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” (Matthew 25:31 KJ21)
The first group is expecting the Saviour, the other group is waiting for His return.
Meanwhile most Jews do not recognize the Messiah:
“For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25 KJ21)
This blindness benefits us gentiles because it gives us the chance to receive mercy:
“Concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” (Romans 11:28 KJ21)
We have to be Christians in such a way that the Jewish people should envy us:
“I ask then: Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! But rather, through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy.” (Romans 11:11 KJ21)
As far as I know we haven't succeeded.....
The eyes of Israel will be opened when Jesus returns to earth:
“And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10 KJ21)
The Apostle John refers to this text when he writes about Christ's return:
“Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen.” (Revelation 1:7 KJ21)
So when will He return?
The disciples asked Him on Mount of Olives:
“..."Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?"” (Matthew 24:3 KJ21)
Before I continue with the Lord's answer, first this:
Almost, if not all Christians expect "the rapture" before the return of the Messiah, based upon a.o. these texts:
“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 unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2-3 KJ21)
“For the Lord Himself shall 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 together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJ21)
There will be a moment that true Christians will be taken away, before the final return of our Saviour.
Back to Matthew 24 where Jesus didn't respond to the discples' question as expected but started with a very serious warning. A warning for which was and is a very good reason: from day 6, when Adam and Eve were created, Satan tries to mislead men and make sure that we don't get reconciled with God.
Unfortunately, through all centuries, many have neglected this warning:
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, "Take heed that no man deceive you; for many shall come in My name, saying, ‘I am Christ,’ and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4-5 KJ21)
Many, who have been misled, have lost their friends, houses, jobs, money and perhaps their faith?
How many have lost their life due to false teachers? Remember Jim Jones?
So beware of people like Harold Camping!
At the end of His explanation the Lord repeated His warning and told the disciples that His return would not be unnoticed:
“Then if any man shall say unto you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘there,’ believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Therefore, if they shall say unto you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert!’ go not forth; or ‘Behold, He is in the secret chambers!’ believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:23-27 KJ21)
After the warnings our Saviour mentioned the first signs which announce His return:
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:6-8 KJ21)
He predicted wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes and they did come! We now can read about them in history books, millions have suffered due to these sorrows. Japan is still wounded by the ruthless tsunami...
The Lord called these things "the beginning of sorrows", referring to "the sorrows of a travailling woman". Almost every mother can confirm that these sorrows are known for their increasing in frequency and pain.
If "all these" things will behave in the same way will be hard to prove, but that more horrible and more painful "things" will happen is a fact because "all these are the beginning of sorrows".
The Jews also expect more sorrows and trials before the coming of the Messiah, they call them "the sorrows of the Messiah". Some teach that he that observes the three meals on the sabbath day, shall be delivered from three punishments:
1. from "the sorrows of the Messiah"
2. from the judgment of hell
3. from Gog and Magog (a war, described in Ezekiel 38 and Revelations 20)
Our Redeemer continues with:
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then shall many lose faith and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:9-14 KJ21)
Jesus predicts that His followers will not be spared:
- "affliction" and "death" - from the days of the Roman Empire till today, observe the Christians in Asia and Africa
- Christians who betray and hate one another - think of what happened between Roman Catholics and Protestants
The keyword of this part of Scripture is "endure": "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" !
Walk in His trail with honesty, obedience and love.
“And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” (Matthew 24:14 KJ21)
At first this passage seems to talk about the end of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, as took place in the year 70. In the next verses our Lord begins to describe the siege of Jerusalem:
“When ye therefore shall see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them that be in Judea flee unto the mountains. Let him that is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him that is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened.” (Matthew 24:15-22 KJ21)
However, these words also describe the great tribulation. This is explained as from verse 29:
“"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and with great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31 KJ21)
"the tribulation of those days" took many Christian lives:
“After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!" And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living beings, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen!" And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, "Who are these that are arrayed in white robes, and from whence have they come?" And I said unto him, "Sir, thou knowest." And he said to me, "These are they that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."” (Revelation 7:9-17 KJ21)
The question with which many Christians were and are wrestling is:
When will the rapture be. Will the Lord gather His flock before, during or after the great tribulation?
One can read hundreds of books about this subject and they all have their "explaining" Bible verses...
“Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Revelation 3:10 KJ21)
These words of our Redeemer seem to speak of a rapture before the great tribulation. Perhaps "the hour of temptation" points to the below-mentioned ordeal, an ordeal of life and death:
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him; and he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and lived. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause to be killed as many as would not worship the image of the beast.” (Revelation 13:11-15 KJ21)
The following words, written by the apostle Paul, also seem to speak of a rapture before the great tribulation:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as if from us that the Day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that Day shall not come, unless there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth God and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sitteth as God in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now holdeth back will hold him back, until he is taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming—” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 KJ21)
Paul too had to warn the Christians: "Let no man deceive you!" Apparently we did and do need this serious warning. I pray that Satan doesn't deceive more believers by men like f.i. Harold Camping.
Many assume that "he who now holdeth back" points out to the Holy Spirit, whom, living in the hearts of the Christians, will be "taken out of the way" together with them. This will clear the way for the "man of sin", the "son of perdition", the antichrist:
“Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that this is the last time.” (1 John 2:18 KJ21)
Perhaps the theory of a rapture before the great tribulation is the correct one.
However, some Bible commentators do believe that the text speaks of the Roman Empire. This empire was holding back "the mystery of iniquity", however, slowly but surely the Roman Catholic "Empire" took over. Matthew Henry describes the Roman popes as men "showing themselves to be God". Please take a look at below-mentioned titles:
"Dominus Deus noster papa" (Our Lord God the pope)
"Deus alter in terra" (Another God on earth)
"Idem est dominum Dei et papae" (The governance of God and the pope are one)
The arrogance with which the Roman Catholic leaders bestow themselves with devine power can be seen in the way they beatify some deceased (most of these are popes) and even declare them to be "holy". The following was found on the website "News that matters":
A vial containing blood drawn from Pope John Paul II will be installed as a relic in a Polish church. The blood sample was collected from the late Pope just before he died, and will be declared “Holy” soon after his beatification later this year. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI announced he will beatify the late pope on May 1. Beatification is the last major step before possible sainthood.
The popal blood will be declared "holy"........
Back to the words of Paul: the future will show us what was meant with the text. Meanwhile let's expect the Lord every day, so we won't be taken by surprise:
“But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that Day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 KJ21)
Concerning "the rapture": I don't spend time trying to figure out when the Lord will come to gather His flock. May it be before, during or after the great tribulation, who am I to comment?
Jesus told His disciples:
“...If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24 KJ21)
Countless Christians gave their lives because of their belief in the Messiah, am I more than they were? Shouldn't I be prepared to share that fate? “And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, "Now have come salvation and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:10-11 KJ21)
Ofcourse I do not mean to say that studying the relevant prophecies and the Book of Revelation is unwise since there is the constant threat of the deceiver:
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11 KJ21)
Back to the great tribulation:
this tribulation and the last "sorrows", which will be very forceful and painful (Revelation 15 and 16) will result in the climax of the "labour pains":
“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” (Zechariah 14:2 KJ21)
This battle will take place at Jerusalem which, to my humble opinion, cannot mean anything else than that the Jews inhabit the Promised Land and the City of David. The fact that in 1948, after a period of some 1900 years, the state of Israel was declared can be seen as a token. In Scripture Israel has been compared with figs and the fig-tree (see Jeremiah 24:4-7 and Hosea 9:10). The first official stamp of the new state of Israel carried the image of such a tree. Can the following words of our Saviour mean anything else than the return of the people of Israel in the Promised Land and the return of the Messiah:
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” (Matthew 24:32 KJ21)
Unfortunately there are Christians who believe that the people of Israel and the Promised Land are of no importance anymore. They read "church" in stead of "Israel". An opinion I cannot respect.
"All nations" which will be gathered to battle against Jerusalem will be led by the beast and the false prophet (as described in Revelation 13, 16 and 19). These two play major roles during the great tribulation. I hope to write about them in future articles.
At the climax of the "labour pains" there will be, as during childbirth, delivery and salvation. Then the words of the angels, spoken just after Christ's Ascension, will be confirmed:
“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." Then they returned unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day’s journey.” (Acts 1:10-12 KJ21)
Messiah Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives and will return there:
“Then shall the LORD go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south.” (Zechariah 14:3-4 KJ21)
The Lord will not be gentle with His opponents:
“And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” (Zechariah 14:12 KJ21)
The enemy will be destroyed and the beast and the false prophet (the diabolic imitators of the Messiah and the Holy Spirit) will be captured and thrown in "a lake of fire", a place we usually call "hell":
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great." And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought miracles in his presence, by which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, whose sword proceeded out of His mouth. And all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” (Revelation 19:17-21 KJ21)
What happens after the beast and the false prophet were thrown in the "lake of fire" can be read in the following article:
"The millenial Kingdom and eternity"
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