ESCHATHOLOGICAL STUDY SERIES I
TEXT: Matthew 24:1-51, Mark 13:1-35, Luke 21:1-36
INTRODUCTION: These passages give vivid but concise summary of the Lord’s coming in phases. He talked about the rapture (Matt.24:31-41), His second coming (Matt.24:27-30), the millennial reign, the reign of anti Christ (Matt.24:15-20), the great tribulation (Matt.24:21-26,29; Mk.13:19; Daniel 12:1; Rev. 12:19).
But it is pertinent to note that the signs of the end time as prophesied are tied to the Jewish people. So, to understand the signs especially with all tat are happening around us; coronavirus (Pestilences, Matt.24:7); 5G network, wars and rumours of wars, famine (economic meltdown etc), we need to go back to the Bible and hear what the Lord has to say concerning these things.
Let me clear it here that covid-19, 5G etc are not part of the great tribulation, no. for the great tribulation will not take place until the Church (His Saints) have been taken out of the world, and that antichrist sets up his government.
We shall take time to study the prophecies concerning Israel and see their relevance to all that is happening around us.
The End Time Prophecy And The Jewish People
As earlier mentioned, the most significant signs are those relating to the Jewish people, the are the prophetic time clock of God especially for this end time. There are both fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecies concerning the Jewish people ultimately the end time.
Fulfilled Prophecies Concerning The Jewish People
a. Dispersion(Deut.28:64; Lev.26:33): God repeatedly war the Jewish people that He would cause them to be dispersed worldwide if they break His covenant with their fathers in following of other gods. This prophecy has been fulfilled many years back.
b. Desolation: Couple with the dispersion, God promised to make their land desolate and their cities waste (Lev.26:33; Deut.28:22-33).
c. Destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1-2): In 70 AD; the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and took the Jewish people into captivity, thereby desolating the land an scattering or dispersing them all over the end of the earth.
d. Persecution (Deut.28:65): God warmed the Jewish people that they would be terribly persecuted wherever they are dispersed to. As prophesied, they were severely persecuted every where they went culminating in the “Holo caust” (taken from two Greek words: “holos” (whole) and “Kaustos” (burned), which was used to describe the historical sacrificial offering burned on an altar by the German anti-semitic Nazil leader Adolt Hitler of about six (6) million Jews (between 1933-1945).
e. Persecution: God in His infinite mercy promised to preserve the Jewish race as a separated people throughout the world (Isaiah 49:15-16; 66:22; Jere. 31:35-37).
Though the plan and determination of Adolf Hitler was to completely exterminate the Jewish people from the earth; God has been one of the remarkable miracles in history. No other people have ever been so dispersed and persecuted, and yet been able to retain their identity as a nation and their language (Zech.2:8).