Posted on 12/16/2008 9:33:18 AM PST by TaraP
I sure don’t feel hopeless or useless as a Christian in fact quite the opposite.....
Jesus always spoke of the *Generation* that would be a witness to his return..Are we that generation? not sure, but I do know that only after 1948 when Israel became a nation, do we truly see prophetic events come to light.
Birth Pains.....
Do we see Apostasy in the Church now? yes we sure do.
Do we see many Ladociean Christians on the globe..yep sure do.
Do we see many Scoffers now? Where is the promise of his coming???? Do we see the rise in the Homosexual Agenda, Atheism a world that Jesus said would be a repeat act in the Days of Noah....
Jesus said Look up! for your redemption draws near....
I would think most Christians are very hopeful that Jesus will return in there lifetime, not because they feel *Special* but because they are a witness to a truth that a wicked world will see and hopefully repent and believe.
The second coming is at the end of the tribulational period. But Christ coming for his church can occur at any moment.
Whenever .... just keep looking busy ......
“I want to see Branson this summer.”
Be sure to take alot of spending money! NOTHING is cheap there.
You weren't following the election? ;-)
That is easy, a fixed time is set in motion after the “Man of sin” the “Son of perdition”, the antichrist if you prefer, is revealed, setting himself on Christs throne AS Christ himself.. Until then, we know the season, but not the hour.
Actually, the "this generation" he was speaking TO was the "this generation" He was speaking OF. Kinda like John in Rev. 1:1-3 talks about events that will happen "soon" and "shortly." Throughout most of the church's history, the consensus held that the Olivet Discourse was prophecy to those Jesus addressed, and fulfilled prophecy to us who read it so many years later. These prophecies used the prophetic vocabulary of the whole Bible to describe, with great precision, the events of the seven-year Jewish War, our Lord's coming "with clouds," that is, with visible and spectacular judgment upon "Egypt" and "Sodom," and "Babylon," code words for reprobate Jerusalem.
When I want to read fantasy, the late Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov oblige. Orson Scott Card writes a competent novel and even deals fairly with people of faith. Too bad he's a Mormon! Michael Flynn, a Catholic writer in my genre of choice, is a practicing Christian of the Catholic flavor. These novelists offer harmless entertainment. The fantastical writings of the doomsayers in the early 70s, in contrast, aborted the Jesus Movement, diverting a wonderful awakening into the pathetic, puerile, banal and inane lunacy of fortune-telling. It was no longer enough to know the One who held the future; we had to figure out what the future held. (Parenthetically, it's interesting to note how the most famous "prophecy" writer recycles his books and marriages as each is overtaken by time. Same plots, new faces. He's on wife #4 at last count ... )
The fortune tellers and doomsayers who use God's glorious record of fulfilled prophecy as a club for beating down the hopes of their fellow saints are adding up quite a bit they'll have to answer to the Master for. It's just not safe to put a whole lot of energy into cheering on the other team. You are impugning the power, the goodness, and the wisdom of the Creator when you assert with such dogmatic certitude that the normal means for fulfilling the Great Commission are ultimately futile.
It isn’t for us to know and it most certainly isn’t for us to worry about. Our individual end in this world can come at anytime so we have to live and do our best in God’s service at all times.
Hopefully the day before Obambi’s inaugaration .
"Americans pay as much for pet food every 52 days as they spend annually for foreign missions." Ralph Winter (US Center for World Missions)
As further Scriptural evidence for the idea that every people-group will be reached, consider Rev. 5:9-10:
"...you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
It’s been said, “Israel is God’s timepiece”, as indicated in Matt 23:37-39, Lev 26:40-42, Jer 3:11-18, and Zech 12:10.
Mat 23:39
(39) For I say unto you (Israel), Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
In another fashion, in direct answer to the question: what determines Jesus’ return to earth, technically every believer in fellowship with God through faith in Christ in the Church Age is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, who provides a temple for the indwelling of Jesus Christ who is one with the Father. Today, for the believer, He is in us and us with Him when we are occupied with Christ while filled with the Holy Spirit.
Doesn't matter. You and everyone else will know when it happens.
"For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."
Well put.
If that's true, then for most folks the watch is broken.
Give us a "for instance".
Can you imagine the vast energies that will be released for evangelism, for world missions, for high achievement in all the legitimate arts and sciences, when dispensationalism finally goes the way of Soviet Communism? An absurd "lunatic fringe" notion only believed and propagated in protected, isolated, irrelevant enclaves? Like a few American universities and "Bible" colleges?
O Lord, haste that glorious day, when your people have their heads extracted from an unpleasant place, to look upon your heavens and your earth with grateful awe! When your people rejoice to embrace their opportunities, and their responsibilities!
May 14, 1948-(Midnight, Iyar 6)(’Pentecost’ on 360 Calendar)
Israel
Ezekiel measured the visionary temple in Ezekiel 40 unto 1948 when Israel became a nation again are 1260 plus 1260 years.
573 BC Nisan 10, plus 1260-times-two years = AD 1948 Pentecost
What is significant about Israel becoming a nation in 1948?
Ans. It fulfilled such prophecies as Ezekiel 36 and 37 and heralded the soon end of the age. Palestine was a desert land before Israel recently made it “like the garden of Eden.”
Ezekiel 36:33-35 (ASV) Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be builded. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited
Bible says a believing remnant will recognize their Messiah from Scripture (Messiah) and will call upon His Name (Messiah’s return).
The Bible then tells us ‘after these things’ the little nation of Israel and the children of Israel will rule over all nations on Earth under her King and Messiah Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha’Mashiach in Hebrew).
The Bible says all of the covenants, promises, curses, prophecies, and blessings God has made to the children and nation of Israel will be fulfilled...
Before 1948- NO one could truly understand prophetic times when Jesus spok of the *Last Generation* to be a witness to this...
MATTHEW 24
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 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.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
573 BC Nisan 10,
What is the significance of that date from the Bible?
It appears you can only get to 1948 by masterful feats of mathematical and chronological sleight-of-hand.
It fulfilled such prophecies as Ezekiel 36 and 37 and heralded the soon end of the age. Bottom line, without spiritualizing there is no way Ezekiel matches modern Israel.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
And that does not apply to modern Israel either. It applies to the 1st century inhabitants of Jerusalem who witnessed its destruction at the hands of the Roman army.
There is absolutely no prophecy in the Bible that can be pinned to Israel circa 1948.
Ezekiel measured the visionary temple in Ezekiel 40 unto 1948 when Israel became a nation again are 1260 plus 1260 years. Where does this 1260 plus 1260 years computation come from in the Bible.
573 BC Nisan 10,
What is the significance of that date from the Bible?
It appears you can only get to 1948 by masterful feats of mathematical and chronological sleight-of-hand.
It fulfilled such prophecies as Ezekiel 36 and 37 and heralded the soon end of the age.
No, it did not. Those passages in Ezekiel are plainly speaking of spiritual revival and renewal. No such activity of that sort is even remotely happening in modern Israel. Hey are still in darkness and unbelief and even persecute to some degree the true sons of God.
Bottom line, without spiritualizing there is no way Ezekiel matches modern Israel.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
And that does not apply to modern Israel either. It applies to the 1st century inhabitants of Jerusalem who witnessed its destruction at the hands of the Roman army.
There is absolutely no prophecy in the Bible that can be pinned to Israel circa 1948.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.