End Time Ideas ?

We just do not know!

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 Signs of the End of the Age
Mat 24:3 (3-8) And as He was sitting upon the mount of Olivet, the
disciples came to Him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
And what shall be the attesting miracle which will indicate your coming and
the consummation of the age? And answering, Jesus said to them, Be
constantly seeing to it that no one leads you astray, for many shall come in
my Name, saying, As for myself, I am the Christ, and shall lead many
astray. Moreover, you are destined to be hearing of wars and reports of
wars. Look! Stop being alarmed, for it is necessary in the nature of the case
for these things to come to be, but not yet is the end. For there shall rise up
nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be
famines and earthquakes in various places. And all these are a beginning of
excruciating sufferings.

The three events usually related to the “End times” are:

the rapture,
the Tribulation, and
the Second coming of Jesus.
But there is a lot more to the story and we often get the ideas mixed up and
may miss the point of the discussion. It seems to me there are three
separate discussions in prophecy each with its people and purpose in God’s
plan. We need to look at each of these separate yet related ideas.
First is the history and events related to the CHURCH.
Second is the history and events related to ISRAEL.
Third is the history and events related to the END TIMES PROPER.
The discussion of the Church is the time from Pentecost to the Rapture.
This is not in the overall outline of the “End Times.” It is the time between
the 69th and 70th week of Daniels prophesy. The Church Age is an insert in
history where God allows people to be saved by Grace through Faith, a time
when the People of God, Israel, rejected the promises made to them and
were dispersed through all the nations of the world. God will yet deal with
the Nation of Israel; they still have a special place in His plan. They are the

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second line of our discussion. There is much that has not been seen in our
understanding of their future.
The Church history and the events in God’s dealing with Israel run in
parallel but they are separate discussions. There is much that has happened
and is happening in history that is in preparation for the ‘END TIMES.’
The Church in no way replaces Israel! In the early years of the Church Israel
was dispersed among the nations because they rejected God’s promises. To
understand what is happening we must follow each line of thought, both
included in prophecy.
The Church grew and spread over the world moving toward a time when
the Gospel would be preached to very nation. Many volumes have been
written explaining the victory and failure of the Church.
What was the Church intended to be?
What were we to be as disciples of Jesus Christ?
The Great Commission
Mat 28:16 (16-20) Now, the eleven disciples went on their way to Galilee, to
the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And having seen Him, they
worshipped Him, prostrating themselves on the ground before Him. But
some doubted. And Jesus, having come, spoke to them, saying, There was
given to me all authority in heaven and upon earth. Having gone on your
way therefore, teach all the nations, making them your disciples, baptizing
them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to be attending to carefully, holding firmly to, and observing
all, whatever things I enjoined upon you. And behold, as for myself, with
you I am every day until the consummation of the age.
Disciples,
Dedication, and
Deception
This makes a fair outline to Church history.
Jesus most often repeated caution and sign of the end time is “DECPTION.”
Be NOT Deceived.

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Mat 24:9 (9-14) Then they shall deliver you up to affliction, and they shall
kill you, and you shall be hated by all the Gentile nations because of my
Name. And then many shall begin to distrust and desert those whom they
ought to trust and obey, and shall betray one another and hate one another.
And many false prophets shall arise and lead many astray. And because of
the multiplication of lawlessness, the love of the many shall grow cold. But
he who has persevered to the end, this man shall be preserved from
destruction. And there shall be proclaimed this good news of the kingdom
in the all nations for a testimony to all the Gentile nations, and then shall
the end come.
We do not need to go on and on with the position or problems in the
church. Preachers point out where we are and what needs to be done to
people that still do not do it. The news is full of the problems. Still, we know
the Gospel has been carried to all the world. There is nothing that must
happen before the rapture. The ‘Blessed Hope” is very near.

So, let us move on to look at some events that have many wondering what is
going on?
What is happening in Israel today?
How does it all fit into the “End Times” Teachings of the Bible.
This is not an easy task.
I MUST say I do not have any special knowledge or understanding. I only
have an honest attempt to make some Sense of prophecy.
I will start with some points that we all know like the Anti-Christ will make
a covenant with Israel for seven years.
This implies several things.
Israel will be a nation at the time, you make such covenants with a nation.
Israel will be important enough to make such a covenant meaningful. A
nation of no merit or power is not someone to worry about in covenants.
Something will happen to make this treaty of benefit to all parties.

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In 1948 Israel became a nation again, in her own land, by the recognition of
other nations and as the spoils of war. God gave Abraham that land in the
name of the Hebrew people FOR EVER!
The problem is that Satan is trying to defeat God’s plan. His plan for the
Church and for Israel, any plan God has Satan wants to stop it from
happening. He always fails, but he still is trying.
There are prophecies in the Bible about people who are committed to the
destruction of Israel. In Isaiah 17 and Psalms 83 and Ezekial 38-39 events
are described that are not extremely clear but they do tell of attempts to
destroy Israel. Here I wish to lay out an idea of what might be said in these
prophecies and what we are seeing on the news today.
Something will happen that will move Israel from the most hated nation on
earth to one that even the anti-christ will see a need to recon with.
First the surrogates and proxy of some nations will try to wipe Israel off the
map. We hear “From the river to the sea” in the news a lot now. It means to
completely wipe Israel off the map.
Isa 17:10-14 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall
you plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with imported seedlings:
11 In the day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning
shall you make your seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap of
ruins in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the
noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like
the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall
rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff
of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening time trouble; and before the morning he is no
more. This is the portion of them that plunder us, and the lot of them
that rob us.

Psa 83:2-8 For, lo, your enemies make a tumult: and they that hate you
have lifted up the head. (3) They have taken crafty counsel against
your people and consulted against your hidden ones. (4) They have
said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name
of Israel may be no more in remembrance. (5) For they have consulted
together with one consent: they make a covenant against you: (6) The
tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagrites;

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 (7) Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants
of Tyre; (8) Assyria also is joined with them: they have helped the
children of Lot. Selah.

These passages at least say that Israel disobeyed God and would be afflicted and
punished in war and judgement BUT in the end, God still protects them, and they
WIN. Today we see not nations but terrorist groups who promise to destroy Israel
attacking, killing, and trying to destroy all that ISRAEL represents. There is an
important point to be made here. This IS NOT the Gog-Magog war of Ezekial 38.
Eze 38:7-13 Be prepared, and prepare for yourself, you, and all your
company that are assembled unto you, and be a guard for them. (8)
After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come
into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out
of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been
always desolate: but they were brought forth out of the nations, and
they shall dwell safely all of them. (9) You shall ascend and come like
a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your
hordes, and many people with you. (10) Thus says the Lord GOD; It
shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into
your mind, and you shall think an evil thought: (11) And you shall
say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that
are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and
having neither bars nor gates, (12) To take plunder, and to carry off
spoil; to turn your hand upon the desolate places that are now
inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations,
who have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
(13) Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its
villages, shall say unto you, Have you come to take plunder? have you
gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold,
to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

Today we have terrorist groups that hate Israel vowing to destroy them. They are
only proxy groups for others. The Nations in Ezekial are known and named, they
come to “Take Spoil” not to wipe out Israel. They also come to a Nation of Israel
that is
1. In their own nation,
2. Prosperous,
3. At peace without walls.
Israel is in their own nation, and they are very prosperous, but they have not been
at peace since they returned to their homeland in 1948. And they have many walls
to protect them from the terrorists. The point here is that these are two separate
events. Something will happen to allow Israel to not only win but, to be at peace in

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their land without walls. At peace so that others will know their GOD is real. Israel
will win the current war by the help of God in the process of preparing to enter the
time when God once again deals directly with her. In the God-Magog battle Nations
come against a very profitable Israel to plunder her wealth but this time GOD
Himself will fight the battle for HIS GLORY so all the world will Know He is REAL.
This time even the anti-christ will know Israel is a nation that you must respect and
deal with, he does not keep his word, but he does have to deal with them.
The present-day activities in the middle east are not the end time. Israel has been
in their own land for 75 years. They have had no peace. Will this war be the one
that they so notably win that the peace will be won. I cannot say, Only God knows
that, but at some point it will happen just as God’s prophets foretold. These times
are in the stage of preparing for the end.
Will the Rapture have to happen before Israel’s victory? Possibly, but not
absolutely. We may see a lot happen before God is ready to take us all home. There
is nothing that would say we may not be allowed to see the Gog-Magog war at least
start. That victory is for God’s Glory and for all to know HE IS REAL.
How much time is to pass in these events, No one can say. I have heard that the
rapture takes place and then, almost immediately the anti-christ is in power. But I
do not think this must be the way it all comes about. Remember we are on God’s
timetable; HE IS IN CONTROL! We can be sure the Rapture will take place before
the Treaty between Israel and the anti-christ because he can have no power with
the Holy Spirit still in the world. That treaty is the beginning of the Tribulation, not
the rapture.
The Rapture is the END of the Church age.
The Temple will be rebuilt, Ezekial gave the specific dimensions to build it and the
anti-christ will make a sacrifice that defiles it.
Babylon will be rebuilt and the capital of the anti-christ government.
The world will get so bad people will willingly accept the anti-christ because he
claims the “Have the Answer”.
There is a lot that will happen. The time table is up to God and He may have all the
time needed. The Rapture may take place and 1 or 2 hundred years pass before the
tribulation and the end.

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 Compiled with comments by
Steven R Eubanks

Blog: Journal of Bible Study

https://sites.google.com/view/bible-study-journal/home

At one time in my life, I thought it was important for me to learn all I could
about the Word of God and teach or tell others what I found. Circumstances
changed and I grew, Now I try to find Truth in the Word, but I only share it
with others in a hope that I can leave them with more questions, questions
that they will find interesting enough to search the Word for Their answers.
Yes, I could give people MY answers but the problem there is that they are
MY answers, I spent time in study and prayer and Fellowship with God to
find the answers. I now understand that My answers will never be good
enough for YOU! You need YOUR answers, you need the time in Study and
Prayer and Fellowship with God to develop meaningful answers FOR YOU!
You see I come to realize the time in fellowship with GOD is more
important than the answers.