Note: On a single
page, accompanying Part One of this study, I have
collated the three Gospel
records of what Jesus said about the signs preceding His
Parousia/Second
Coming. I suggest that you print out the fixed/scanned
page (colour
print), containing the scriptures on which these studies are
based, and keep it
on hand as we explore the highlighted/coloured topics on
that sheet, which
signify Christ’s return.
The Generation that
sees… The Sign of the Son of Man… appear
in heaven:
It
should be noted
that there is no clear indication given in the scriptures as
to what this ‘Sign’
is, nor is there any suggestion
as to what it could be!Most
Bible-believing
theologians think that the Sign of the Son
of Man refers
to Jesus’ tangible, visible and unmistakeable coming in
the clouds with
great power and glory… i.e.,
His sudden return as promised by the two men/angels to His
disciples in Acts
1:9–11: This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into
heaven, will so come in
like manner as you saw Him go into heaven…
Therefore, they do not believe
thisSign is a preliminary or preceding portent
that will appear in
the heavens, either as a promise or warning to mankind of
Jesus’ return!
Many
scriptures
endorse the premise that Jesus’ return will be sudden, and
come at an
unexpected hour for the people living on the earth at that
moment in time; i.e.,
just as God’s judgment occurred in the
days of Noah, (cf. Matt. 24:36–44), and in the days of Lot (Luke 17:26–30)! Furthermore,
the cluster of follow-up
parables delivered by Jesus on the Mount of Olives following
this dissertation
regarding His return—which occurred just two days before His
Crucifixion Passover—concerning
the wise and evil
servants;the
ten virgins with lamps; and the king who returns
from a far country to
reward his servants and punish the unprofitable servant (Matt.
24:45–25:30),
all add to the expectation that His return will be unannounced
except by the celestial signs in the heavens (that Jesus
previously described),
which are repeated in Revelation (see below).
In
addition, the
subsequently described ‘separation of the nations’—into
those who are
righteous and blessed, who will pass into eternal life; and
those who are
cursed, who will go to everlasting punishment in the fire
prepared for the
devil and his angels (Matt. 25:31–46)—does not appear to give
any opportunity,
or sufficient time for a change of heart or a change in
attitude to occur, to
elicit repentance toward God by the ‘mourning
tribes living on the earth’ when the sixth seal is
opened!
I looked when He
opened the sixth seal, and
behold, there was a great earthquake; and the
sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like
blood. And
the stars of heaven
fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs
when it is shaken by a
mighty wind. Then the
sky
receded as a scroll when it is rolled up,
and every mountain and
island was moved out of its place. And
the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich
men, the commanders, the mighty
men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves
in the caves and in
the rocks of the mountains,and
said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us
from the face of
Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb! For the
great day of His wrath
has come, and who is able to stand?” (Rev. 6:12–17)
These verses combine the
commotions occurring on or
caused by the celestial bodies (described by Jesus in our
study passage in Mark
13), with their terrifying effect on the ‘people living on the
earth’ in the
end times, who hide themselves in caves and rock-like
emergency shelters to shield
themselves from ‘the wrath’ occurring on the earth—on the
Day of the
Lord—the
outcomes of which have been described in many scriptures!
Clearly, it is not as if
the forecast of these heavenly
retributions have been hidden from mankind…
Remember
the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there
is no other; I am
God, and there is none like me. I make known the end
from the beginning,
from ancient times, and what is still to come.(Isaiah
46:9–10)
… but rather that the
warnings forecast in the
Bible have been persistently ignored as fables.
For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress
the truth in
unrighteousness,
because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God has shown it
to them. For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without
excuse, because,
although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God,
nor were thankful, but
became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were
darkened. Professing to be wise, they became
fools…(Rom. 1:18–22)
So it appears that the
end time generation that sees: The
celestial signs occurring, and the Sign of the Son of Man…
appearing in heaven,
will
also see… the
wrath expressed against
God’s enemies on the ‘Day of the Lord.’
Thus we come to the
preparations for the Battle of
Armageddon described in Revelation 9:13–15:
Then
the sixth angel sounded: and I heard a voice from the four
horns of the golden
altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who
had the trumpet, ‘Release
the four angels who are bound at the great river
Euphrates.’ So the four
angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and
month and year,
were released to kill a third of mankind. (Rev.
9:13–15)
The reason for the
release of these four
territorial angels who had
previously been prevented from crossing over the River
Euphrates, is to allow
the militant forces from the four national territories
domiciled beyond the
River, to also cross over the Euphrates to engage in warfare
in a battle
that lasts for a precise period of time. However, the
repercussions arising
from the release of these four territorial angels is not
further described
until we reach Revelation 16, where God’s fifth
and sixth bowl judgements are being poured out on the
central territories in
the Middle East, which were ruled over by the composite leopard-bear-lion beast during its seventh manifestation (Rev. 13:2, 5, 7),
after it had been
given power, a throne, and great authority
by the dragon.
Then the
fifth angel
poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast,
and his kingdom
became full of darkness; and they gnawed their
tongues because of the pain,
they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores, and did
not repent of their deeds. (Rev.
16:10–11)
Then the
sixth angel
poured out his [sixth] bowl
on the great river Euphrates, and its water was
dried up, so that the
way of the kings from the eastmight be
prepared. (Rev.
16:12)
And
I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the
mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the
false prophet. For
they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out
to the kings of
the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that
great day of God Almighty. (Rev. 16:13–14)
So,
these verses continue
to inform us about the subsequent events occurring at the great River Euphrates whose waters have been
dried up, to
prepare the way for the kings
from the east—i.e.,from
the eastern side of the great river: from eastern Iraq,
Iran, Afghanistan
and Pakistan—to cross over the Euphrates, to engage in
the battle at theplace
called… Armageddon. (Rev. 16:16)
Intriguingly,
the enemy
forces who are gathered from throughout the whole world to
participate in this
battle (Rev. 16:14 above)—by the three frog-like demon-spirits
that emerge from
the mouths of the dragon,
beast and false prophet (Rev. 16:13)—do not seem to rise
up from the same location
as the seventh (x2)
manifestations
of the SUNNIIslamicleopard-bear-lion
Islamic
beast depicted in Revelation 13, whose (x 2)
kingdoms—Ottoman Empire
and ISIS—were destroyed in December 1917 and December 2017,
respectively! (Rev.
17:8)
Instead,
we are told
in Revelation 17:11‒12 that this latter group—that comprises
yet another appearance
of the beast—is composed of ten
kings who rise up from the beast that was, and
is not, and yet is…
which
is himself also the eighth (manifestation
of the beast);i.e., it arises out of the same territories occupied
by the seven
historical Biblical Empires; i.e., Babel,
Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia,
Macedon-Greece, Rome, and the SUNNI (x2)
Ottoman+ISIS
Empires.See my
Five Doves post – January 14, 2024…THE
SEVENTH and EIGHTH HEADS ON THE BEAST (fivedoves.com)
Furthermore,
this eighth
manifestation that stilloperatesunder the auspices
of the leopard-bear-lion
beast and the authority of the dragon,
appears to be an
unofficial combination of Shia and Sunni terrorist force led
by ten
kings without kingdoms (Rev.
17:12), i.e., ten NTO’s (Non-state Terrorist
Organisations) with proxy
powers, whoform
an eighth
manifestation of beast power (Rev. 17:11),
under IRAN’sSHIA branch of Islamic belief, via the recently
combined SHIA and
SUNNI ‘axis of resistance.’ What
is
the Iran-backed 'axis of resistance' in the Middle East? :
NPR
I
have previously stated
that I believe this coalition of nations from east of
the Euphrates,
together with their terrorist Islamist proxies, compose the
forces described in
Daniel 11:40 as the king of
the north, (i.e.,
from the greater historical Seleucid territories that
includes Iran and
its NTO associates), who come against the King
of the South (Israel
and Egypt) like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and
with many ships; … to
enter the countries, (across the Euphrates… i.e.,
western Iraq, and thence to Syria,
Lebanon, and into
the Glorious Land of
Israel… accompanied by
Iran’s Axis of
Resistance terrorist militias
and NTO’s from all
over the ‘Islamic’
world.
A
further group of
mixed nationalities (NTO’s)
from Libya and Sudan/Ethiopia (cf. Dan. 11:40–43), and probably
Houthis from Yemen,
attack the King of the
South from the east and
south—with the intention of capturing spoils from Egypt—but
(unexplained) news
from the east and north cause the king of the north
to go
out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many (I
suspect) at the Battle
of Armageddon [i]
that is fought in Israel, in Jerusalem, OR the Valley of
Megiddo (cf. Daniel
11:44–45; Zechariah 12:9–11; and Rev. 16:13–14.) See my 5
Doves post May 31,
2024:GINO
- THE KINGS
FROM THE EAST (fivedoves.com)
The
fact that Revelation
9:15‒16 informs us that this
particular battle—involving the Kings from the East who have
crossed over the
River Euphrates, to enter into the Glorious Land—is
projected to last for
a specific period of time, i.e., they had been preparedfor
the hour, and day and month and year, sounds (to me) as if a date has been set
on God’s calendar
for the momentous appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
prevent the two
hundred million people involved in this war from
completely annihilating
themselves!
Then the sixth
angel poured out his bowl on the great river
Euphrates, and its water
was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east
might be prepared. And
I saw three unclean
spiritslike
frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the
beast, and out of the mouth
of the false
prophet. For
they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out
to the kings of
the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
(Rev. 16:12–14)
Amazingly,
in the very
next verse recorded in Revelation
16:15,
the words (in red
below)are
spoken by Jesus Christ
Himself… while
the following verse Rev.
16:16 confirms that the
combatants were already gathered to the place
called in Hebrew, Armageddon…
We are
also told (retrospectively)
in Revelation 17:12 that the ten kings who have
received no kingdom
as yet, receive authority for one hour as kings
with the beast (in
a reciprocal arrangement), wherein they have already given
their combined power
and authority to the eighth beast.
These
will make war with the Lamb, and the
Lamb will overcome
them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of kings,
and those who are with
Him are called, chosen, and faithful. (Rev. 17:14)
So, there is every
reason to believe that this is the exact point
in time when theSign of
the Son of Manappears in the
heavens,
itis right on the
eve of the battle of Armageddon (cf.6th Seal—Rev.
6:12–17;6th
trumpet—Rev.
9:13–15; 6th
bowl—Rev.
16:12–14), just as John heard Jesus’ words…
Behold, I am coming
as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his
garments, lest he walk
naked and they see his shame. (Rev. 16:15)
The location of this
battle is important because
the next few versestell
usthat this is
when heaven and earth are utterly shaken… as the wrath
of God is poured
out…
Then the
seventh angel poured
out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out
of the temple of
heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ And
there was a great
earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not
occurred since men
were on the earth… Then
every island
fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great
hail from heaven fell
upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men
blasphemed God
because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was
exceedingly great. (Rev.
16:17–18 and 20–21)
After God passed
judgement upon the nations gathered
to fight the war initiated by the
dragon, the
beast and
the false prophet
in chapter
16, we don’t read anything more about the
beast and the
false prophet until
they appear during the
actual battle
of Armageddon—when Jesus
Christ has returned as
the King of kings and Lord of lords! So,
for furtherdetails
we must turn to
Revelation 19:
I saw heaven standing
open and there before me was a
white horse, whose
rider is called Faithful and True… (Rev.
19:11)
The armies of heaven
were following him, riding on
white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean…
(Rev. 19:14)
Then I saw the beast,
the kings of the earth, and
their armies, gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and
his army.
(Rev. 19:19)
Then the
beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who
worked signs in
his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his
image. These two were
cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
And the rest
were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who
sat on the horse.
And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
(Rev.19:20–21)
The
denouement:
And I saw an angel
coming down out of heaven, having
the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.
He seized the
dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound
him for a thousand years. He threw him into the
Abyss, and locked and
sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the
nations anymore until the
thousand years were ended. After that, he must
be set free for a short
time.(Rev. 20:1‒3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final part of this
five-part study called… The
fig-trees of Israel and the end time generation,
will concern the
Parable of the fig tree (and all the trees, when they are
already budding);
when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth
leaves, you KNOW that
summer is near… when you see all these things happening, KNOW
that the kingdom
of God is near… your redemption draws near… even at the doors!