Most Christians realize that the Bible has something to say about an eventual return of Jesus Christ to earth, but many are seemingly confused over the specifics beyond knowing that “no one knows the day or the hour” of that return (Matthew 24:36). Moreover, some modern theologians and church pastors have given up on a physical return, as they see this violating physical laws of life and death, and have found any number of metaphorical or spiritualized interpretations to avoid dealing with these questions directly.1, 2 Of note, these interpretations are not true to the biblical texts and represent a human attempt to rationalize away the supernatural elements of God and the Bible. Instead, we will argue that Jesus returns for His followers at an event referred to as the rapture of the church (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:50-54), and that this predates His return in glory with the heavenly hosts to execute judgment on the earth at the final Day of the Lord (predicted by both the Old Testament [OT] and the New Testament [NT] of the Bible; See verses such as Zechariah 14:3-4; Isaiah 2:12, 13:4-6, 9-11; Zephaniah 1:14-18, 3:8-10; Joel 2:11, 3:12-14; Colossians 1:8; Colossians 5:5, I Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 2 Peter 3:10-13).
During the first century, only days before His crucifixion, Jesus Christ’s disciples began to realize that He was talking about dying and going away from them. When Peter protested that this could never be, Jesus rebuked Him (Matthew 16:21-23), and indicated that He was being influenced by Satan. As this teaching began sinking in, the disciples asked their Lord about the timeframe of His return. He stated that no one knows the day or the hour of His return (Matthew 24:36), apart from God the Father in Heaven. However, He also indicated that there would be signs of His return (Matthew 24), which would allow us to gauge the general season. Since His departure, which included resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:5-6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:1-7; John 20:16-18) and ascension into heaven after a 40-day period (Luke 24:51; Acts 1), which was witnessed by hundreds of first century individuals (I Corinthians 1:1, 15:3-8; John 20:19-23 and 24-29), nearly 2000 years have passed. And, there have been individuals throughout this 2000 year span who have expected or wrongly predicted the imminent return of our Lord.3-5 Even the apostle Paul seemed to think the return might not be far off in his own day (I Thessalonians 4:15). This has led many in the church to become jaded towards any return of the Lord, and when individuals begin speculating about the return of the Lord, it is fairly common for many believers to simply discount this as “what people have been saying” since the first century.
Jesus provided many signs of His return, which ranged from the general to the specific (these are laid out in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). Many people are aware of the general signs. For example, an increase in wars and rumors of wars, an increase in natural disasters (e.g., famine, plague, earthquakes), the love of many growing cold in the world, and many false prophets coming specifically in His name. These kinds of signs have always been with us, and it can be difficult to definitively evaluate whether they are increasing (although a strong case can be made that they are). In contrast, there are also many specific signs, which should catch our collective attention when they present themselves. One of the greatest of these specific signs was the return of the nation of Israel.
Jesus predicted a fall of the nation of Israel (Luke 21:5-6; 21:24; 19:43-44), and this occurred only a short span of years after His death, with the Romans finally scattering the Israelites throughout the world in 70 AD.6 It was predicted in both the Old and New Testaments that nation of Israel would be removed from the land (Deuteronomy 31:15-16; I Kings 9:7), but would one day return (Isaiah 2:1-22; 11:12, 27:6; Hosea 3:5; Joel 2:25-26; Ezekiel 11;17; Zechariah 10:8-10; Romans 11:26). Interestingly, with the initial rise of science which really began to create “self-doubt” among theologians by the mid- to late 1800s, many theological writers began thinking of miraculous stories as simply metaphor and myth, and they similarly began attempting to mythologize many of the ancient prophecies.7-11 While numerous prophecies, again both those from the OT and the NT, prophesied a restoration of Israel to the promised land, late 19th century theologians often began claiming that these were likely just metaphorical positions. This is because they did not have faith that a nation could go away for nearly 2000 years and still return. Of course, Scripture spectacularly predicted that Israel would be restored in a day’s time (Isaiah 66:8). Nevertheless, this seemed at one time to represent an outlandish and unfathomable claim. Many wrote books that spiritualized this possible return and tried to find other means to explain these prophecies other than a traditional, literal interpretation. Nevertheless, after the horrendous persecution of the Jews by the Nazis during World War II, a restoration of their homeland was established.12, 13 A nation that had been absent from the world stage for nearly 2000 years was now reborn in a day. We argue that Israel had to be restored before the final, end time events prophesied by the Bible could be set in motion.
Additionally, the emerging theme of the dreams of our own Irenaeus, which started when he was a child and only returned during the last decade, has been the 70th week of Daniel and the rise of darkness in the modern world (See “Dreams of Irenaues”).
The “why should I care” question has to do with knowing the day in which you live. At the time of His first coming, Jesus cried over Jerusalem days before His crucifixion, stating that because they did not recognize the time of His visitation that they would be cursed (see Luke 19:41-44). Had the Israelites known the day in which they were living, their lives could have been blessed rather than cursed, and their existence could have been eternally established in the kingdom of heaven rather than eternal separation from God (see Matthew 13:47-50; Matthew 25:31-46;Ezekiel 34:17-20).
Here we will list several specific signs of the last days, which seem to have occurred or to now be possible:
- Return of the Nation of Israel
- Restoration of Israel Seems to be Hinted at by Jesus as a Sigh of the End Times Starting Point (Israel as the Fig Tree)
- Calls for a Global, One-World Government
- Calls for a Universal Religion
- Evidence of the Great Apostasy of the Church
- Qumran Community Argued for a Final Jubilee Period to Start in the Calendar Year 2025
- Evidence that Israel is Moving Towards a Third Temple Project and a Restoration of their Religious Practices
- Jewish Rabbis Claim that the Jewish Messiah is at Hand
- 200,000 Million Man Army and the Army of the “Kings of the East”
References
1. Simmons B. The passion translation: Broadstreet Publishing Group, 2015.
2. Altizer TJJ, Hamilton W. Radical theology and the death of God: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1966.
3. Gumerlock FX. The day and the hour: Christianity’s perennial fascination with predicting the end of the world: American Vision 2000.
4. Bliss S. Memoirs of William Miller. Boston: Joshua V. Himes, 1853.
5. Knight GR. Millennial fever and the end of the world. Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press, 1969.
6. Schafer. The history of the Jews in Antiquity: Routledge, 2013.
7. Bultmann RK. The New Testament and mythology and other basic writings: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1984.
8. Bultmann RK. Neues testament und mythologies 1941.
9. Dorrien G. The making of American liberal theology: Idealism, realism, and modernity, 1900-1950. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2003.
10. Knight JA. Liberalism versus postliberalism: The great divide in twentieth-century theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
11. Kant I. Religion within the bounds of bare reason 1792.
12. Edelheith AJ. The holocaust and the rise of Israel: A reassessment reassessed. Jewish Political Studies Review 2000;12:97-112.
13. Affairs MoF. The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel [online]. Accessed April 20, 2024.