Critics and skeptics have ridiculed and scoffed at the idea of Christ’s return for 2000 years. The Bible says this would be the prevailing view prior to the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ:
2 PETER 3:3-4
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
They point out that Jesus said He would return “quickly” (REV 3:11; 22:7,12,20) but it’s been two thousand years already! What they fail to realize is that He was referring to the manner of His arrival, not a time duration.
“Quickly” as in “suddenly, without warning” (“like a thief in the night”; 1 THESS 5:2; 2 PET 3:10), or with the speed of lightning:
MATTHEW 24:27
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (See also LUKE 17:24).
2 PETER 3:3-4
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."
They point out that Jesus said He would return “quickly” (REV 3:11; 22:7,12,20) but it’s been two thousand years already! What they fail to realize is that He was referring to the manner of His arrival, not a time duration.
“Quickly” as in “suddenly, without warning” (“like a thief in the night”; 1 THESS 5:2; 2 PET 3:10), or with the speed of lightning:
MATTHEW 24:27
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (See also LUKE 17:24).
Here is the teaching on audio recorded at SHINE BRIGHT Church AUG. 2, 2026
So why has the church of our LORD Jesus declared throughout these last two thousand years His arrival with such expectation in spite of all the ridicule and mockery from an unbelieving world?
He told us to “watch and pray”, because we don’t know when He will arrive for His church (MATT 25:13; MARK 13:35-37).
But Scripture is quite clear that the LORD Jesus shall return seven years after the Beast makes a covenant with Israel. Three and a half years into those seven years, he’ll erect an image of himself in the Temple at Jerusalem (REV 13:14-15). Then three and a half years after that (which is the full seven years in total) the LORD shall return! Every eye shall see Him! Including the antichrist who will be destroyed by “the brightness of His coming” 2 THESS 2:8.
Of the three hundred and thirty prophecies concerning His First Advent, every one of them was perfectly fulfilled (All the Messianic Prophecies by Herbert Lockyer is an excellent resource to investigate if you’re interested). The odds in attributing all of those fulfilled prophecies to mere chance are astronomical!
With that flawless track record, we have no reason to doubt the fulfillment of each and every one of the prophecies concerning His Second Advent. Of all the last days prophecies, the following is central.
DANIEL 9:24-25
24 "Seventy weeks are determined for your people [Daniel] and for your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command [made by the Persian King Artaxerxes in 457 BC] to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [arrives], there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks [69 weeks total]; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
“Seventy weeks” is biblical language that translates to 490 years (each “week” is not a week of 7 days, but a week of 7 years. So, 70 of these 7 year weeks equals 490 years).
All the way up to the end of vs.26, 483 of these years is fulfilled. That’s when Christ was born, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan river; He performed Messianic Miracles, preached the Gospel to Israel, entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, was crucified that same week, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Then we have vs. 26-27.
The prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks came to a halt once Christ was crucified, at the conclusion of the 69th week. The prophetic “stopwatch” stopped ticking when national Israel crucified their King. And that would have dire consequences, not just for the nation then which suffered the diaspora (dispersion) when General Titus Vespasian let the Fifth Army of Rome into Israel and decimated Jerusalem and leveled the holy temple (MATT 24:2)!
But 1,800 years later Israel would find themselves in “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” suffering the chastening of the LORD for their rejection of the Messiah. The Gentiles as well would also suffer the judgment of rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ during those same seven years. Once the antichrist enforces the covenant with Israel this prophetic “stop watch” will start ticking again for the last remaining seven years – at this time, the church will have already been raptured!
So we see a time span between vs. 26 and vs. 27 of DANIEL 9. We see another time span splitting ISAIAH 61:2b from vs. 1-2a. “The day of vengeance” was not part of His ministry in His First Advent. That comes to fruition at His Second Advent. The same with ZECHARIAH 9:9 that occurs at His First Advent, from vs. 10 that happens at His Second Advent when “His dominion shall be from sea to sea…”
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off [“karat” – executed for a capital crime – crucified (PSA 22, written a thousand years before crucifixion was a thing); the Hebrew word actually implies slaying an animal to establish a covenant], Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself; and the people [prophesies of the Roman army in 70 AD] of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [“the prince” in the future sense is the antichrist]. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he [the antichrist] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [seven years, as in the Time of the Tribulation]; But in the middle of the week [3.5 yrs.] he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the overspreading of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation [end or conclusion, completion of destruction], which is determined, is poured out on the desolate."
The “prince” during the days of Israel in 70 AD refers to the Roman General Titus; but in the last days, this applies to the Beast of Revelation.
“The overspreading of abominations” refers to the image of the Beast being placed in the Holy of holies in the midst of the seven year tribulation (MATT 24:15)
This prophecy of Daniel reveals that from the time when the Persian King Artaxerxes gave the command to go and restore the city of Jerusalem (vs.25), up to the time that Christ entered into Jerusalem, riding on the donkey as the people shouted, “Hosanna in the Highest, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the LORD!”, that prophecy was fulfilled to the exact day: 173,880 days after that command went forth Christ entered Jerusalem (483 years).
How do we know this to be factual? Another book you might be interested in: The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson who in the 19th century was the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard as well as a devout Christian! He goes through the painstaking calculations and observations that arrive at this conclusion!
If His arrival the first time to Jerusalem was exactly to the day, then there is no reason why at His Second Coming when He will land on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem that that shouldn’t also be exactly as prophesied.
How long a time will it be once the Beast takes away the sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem as described in vs. 27 that Christ will return to take up His rightful rule in Israel on King David’s throne in the reestablished kingdom of Israel (LUKE 1:32; ACTS 1:6):
DANIEL 12:11-12
11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days [3.5 yrs.]. 12 "Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days [3.7 yrs] – which is a month and a half after the reign of the Beast ends.
Scholars believe that the righteous rule of Christ will be fully established once the antichrist system is completely destroyed.
Why “blessed is he”? Because they will be blessed to see the One Who is blessed and Who comes in the Name of the LORD! This is the LORD’s Second Coming!
MATTHEW 23:37-39
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 "See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 "for I say to you, you [Israel] shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"
I find it difficult to pair together the words “prophecy” and “approximate” where GOD is concerned. Any student of prophecy knows that when GOD mentions specific time periods and conditions, those prophecies are fulfilled precisely.
This is why I am pre-tribulation in my eschatology (I believe the church will be raptured before the seven year reign of the Beast even begins. That time period is for the chastening of Israel for rejecting their Messiah, as well as judgment on the Gentile nations. Whereas we the church are the bride of Christ. We haven’t rejected the Messiah, we’re married to Him!).
Both mid- and post-trib scenarios express a specific number of years before the return of Christ (post trib expects Christ in 7 years after the tribulation starts; mid trib, three and a half years). If either one is correct then we know exactly when Christ returns for His church:
Only a rapture that occurs with no prior events required fits the LORD’s warning to “watch and pray, for you do not know when your LORD is coming”.
This is why the church has been looking with expectation for the LORD’s return at any time (this is the doctrine of imminency). A Mid- or Post-Trib view would have to concede the statement, “Sad day, sad day, Jesus can’t come back today”. Christ CAN’T come back until the mid-point of the tribulation or until the end of the tribulation.
Scripture warns us about not expecting the LORD and about the unprofitable servant that says, “My Lord delays his coming” (MATT 24:48).
So then what are the last days? What do we mean by them?
TWENTY FOUR SIGNS of the LORD’s RETURN from MATTHEW 24 is an article I did a while back, and from that article we have the following two questions:
1) What is meant by the expression “the Last Days”?
2) Are we living in the Last Days?
The Last Days have prophecies that are ‘sign posts’, that point to the time when the antichrist shall rule over the world. You can read about these ‘sign posts’ in MATT 24 and elsewhere. Note the expression: it’s the last dayS, plural not singular.
There is something called the Last Day. That doesn’t refer to a single 24 hr. period, but a specific time frame or period, or an age (“this is the Day that the LORD has made”, refers to the time or the age of salvation offered to humanity (PSA 118:22-26)). Once this ends, it will be “the Day (of Judgment) of the LORD”
The Last Day is different than the last days; it refers to the time spoken of by both Isaiah (ISA 2:12; 7:18) and also Peter (2 PET 3:10).
It's the last Day or age of this Earth, which includes the time of Jacob’s Trouble or Tribulation and the Millennial Reign of Christ. Both occur prior to the Great White Throne Judgment and then the eternal kingdom in the New Heavens, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem!
ISAIAH 65:17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Also ISAIAH 66:22
2 PETER 3:7,10
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Also Paul speaks of this:
2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
So the day of Christ, the day of God, the Last Day, the Day of the LORD are all referring to this same time period that starts at the great Tribulation of seven years, and continues through to what’s known as the Millennium period: a thousand year time where Satan is bound, the Earth is restored more or less to its pre-fallen condition, and Christ Jesus rules from the throne of His father David (LUKE 1:32) as absolute Ruler over Israel as well as the whole world. The Last Day has a total of 1,007 years contained in it. It is complete once the new Earth and the new Heavens are created and the eternal Kingdom has commenced.
The last days as portrayed in Scripture include many signs that indicate the climax of human history (MATT 24:3-7, 8-31) and alert those who are “watching and praying” concerning “the seasons and the times” (1 THESS 5:1-2). Those signs described earthquakes, wars, famines, pestilences – which are common enough events in human history – so what’s the mystery?
MATTHEW 24:8 indicates that these things would come in waves like a woman in labor pains. Then they would subside for a time, only to recur with greater intensity and frequency. But “the end is not yet” because all of the events described in the book of REVELATION has yet to take place.
There are many passages in the Old and New Testaments that addresses the last days and what they’ll be like, and we find many parallel passages in the New Testament (2 TIM 3).
For example, we read the following in JOEL:
JOEL 2:30-31
30 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Which corresponds with what the apostle Peter declared in ACTS 2:17-20
This is when last days began! HEBREWS confirms this:
HEBREWS 1:1-2
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
The word for “last” in the Greek is “eschatos”, meaning: farthest, final in place or time, ends of the last, the latter end, lowest, uttermost. The event of Pentecost (“harvest of first fruits”) when correlated with JOEL’s prophecy -
JOEL 2:28-29
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
This confirms that the last days began two thousand years ago, but we are now in the last of the last days. How do we arrive at this conclusion?
What is the starting point for the last days? What is the event that must take place even before any conversation of the Second Coming of Christ can happen?
People in the 1930’s thought the LORD was coming back then because Hitler was believed to be the antichrist (for many valid reasons! He was heralded as the Occult Messiah).
He couldn’t have been THE antichrist – namely the Beast, because there was no national Israel, Jerusalem was not the capital of the non-existent Jewish state, and there certainly was no Temple – all of which is required in order for a literal interpretation of the last days and the Last Day (the day of the LORD) to take place.
The starting point for the last of the last days is:
ISAIAH 11:11
It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands [coastlands] of the sea.
You won’t find fourth recovery of the people of Israel or even a third in Scripture.
Israel was taken captive by Babylon in 597 BC, and they remained captive in the land of the Chaldeans for seventy years just as Jeremiah prophesied (JER 25:11-13). In 444-445 BC Nehemiah was used of GOD to restore the city of Jerusalem and the Jews began to trickle back into the land, there to stay until finally the Messiah was born in the city Bethlehem Ephrathah (MICAH 5:2).
During the days of our LORD’s ministry the Jewish leadership proved utterly corrupt and conspired to crucify Jesus, the innocent Lamb of GOD. Not quite one generation later, in 70 AD, the nation was dispersed the second time and remained so for the better part of two thousand years!
Then the impossible happened on May 14th, 1948 – a nation was born overnight (ISAIAH 66:8)!! Political Scientists admit that if a nation is dispersed from their homeland any longer than two or three generations, it’s unlikely that they will ever regain it. The fact that Israel was gathered back the second time after almost two thousand years in exile, is unprecedented.
Even Bible expositors prior to the 1940s had difficulty with biblical passages that spoke of a literal Israel back in the land. The territory was almost entirely desolated by Arabs who ensured that the land would remain waste; malaria infested swamps, bitterly arid deserts, virtually no Jewish population beyond a scant 25,000 (both native and foreign born combined) compared to 43,000 Christians and well over 400,000 Muslims.
Many such expositors allegorized such passages and claimed that these referred to the church (interestingly enough Replacement Theology was very popular in pre-NAZI Germany). Replacement Theology is making a strong comeback – and so is antisemitism world-wide!
Yet there were some fundamentalists who insisted that Israel would return to the land in the last days according to GOD’s Word and in 1948 the impossible became a reality. In 1967 biblical Jerusalem was taken back by the Jews. The only thing left is for the Jews to retake the Temple Mount (currently under Islamic jurisdiction) and rebuild the Temple. This may or may not happen before the rapture of the church, but once it does, that will be one of the major triggers to bring the antichrist into the public view.
There are many that believe that the Temple today is pre-fabbed, built in large sections that can be quickly put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle in very little time. The Temple Institute has dedicated decades worth of time in preparing for the coming Temple.
Virtually everything necessary for the Third Temple has been produced by the Temple Institute, with the exception of the ark of the Covenant along with its Mercy Seat. Some rabbis claim that the original is hidden at a nondisclosed location and ready to move at a moment’s notice!
Prophecy indicates that when Israel is revived, it will flourish:
Today Israel’s agriculture feeds Europe; she sells flowers to Holland, tech to Japan and has more recently discovered substantial resources in oil, natural gas and precious mineral wealth estimated to be about $14 billion, with more finds happening regularly. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this nation the size of New Jersey is about $719 billion in 2026 dollars!
She has one of the finest military anywhere and her Air Force is second to none.
With the nation back in the land, fulfilling ISAIAH 11:11 and a host of other prophecies that have been or are being fulfilled before our very eyes in the 21st century, we can look to Scripture as to what’s next for GOD’s people Israel.
That we find in the book of Revelation.
What I find fascinating is that the Jewish people are fervently expecting their Messiah any time now, while the Muslims eagerly await the Mahdi; Buddhists await for the Fifth Avatar of Buddha to arrive, the Hindus are looking for another incarnation of Krishna, and there are professing Christians who expect Christ to arrive and establish His earthly kingdom (with no such time of tribulation, viewing such a thing as nonsense) through the church (they say, He can’t return until the church subdues all the world to Christ. This is the false doctrine of the New Apostolic Reformation movement).
With all the major world religions seeking the return of their spiritual founders, this constitutes a perfect satanic set up and seduction for the coming World Leader, the Beast of Revelation who will claim to fulfill all of their expectations!!
Even in the secular world, the perceived need of a single man who can take the reins of global control, utilizing governors under his direction to accomplish this remarkable feat. The number of governors suggested is ten – how very interesting (DAN 7:7-8,19-21; REV 17:12-13).
I have in my possession a document from the World Constitution Parliament Association, an NGO of the UN: A Constitution for the Federation of Earth. In this document, the entire globe is divided into twenty regions which are paired up into ten “magna-regions”, and for each magna-region a governor to supervise it. Essentially, ten “kings”.
So many things are transpiring these days that point to the inevitability of prophecy being fulfilled. Events are being set up for the ultimate fulfillment during the days of the Beast – it’s hard to keep track of it all.
One thing is certain however, we are admonished to “keep our eyes to the skies, and don’t believe the lies, Jesus Christ returns soon, from on high”!
This world has been under the management of Satan for the last 6000 years (2 COR 4:4; LUKE 4:6) and his rule will climax when the Beast is worshiped by all the world.
But when the LORD returns, it will mean the end of this evil age, and the beginning of the age of righteousness (the Millennial age) when the Messiah will rule over Israel, and all the world from Jerusalem!
After the 1000 year period is up this old Earth (and heavens) will be destroyed, and a new heavens and Earth will be created for us to live in forever and ever with our LORD (ISAIAH 65:17-22; 2 PET 3:10-14)!
But Scripture is quite clear that the LORD Jesus shall return seven years after the Beast makes a covenant with Israel. Three and a half years into those seven years, he’ll erect an image of himself in the Temple at Jerusalem (REV 13:14-15). Then three and a half years after that (which is the full seven years in total) the LORD shall return! Every eye shall see Him! Including the antichrist who will be destroyed by “the brightness of His coming” 2 THESS 2:8.
Of the three hundred and thirty prophecies concerning His First Advent, every one of them was perfectly fulfilled (All the Messianic Prophecies by Herbert Lockyer is an excellent resource to investigate if you’re interested). The odds in attributing all of those fulfilled prophecies to mere chance are astronomical!
With that flawless track record, we have no reason to doubt the fulfillment of each and every one of the prophecies concerning His Second Advent. Of all the last days prophecies, the following is central.
DANIEL 9:24-25
24 "Seventy weeks are determined for your people [Daniel] and for your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. 25 "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command [made by the Persian King Artaxerxes in 457 BC] to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [arrives], there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks [69 weeks total]; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
“Seventy weeks” is biblical language that translates to 490 years (each “week” is not a week of 7 days, but a week of 7 years. So, 70 of these 7 year weeks equals 490 years).
All the way up to the end of vs.26, 483 of these years is fulfilled. That’s when Christ was born, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan river; He performed Messianic Miracles, preached the Gospel to Israel, entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, was crucified that same week, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Then we have vs. 26-27.
The prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks came to a halt once Christ was crucified, at the conclusion of the 69th week. The prophetic “stopwatch” stopped ticking when national Israel crucified their King. And that would have dire consequences, not just for the nation then which suffered the diaspora (dispersion) when General Titus Vespasian let the Fifth Army of Rome into Israel and decimated Jerusalem and leveled the holy temple (MATT 24:2)!
But 1,800 years later Israel would find themselves in “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” suffering the chastening of the LORD for their rejection of the Messiah. The Gentiles as well would also suffer the judgment of rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ during those same seven years. Once the antichrist enforces the covenant with Israel this prophetic “stop watch” will start ticking again for the last remaining seven years – at this time, the church will have already been raptured!
So we see a time span between vs. 26 and vs. 27 of DANIEL 9. We see another time span splitting ISAIAH 61:2b from vs. 1-2a. “The day of vengeance” was not part of His ministry in His First Advent. That comes to fruition at His Second Advent. The same with ZECHARIAH 9:9 that occurs at His First Advent, from vs. 10 that happens at His Second Advent when “His dominion shall be from sea to sea…”
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off [“karat” – executed for a capital crime – crucified (PSA 22, written a thousand years before crucifixion was a thing); the Hebrew word actually implies slaying an animal to establish a covenant], Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself; and the people [prophesies of the Roman army in 70 AD] of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [“the prince” in the future sense is the antichrist]. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he [the antichrist] shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [seven years, as in the Time of the Tribulation]; But in the middle of the week [3.5 yrs.] he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the overspreading of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation [end or conclusion, completion of destruction], which is determined, is poured out on the desolate."
The “prince” during the days of Israel in 70 AD refers to the Roman General Titus; but in the last days, this applies to the Beast of Revelation.
“The overspreading of abominations” refers to the image of the Beast being placed in the Holy of holies in the midst of the seven year tribulation (MATT 24:15)
This prophecy of Daniel reveals that from the time when the Persian King Artaxerxes gave the command to go and restore the city of Jerusalem (vs.25), up to the time that Christ entered into Jerusalem, riding on the donkey as the people shouted, “Hosanna in the Highest, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the LORD!”, that prophecy was fulfilled to the exact day: 173,880 days after that command went forth Christ entered Jerusalem (483 years).
How do we know this to be factual? Another book you might be interested in: The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson who in the 19th century was the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard as well as a devout Christian! He goes through the painstaking calculations and observations that arrive at this conclusion!
If His arrival the first time to Jerusalem was exactly to the day, then there is no reason why at His Second Coming when He will land on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem that that shouldn’t also be exactly as prophesied.
How long a time will it be once the Beast takes away the sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem as described in vs. 27 that Christ will return to take up His rightful rule in Israel on King David’s throne in the reestablished kingdom of Israel (LUKE 1:32; ACTS 1:6):
DANIEL 12:11-12
11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days [3.5 yrs.]. 12 "Blessed is he who waits and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days [3.7 yrs] – which is a month and a half after the reign of the Beast ends.
Scholars believe that the righteous rule of Christ will be fully established once the antichrist system is completely destroyed.
Why “blessed is he”? Because they will be blessed to see the One Who is blessed and Who comes in the Name of the LORD! This is the LORD’s Second Coming!
MATTHEW 23:37-39
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 "See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 "for I say to you, you [Israel] shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"
I find it difficult to pair together the words “prophecy” and “approximate” where GOD is concerned. Any student of prophecy knows that when GOD mentions specific time periods and conditions, those prophecies are fulfilled precisely.
This is why I am pre-tribulation in my eschatology (I believe the church will be raptured before the seven year reign of the Beast even begins. That time period is for the chastening of Israel for rejecting their Messiah, as well as judgment on the Gentile nations. Whereas we the church are the bride of Christ. We haven’t rejected the Messiah, we’re married to Him!).
Both mid- and post-trib scenarios express a specific number of years before the return of Christ (post trib expects Christ in 7 years after the tribulation starts; mid trib, three and a half years). If either one is correct then we know exactly when Christ returns for His church:
Only a rapture that occurs with no prior events required fits the LORD’s warning to “watch and pray, for you do not know when your LORD is coming”.
This is why the church has been looking with expectation for the LORD’s return at any time (this is the doctrine of imminency). A Mid- or Post-Trib view would have to concede the statement, “Sad day, sad day, Jesus can’t come back today”. Christ CAN’T come back until the mid-point of the tribulation or until the end of the tribulation.
Scripture warns us about not expecting the LORD and about the unprofitable servant that says, “My Lord delays his coming” (MATT 24:48).
So then what are the last days? What do we mean by them?
TWENTY FOUR SIGNS of the LORD’s RETURN from MATTHEW 24 is an article I did a while back, and from that article we have the following two questions:
1) What is meant by the expression “the Last Days”?
2) Are we living in the Last Days?
The Last Days have prophecies that are ‘sign posts’, that point to the time when the antichrist shall rule over the world. You can read about these ‘sign posts’ in MATT 24 and elsewhere. Note the expression: it’s the last dayS, plural not singular.
There is something called the Last Day. That doesn’t refer to a single 24 hr. period, but a specific time frame or period, or an age (“this is the Day that the LORD has made”, refers to the time or the age of salvation offered to humanity (PSA 118:22-26)). Once this ends, it will be “the Day (of Judgment) of the LORD”
The Last Day is different than the last days; it refers to the time spoken of by both Isaiah (ISA 2:12; 7:18) and also Peter (2 PET 3:10).
It's the last Day or age of this Earth, which includes the time of Jacob’s Trouble or Tribulation and the Millennial Reign of Christ. Both occur prior to the Great White Throne Judgment and then the eternal kingdom in the New Heavens, the New Earth and the New Jerusalem!
ISAIAH 65:17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Also ISAIAH 66:22
2 PETER 3:7,10
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Also Paul speaks of this:
2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
So the day of Christ, the day of God, the Last Day, the Day of the LORD are all referring to this same time period that starts at the great Tribulation of seven years, and continues through to what’s known as the Millennium period: a thousand year time where Satan is bound, the Earth is restored more or less to its pre-fallen condition, and Christ Jesus rules from the throne of His father David (LUKE 1:32) as absolute Ruler over Israel as well as the whole world. The Last Day has a total of 1,007 years contained in it. It is complete once the new Earth and the new Heavens are created and the eternal Kingdom has commenced.
The last days as portrayed in Scripture include many signs that indicate the climax of human history (MATT 24:3-7, 8-31) and alert those who are “watching and praying” concerning “the seasons and the times” (1 THESS 5:1-2). Those signs described earthquakes, wars, famines, pestilences – which are common enough events in human history – so what’s the mystery?
MATTHEW 24:8 indicates that these things would come in waves like a woman in labor pains. Then they would subside for a time, only to recur with greater intensity and frequency. But “the end is not yet” because all of the events described in the book of REVELATION has yet to take place.
There are many passages in the Old and New Testaments that addresses the last days and what they’ll be like, and we find many parallel passages in the New Testament (2 TIM 3).
For example, we read the following in JOEL:
JOEL 2:30-31
30 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Which corresponds with what the apostle Peter declared in ACTS 2:17-20
This is when last days began! HEBREWS confirms this:
HEBREWS 1:1-2
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
The word for “last” in the Greek is “eschatos”, meaning: farthest, final in place or time, ends of the last, the latter end, lowest, uttermost. The event of Pentecost (“harvest of first fruits”) when correlated with JOEL’s prophecy -
JOEL 2:28-29
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
This confirms that the last days began two thousand years ago, but we are now in the last of the last days. How do we arrive at this conclusion?
What is the starting point for the last days? What is the event that must take place even before any conversation of the Second Coming of Christ can happen?
People in the 1930’s thought the LORD was coming back then because Hitler was believed to be the antichrist (for many valid reasons! He was heralded as the Occult Messiah).
He couldn’t have been THE antichrist – namely the Beast, because there was no national Israel, Jerusalem was not the capital of the non-existent Jewish state, and there certainly was no Temple – all of which is required in order for a literal interpretation of the last days and the Last Day (the day of the LORD) to take place.
The starting point for the last of the last days is:
ISAIAH 11:11
It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands [coastlands] of the sea.
You won’t find fourth recovery of the people of Israel or even a third in Scripture.
Israel was taken captive by Babylon in 597 BC, and they remained captive in the land of the Chaldeans for seventy years just as Jeremiah prophesied (JER 25:11-13). In 444-445 BC Nehemiah was used of GOD to restore the city of Jerusalem and the Jews began to trickle back into the land, there to stay until finally the Messiah was born in the city Bethlehem Ephrathah (MICAH 5:2).
During the days of our LORD’s ministry the Jewish leadership proved utterly corrupt and conspired to crucify Jesus, the innocent Lamb of GOD. Not quite one generation later, in 70 AD, the nation was dispersed the second time and remained so for the better part of two thousand years!
Then the impossible happened on May 14th, 1948 – a nation was born overnight (ISAIAH 66:8)!! Political Scientists admit that if a nation is dispersed from their homeland any longer than two or three generations, it’s unlikely that they will ever regain it. The fact that Israel was gathered back the second time after almost two thousand years in exile, is unprecedented.
Even Bible expositors prior to the 1940s had difficulty with biblical passages that spoke of a literal Israel back in the land. The territory was almost entirely desolated by Arabs who ensured that the land would remain waste; malaria infested swamps, bitterly arid deserts, virtually no Jewish population beyond a scant 25,000 (both native and foreign born combined) compared to 43,000 Christians and well over 400,000 Muslims.
Many such expositors allegorized such passages and claimed that these referred to the church (interestingly enough Replacement Theology was very popular in pre-NAZI Germany). Replacement Theology is making a strong comeback – and so is antisemitism world-wide!
Yet there were some fundamentalists who insisted that Israel would return to the land in the last days according to GOD’s Word and in 1948 the impossible became a reality. In 1967 biblical Jerusalem was taken back by the Jews. The only thing left is for the Jews to retake the Temple Mount (currently under Islamic jurisdiction) and rebuild the Temple. This may or may not happen before the rapture of the church, but once it does, that will be one of the major triggers to bring the antichrist into the public view.
There are many that believe that the Temple today is pre-fabbed, built in large sections that can be quickly put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle in very little time. The Temple Institute has dedicated decades worth of time in preparing for the coming Temple.
Virtually everything necessary for the Third Temple has been produced by the Temple Institute, with the exception of the ark of the Covenant along with its Mercy Seat. Some rabbis claim that the original is hidden at a nondisclosed location and ready to move at a moment’s notice!
Prophecy indicates that when Israel is revived, it will flourish:
Today Israel’s agriculture feeds Europe; she sells flowers to Holland, tech to Japan and has more recently discovered substantial resources in oil, natural gas and precious mineral wealth estimated to be about $14 billion, with more finds happening regularly. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this nation the size of New Jersey is about $719 billion in 2026 dollars!
She has one of the finest military anywhere and her Air Force is second to none.
With the nation back in the land, fulfilling ISAIAH 11:11 and a host of other prophecies that have been or are being fulfilled before our very eyes in the 21st century, we can look to Scripture as to what’s next for GOD’s people Israel.
That we find in the book of Revelation.
What I find fascinating is that the Jewish people are fervently expecting their Messiah any time now, while the Muslims eagerly await the Mahdi; Buddhists await for the Fifth Avatar of Buddha to arrive, the Hindus are looking for another incarnation of Krishna, and there are professing Christians who expect Christ to arrive and establish His earthly kingdom (with no such time of tribulation, viewing such a thing as nonsense) through the church (they say, He can’t return until the church subdues all the world to Christ. This is the false doctrine of the New Apostolic Reformation movement).
With all the major world religions seeking the return of their spiritual founders, this constitutes a perfect satanic set up and seduction for the coming World Leader, the Beast of Revelation who will claim to fulfill all of their expectations!!
Even in the secular world, the perceived need of a single man who can take the reins of global control, utilizing governors under his direction to accomplish this remarkable feat. The number of governors suggested is ten – how very interesting (DAN 7:7-8,19-21; REV 17:12-13).
I have in my possession a document from the World Constitution Parliament Association, an NGO of the UN: A Constitution for the Federation of Earth. In this document, the entire globe is divided into twenty regions which are paired up into ten “magna-regions”, and for each magna-region a governor to supervise it. Essentially, ten “kings”.
So many things are transpiring these days that point to the inevitability of prophecy being fulfilled. Events are being set up for the ultimate fulfillment during the days of the Beast – it’s hard to keep track of it all.
One thing is certain however, we are admonished to “keep our eyes to the skies, and don’t believe the lies, Jesus Christ returns soon, from on high”!
This world has been under the management of Satan for the last 6000 years (2 COR 4:4; LUKE 4:6) and his rule will climax when the Beast is worshiped by all the world.
But when the LORD returns, it will mean the end of this evil age, and the beginning of the age of righteousness (the Millennial age) when the Messiah will rule over Israel, and all the world from Jerusalem!
After the 1000 year period is up this old Earth (and heavens) will be destroyed, and a new heavens and Earth will be created for us to live in forever and ever with our LORD (ISAIAH 65:17-22; 2 PET 3:10-14)!
Watch this 22 minute video: "The Whole World is About to be Shaken!"
Things to “watch” as we pray in our time remaining on planet Earth:
- The Abraham Accords – this is unprecedented where the three major religions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are working to produce harmonious unity – definitely working towards a one world religion.
- The Board of Peace – “peace and safety” anyone? (1 THESS 5:3)
- The European/Mediterranean Union: this is the proposed ‘next phase’ to the European Union that will also include northern countries in Africa as well as Israel! If the one world leader emerges from this, he would have authority to speak on Israel’s behalf and allow them to build their temple, or if already built, authorize them to begin their sacrifices!
- A.I. getting involved with everything, in connection with Elon Musk’s StarLink, essentially creating the means for a one world system.
- Dramatic increase of antisemitism both here and abroad.
- Growing tensions in the Middle East with Israel.
- Alarming rise of apostasy in the church.
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