Jesus appeared to the disciples many times after His resurrection from the dead. He spent time with them. ''And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24:27) His final instructions to the disciples are recorded in ACTS 1:6-11:
''So when they met together, they asked him, `Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them: `It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. `Men of Galilee,' they said, `why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'''
As Christians, we should be intensely interested in the time and circumstances of the Lord's return so we are not surprised (1 Thes 5:4) or unprepared. (Math 25:1-13) It is a subject that has interested several credible groups:
1) The Prophets. In 1st Peter 1:1-10, we find the following text:
``Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow."
2) The Angels. The same passage in 1st Peter concludes:
``It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.''
In other words, it is not wrong to look into the time and circumstances of the return of Jesus Christ. Even Angels long to look into these things.
3) The Disciples. In Matthew 24:1-3, we see that Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ``Do you see all these things?'' he asked. ``I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.'' As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ``Tell us,'' they said, ``when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?''
In response to the Disciples' question, Jesus classified the signs of His return and the end of the age into two categories. He likened the first signs of the end times to the ``beginning of birth pains'':
``Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.'' (Matthew 24:4-8)
Jesus then goes on to describe the signs of the actual labor. He tells them that the love of most will grow cold and that false prophets will arise to lead them astray, persecution of believers will increase, the Gospel will be taught throughout the earth. Then the end will come.
The passage in Matthew tells us that natural disasters such as earthquakes, pestilence and famine (Luke 21:11) are signs of His return. But we've always had war, famine and disease. So how can they be signs?
KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING
There are two keys to understanding the signs of Christ's return:
1) Jesus' reference to the ``birth pains" in Matthew 24:8. It is not just the occurrence of natural disasters, it is the frequency and intensity of them, much as the pains of childbirth intensify and become more frequent as the time of birth approaches.
2) Jesus' statement in Matthew 24:33: ``When they see all these things, know that the end of this age is near, even at the doors.'' This is further amplified in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus (again referring to the signs of His return) says ``When these things BEGIN to pass, then look up for your redemption draweth nigh.'' (Luke 21:28) When they BEGIN to happen, His return is near. They do not have to be in full view. We should expect as we approach the time of Jesus' return a lot of shaking in the world, as disasters will intensify and be more and more frequent.
It should be clear that we are living in such a time today. We should expect as we approach the time of Jesus' return a lot of shaking in the world.
It has been estimated that more Christians are being martyred today then at any time in history. Current estimates: 365,000 a year.
More believers have died in the 20th century than in all other centuries combined. The World Evangelization Database has calculated that since 33 AD at least 41 million Christians have been martyred, with over 27 million killed since 1950.
Increased persecution is a sign of Christ's return. Both Christianity and Judaism are under assault, not only from the liberal press but from the Islamic East. Rafsanjani of Iran has said that they now have the resources and technology to dislodge planet earth from its Christian-Judao heritage. It is a sobering thought that Iran has at least four nuclear bombs and delivery systems.
The persecution of Christians is escalating world-wide.
According to a 1992 US State Department report on human rights, Pakistan and Sudan are among several countries singled out for serious violations of religious rights. It is an immediate death sentence to proclaim Jesus is God. Several Christians have already been executed for ``insulting'' Mohammed.
In Egypt, anti-Christian religious bigotry in Egyptian schools is escalating. Aside from defamatory attacks against Christianity in textbooks, the Egyptian press reports that teachers are openly beating Christians and following the unofficially sanctioned policy of segregating students on the basis of religion. Over 100 Christians were killed last year in Egypt by Muslims.
In Iran, evangelical pastors are continuing to be persecuted -- in many cases, tortured and hanged. As a result, the Christians have gone underground.
The US State Department report on human rights stated that, in Saudi Arabia, ``public and private non-Muslim religious activities are not permitted''. There has been public beheading and drowning of those who have converted from Islam to Christianity. It cites the case of a Saudi citizen who imported a Bible and other religious material. Citizen Malallah was publicly decapitated.
In the Philippines, 40 Christians were murdered by Muslim terrorists.
In Sudan, Muslims have burned down 140 villages inhabited by Christian tribes, have burned to death or shot many women and children and have crucified more than 100 men.
In Somalia, all churches have been destroyed and the last minister murdered by Muslim mobs. Bibles are being burned, and even Protestant home churches are being attacked.
In Nigeria, hundreds of churches have been vandalized or burned and hundreds of Christians killed by Muslim mobs.
In Argentina, a national debate is raging over the mandatory registration of churches with the government. Arnoldo Candini, a leader of the Protestant Christian community, told News Network International: ``This new law is powerfully useless. The constitution already establishes the right to religious liberty. But when you begin to legislate you end up controlling, and when you control, you end up prohibiting.'' Christian Radio broadcasting is also under attack. In recent months the Federal Committee for Radio Broadcasting has closed three Christian radio stations.
In Mexico and Chile, laws are being considered that in one way or another deal with the mandatory registration of churches with the federal government. Is the U.S.A. far behind?
The persecution has begun not only overseas but in this country, as well. The liberal press is painting Christianity as aberrant behavior. Can it happen here? Consider the following:
The New York Times, other publications and television are starting
to equate fundamental Christians with ``dangerous cults''. They define
``dangerous cult members'' as those that:
Frequently attend church and bible studies
Who believe in the second coming of Christ
Who give a lot to their churches
Who are anti-gay and anti-abortion
Who are separatists from mainstream society
Who ``practice child abuse'' (Biblical discipline)
Who practice home schooling
Who are survivalists (store dehydrated food)
Who believe in alternative medicine or spiritual healing
Christian Bashing is becoming vogue. Live from Golgotha - The Gospel according to Gore Vidal is one such example of the increasing hostility demonstrated toward Christians and Christianity by the media today. This book promotes new age teachings and is full of anti-Semitism, anti-Christian and anti-Christ overtones, sexual perversion and promiscuity. It mocks the crucifixion, the second coming of Jesus Christ and presents Jesus as a fraud.
Anti-Semitism is also on the upswing.
Anti-Semitism is also on the upswing. From the rise of Neo-Nazi violence in Germany, swastikas have been smeared on Dachau cemetary graves. Anti-semitic thought in Italy and even Neo-Nazi computer video games have surfaced (where you get points by baking Jews in ovens, making them into soft soap or dispatching them via airmail to Israel).
Furthermore, the new openness in Russia will be short-lived. Soon the doors to Evangelism in Russia will close and persecution of both Christians and Jews will begin again.
Already, Yeltzin has been presented with legislation to restrict/curtail the evangelism going on in Russia. So far, he has not signed it. But the word of God is very clear on this:
``However, the days are coming,'' declares the LORD, ``when men will no longer say, `As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but they will say, `As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. But now I will send for many fishermen,'' declares the LORD, ``and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks." (Jer 16:14-17)
We are told here that, in the latter days, God will recall the children of Israel back to their homeland. This prophesy is already being fulfilled. First the Jews will come home from the country of the north (Moscow is due north from Jerusalem) and then from the other countries of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews have come home from Russia. However, what is less known is that due to war, persecution and political unrest, they are also returning from other countries, as well. They are returning from Albania, Ethiopia, Poland, Holland, Tadjikistan, Uzbekhistan, Khazakhstan, U.S.A., Sarajevo, Yugoslavia and Syria.
God has sent in the fishermen (``I will make you fishers of men''). These are the evangelists that are there now. But after the ``fishermen", the ``hunters'' will come. Religious persecution will begin again.
As we grow closer to the return of Jesus Christ, the spirit of anti-Christ is sweeping the world, manifesting itself in every area of society, education, legal rulings, so-called art, and the media. It will continue to increase in intensity and rapidity, just as the birth pains Jesus told us about.
Jesus said that ``when these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption draweth nigh."
Jesus said in Matthew 24 that the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, and then the end shall come.
In the book of Habakkuk, there are references both to a city built by bloodshed and also to a wall. God says that He is going to do a work so incredible that we wouldn't believe it. He tells us that this event will take place at the appointed time -- the time of the end -- and then the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
``Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.'' (Hab 1:5) ``Write the vision and make it plain... For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will surely come...'' (Hab 2:2-3) ``For the stone will cry out from the wall....Woe to him who builds a city by bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity....For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'' (Hab 2:11-14)
The Berlin Wall came down in 1989. It was an incredible event that no one in their wildest dreams would ever have imagined. After 70 years of Communist control, the Russians just decide to give up??? This event was meant for evil. It was a deception (as we shall discuss in future newsletters); however, God used it for good. God is in control. ``He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings.'' (Dan 2:21) The Berlin Wall came down, heralding the beginning of the Gospel's thrust into Eastern Europe and Russia.
Today we are receiving glimpses of the underground Christian church in China, which is now estimated at between 50 to 150 million. There are signs that China may soon be opened to the Gospel, as well. Is there any other place in the world where the Gospel is not yet openly preached?
Jesus said in Acts 1:8, speaking to the disciples: ``But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' Last year, the Trinity Broadcasting System reported that permission had been given for construction of a Christian radio transmission tower on a peninsula on the southern-most tip of the Chinese mainland. Since China, at one time, considered itself the entire world, the southern-most tip of land is known to the Chinese as ``the end of the earth".
The recent acknowledgement of the PLO by Israel, as part of the ongoing peace initiative, may be another example of God's supernatural intervention. Israel was adamant about negotiating with the PLO. All of a sudden they choose to do so, surprising even Syria in the process. Is this the beginning of the Peace treaty that will ultimately be confirmed by the Anti-Christ and then be violated three and 1/2 years later? Is this the ``Peace, Peace'' that the Jews are seeking that will bring ``sudden destruction upon them''? (2 Thes 5:3) We will deal with this event in future issues.
Jesus says: ''...and this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) ``It is now the hour to awake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith.'' (Romans 13:11)
``Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man'' (Luke 21:36).
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