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REVISED EDITION
POSTED 12 MAY, 2004
The End-Times: What Should We Expect?
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
When a person becomes a new
Believer in Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ)
and embarks into his or her own study of the
Scriptures, the person has questions and is
searching for answers, especially in regard to
the end-times. A critical question asked by many
who are searching is: “What should I expect?”
One may confide is his or her friends or Bible
teachers—and in many cases may accept their
views at face value, later finding their opinion
of Scripture to be flawed, or at the very least,
incomplete.
As we tread into the Twenty-First
Century, many are expecting prophetic related
events to occur, such as the rapture or a great
revival, so the question “What should we
expect?” poses some legitimate concern in light
of what many are predicting.
What should you
expect? The answers can be found in the pages of
the Bible. Not surprisingly, the Disciples asked
Yeshua a similar question:
“As He was sitting
on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to
Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these
things happen, and what will be the sign
of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”
(Matthew 24:3; cf. Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7).
Yeshua then proceeded to speak in
what is commonly called the Olivet Discourse. It
is recorded for us in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and
Luke 21. Matthew 24 is widely considered the
most thorough of all the chapters and gives us
an excellent outline of what we should expect
concerning the End of the Age. We will follow
the dialogue the Messiah gives in this text and
provide appropriate commentary.
Intense Deception
“And Yeshua answered and said to
them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you. For
many will come in My name, saying, “I am the
Messiah,” and will mislead many’”
(Matthew 24:4-5; cf. Mark 13:5-6; Luke 21:8).
In Matthew 24:4-5, Yeshua
explains to us the need not to be misled or
deceived. This sort of deception could be in
reference to any number of issues. It could
include Biblical teachings on salvation, the
end-times, general doctrine, and/or the need to
simply be on guard as to what one hears or
studies pertaining to faith.
Many in today’s generation are
indeed deceived, living perverse or ungodly
lifestyles, which unfortunately includes many
“Believers” who are not living a life consistent
with the Holy Scriptures and the example of the
Messiah. As the Apostle Paul tells us,
“But realize this, that in the
last days difficult times will come. For men
will be lovers of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to
parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good,
treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a
form of godliness, although they have denied its
power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy
3:1-5).
Another very important statement
of the Messiah’s to contemplate is where He
tells us, “For many will come in my name,
saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead
many astray” (Matthew 24:5, NRSV). The exact
text of the verse can be somewhat cryptic when
Yeshua says that many will come in His name
saying “I am the Messiah.” Does this mean that
such individuals are proclaiming Yeshua to be
the Savior? Or are they saying that
they are “the messiah”?
It should first be noted that
there are many disturbed individuals today
either claiming to be “Jesus Christ
reincarnated” or “the Messiah.” If you go to
Israel today, you may encounter people claiming
to be any number of Biblical characters from
King David to John the Baptist to Elijah the
Tishbite, telling you that the end is at hand.
One must also recognize that
there are many religious figures that come in
“the name of Christ” who are “miniature
messiahs” unto themselves or to their followers.
Such individuals may have blind cult followings
of those who do not question or confirm Biblical
truth in their teachings. Anyone claiming the
name of the Messiah must be tested by Scripture
to see if what he or she preaches is truly
upheld by the Word. Otherwise, the person may
fall into the category of those claiming the
name of the Messiah that Yeshua warns us about.
In reference to His First Coming,
Yeshua said, “I have come in My Father's name,
and you do not receive Me; if another comes in
his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43).
In other words, Yeshua was telling us that He
was acting in the authority of His Father,
whereas another—or others—would come in their
own authority and would be received by the
masses. As it is prophesied of the antimessiah/antichrist,
“he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God,
to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle,
that is, those who dwell in heaven”
(Revelation 13:6). The antimessiah will come on
his own merit and deny the authority of the
Lord, whereas the true Messiah came on the
authority His Father.
As some have also suggested,
those coming in the name of the Lord, while
truly not being of the Lord, are in violation of
the Third Commandment:
“You shall not take the name of
the Lord
your God in vain, for the
Lord
will not leave him unpunished who takes His name
in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
When religious leaders come in
the name of God claiming “God told me this” or
“the Lord showed me a vision” and such
statements are blindly followed, we would
suggest that those making the claims might very
well fall into the category that Yeshua warns us
about in Matthew 24:4-5.
It should be the goal of all
Believers to be well versed in the Holy
Scriptures and be able to discern what is
happening, especially with those who claim
Yeshua as their Lord. As James the Just says,
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not
merely hearers who delude themselves” (James
1:22).
Wars and Natural Phenomenon
“You will be hearing of wars and
rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened,
for those things must take place, but
that is not yet the end. For nation will
rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom, and in various places there will be
famines and earthquakes. But all these things
are merely the beginning of birth pangs”
(Matthew 24:6-8; cf. Mark 13:7-8; Luke 21:9-11,
25-26).
Matthew 24:6-8 records Yeshua
telling us that there will be rumors and talk of
wars. Any well-researched political analyst
should be able to tell you that there are
patterns and events occurring in today’s world
that can lead to gross global instability.
Volatile regions such as the Balkans, North
Korea, Northern Ireland, Taiwan, and the Middle
East indicate that any number of events could
occur ranging from small-scale terrorism to a
rogue state detonating nuclear weapons. Since
September 11, 2001 and the Al-Qaida attack on
the World Trade Center in New York and the
Pentagon in Washington, we are all aware of the
new threat of global terrorism.
Yeshua continues, also telling us
that in addition to wars and rumors of wars
occurring, there will be various natural
phenomena taking place. As many noted
pre-millennial prophecy teachers have taught,
the past half of the Twentieth Century has seen
a rise in the recorded occurrences of natural
disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes,
tornadoes, floods, and drought. These things, of
course, have always existed, but in the Last
Days there are going to be catastrophic global
changes.
Probably the most important
aspect of Yeshua’s admonition in this chapter is
when He tells us “All these are the
beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8, KJV).
Although these signs are important, they do not
necessarily signal that the Messiah’s return is
“right around the corner.” Many of these various
phenomena have been occurring for the past
century and we should expect that they will
continue well into the Twenty-First Century at a
steady pace. It would, however, be complacent of
us not to follow both talk of world conflict and
natural disasters, as Yeshua does tell us, “those
things
must take place; but that is
not yet the end” (Mark 13:7b).
Persecution of Believers
“Then they will deliver you to
tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be
hated by all nations because of My name. At that
time many will fall away and will betray one
another and hate one another”
(Matthew 24:9-10; cf. Mark 13:9, 11-13; Luke
21:12-19).
Yeshua also warns us that those
who have faith in Him will be taken before
political and religious leaders and be killed.
As He explains in Mark 13:9, 11: “But be on your
guard; for they will deliver you to the
courts, and you will be flogged in the
synagogues, and you will stand before governors
and kings for My sake, as a testimony to
them…When they arrest you and hand you over, do
not worry beforehand about what you are to say,
but say whatever is given you in that hour; for
it is not you who speak, but it is the
Holy Spirit.”
Today such persecution does
exist, but it is often limited to areas where
belief in the Messiah is illegal or taboo. In
the West, many who claim to believe in Yeshua
the Messiah (Jesus Christ) do not have to
experience the type of persecution mentioned
here by Him. Total worldwide persecution of
Believers is a major sign that we are in the
Last Days. Not surprisingly, the Messiah also
warns us of betrayals that will take place by
those we trust most because of our faith in Him:
“But you will be betrayed even by
parents and brothers and relatives and friends,
and they will put some of you to death,
and you will be hated by all because of My name”
(Luke 21:16-17).
As we should all recall from
history, many children in dictatorial countries
were or have been conditioned to spy on their
parents to see if they held resentment to the
authoritarian regime or were in any way opposed
to it. Many parents who did not approve of the
deeds of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Deng,
Fidel Castro, or other despotic leaders were
often beaten and executed. Will such a situation
exist again when the antimessiah comes to power?
It is guaranteed.
Yeshua also tells us that when
Believers are persecuted and brought before
authorities to “not worry beforehand about what
you are to say, but say whatever is given you in
that hour; for it is not you who speak, but
it is the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). Yeshua
says, “It will lead to an opportunity for your
testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare
beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give
you utterance and wisdom which none of your
opponents will be able to resist or refute”
(Luke 21:13-15). As the Apostle Paul so
eloquently writes, “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of
this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly
places”
(Ephesians 6:12).
The Messiah plainly tells us “In
the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John
16:33, KJV). He also prayed to His Father, “I do
not ask You to take them out of the world, but
to keep them from the evil
one”
(John 17:15). Our call is always to “sanctify
Messiah as Lord in your hearts, always being
ready to make a defense to everyone who asks
you to give an account for the hope that is in
you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter
3:15).
As Believers in the Messiah
Yeshua, we are clearly told to expect
persecution.
False Prophets
“Many false prophets will arise
and will mislead many”
(Matthew 24:11).
Yeshua’s warning to us in Matthew
24:11 reemphasizes what He said previously in
Matthew 24:4b, “See to it that no one misleads
you.” Yeshua tells us that false prophets or
those not speaking the truth will deceive or
fool many people. Such individuals may preach
religious tolerance or that they are the only
ones with the truth. They may vary from having a
massive to a small following. The admonition to
the Believer today continues to be to test what
one hears by the words of Scripture. As the
Messiah tells us regarding these people, “It
would be better for him if a millstone were hung
around his neck and he were thrown into the sea,
than that he would cause one of these little
ones to stumble” (Luke 17:2).
In the category of false
prophets, we must indeed include many in the
charismatic movement who claim to be “modern day
prophets of God,” but whose motivation is
obviously to promote themselves rather than see
people turn in repentance. We can also include
many prophecy teachers who have claimed to be
“prophets,” who have made false predictions and
prognostications about the end-times, and have
both led people astray and have been responsible
for turning people off to the prophetic message
of Scripture
Not surprisingly, the Tanach (Old
Testament) also warns of us of the rise of false
prophets:
“Thus says the
Lord
of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the
prophets who are prophesying to you. They are
leading you into futility; they speak a vision
of their own imagination, not from the mouth of
the Lord.
They keep saying to those who despise Me, “The
Lord
has said, ‘You will have peace’”; and as for
everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his
own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come
upon you.’ But who has stood in the council of
the Lord,
that he should see and hear His word? Who has
given heed to His word and listened? Behold, the
storm of the
Lord
has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling
tempest; it will swirl down on the head of the
wicked. The anger of the
Lord
will not turn back until He has performed and
carried out the purposes of His heart; in the
last days you will clearly understand it”
(Jeremiah 23:16-20).
The Lord Himself warns us that
there will be false prophets. He tells us that
these false prophets will say “You will have
peace” and “Calamity will not come upon you.”
Interestingly, it could be easily argued that
this is the same message being propagated by
many who support a pre-tribulation rapture
escape. Many pastors today tell their
congregations, “There is no verse in the Bible
that says you have to experience one second of
the Tribulation.” This is very interesting
especially when the one of the next admonitions
Yeshua gives to the Believer in His Olivet
Discourse is to endure to the end.
Could these individuals perhaps
classify as being the false prophets spoken of
by Jeremiah? As God tells us, “in the last days
you will clearly understand it.” If we are
living in the Last Days, then are things
beginning to make more sense? If we are not
living in the Last Days, then what else needs to
be understood?
Lawlessness
“Because lawlessness is
increased, most people's love will grow cold”
(Matthew 24:12).
Yeshua’s admonition to us in
Matthew 24:12 has to deal with lawlessness,
a topic that Christianity at large for the past
several decades has failed to properly
address. The Complete Jewish Bible renders this
verse as, “and many people’s love will grow cold
because of increased distance from Torah.”
To us as Messianic Believers, this verse has two
critical components.
Socially, much of the foundation
for civilized Western society comes from a basis
in the Ten Commandments and in the five books of
Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy) or the Torah. Current liberal
trends, however, have rendered Scripture to none
affect and the Bible has been removed from
schools and now many treat it as a book of
fables. The Torah, specifically, includes an
important moral and ethical code and the
consequences for breaking it. Penalties such as
death were incorporated into Scripture so that
when a society saw the result of what happens by
murdering, kidnapping, raping, or a committing
host of other high offenses, it would deter that
crime from being committed. The text of Matthew
24:12 not only implies that people will not want
to love their neighbor (Leviticus 19:18;
Deuteronomy 6:5; cf. Matthew 22:36-38; Mark
12:28-31), but that society will have devolved
to the point of where lawlessness will be
commonplace.
The second aspect of this deals
with how the Believer is called to treat the
Torah, the Teachings and Instructions of God
contained in the whole of Scripture. Many
believe that the Torah or Law of Moses was
abolished by Yeshua the Messiah. They believe
that the commandments given at Mount Sinai are
no longer for us today and that the Law was
“nailed to the cross.” The truth of the matter
is that the penalty of the Torah pronounced upon
sinners was taken upon Yeshua as He was being
sacrificed for us. The penalty of the Law was
nailed to the cross; the Law itself was not. In
regard to the Last Days and the Torah, Yeshua
tells us,
“Do not think that I came to
abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come
to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to
you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the
Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then
annuls one of the least of these commandments,
and teaches others to do the same, shall
be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:17-19).
Yeshua very clearly tells us that
the Torah and Prophets will be with us until
all the prophecies contained in them are
completed or accomplished, which has yet to
happen. In fact, they will not be fully
accomplished until the New Jerusalem comes to
Earth at the end of the Millennium and we enter
into eternity. Yeshua plainly tells us that
those who keep the commandments of the Torah,
and encourage others to do so, will be
considered great in the Kingdom of God.
A false teaching being taught by
some today is that once a person is saved, he or
she has license to do as he or she pleases.
Consequently, some who believe they are born
again must believe that they can murder, steal,
cheat, adulterate or commit lawlessness to an
extreme. As the author of Hebrews writes, “For
if we go on sinning willfully after receiving
the knowledge of the truth, there no longer
remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying
expectation of judgment and
the fury of a fire which will
consume the adversaries”
(Hebrews 10:26-27). This does not imply that
Believers will not sin at all, but rather with a
proper understanding of the Torah and the high
capital sins that the Messiah was sacrificed to
cover, one will begin to understand that not all
specific sins are equal in the eyes of God—and
we will seek holiness. There is a severe warning
in Jude about how lawlessness can secretly creep
in:
“For certain persons have crept
in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand
marked out for this condemnation, ungodly
persons who turn the grace of our God into
licentiousness and deny our only Master and
Lord, Yeshua the Messiah” (Jude 4).
As Jude attests in the quote
above, there will be those “who transform the
grace of our God into licentiousness.”
Licentiousness is one believing to have the
license to do as he pleases, regardless of God’s
commands. We are not trying to infer that the
Lord is a God of 100% law and 0% grace, nor
would we imply that He is a God of 100% grace,
0% law. Rather, a balance must be sought as
Yeshua clearly told us that lawlessness would be
prevalent in the Last Days. Current trends in
both the secular and “Christian” world suggest
that what He said is beginning to come to pass
in our time. As the Apostle John should remind
us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep
His commandments; and His commandments are not
burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
Enduring to the End
“But the one who endures to the
end, he will be saved”
(Matthew 24:13; cf. Mark 13:13; Luke 21:19).
Many who study prophecy are
perplexed by Yeshua’s statement where He tells
us “But he that shall endure unto the end, the
same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13, KJV). What
does this mean?
Thus far, we have discussed
warnings and admonitions of Yeshua as they
pertain to end-time deception and various
phenomena that will exist in the days prior to
His return. We are told in Luke 21:26 that in
this time, “Men’s hearts [will fail] them for
fear…for looking after those things which are
coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken” (KJV). The Great Tribulation or
second-half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week will be
unlike any other the world has ever seen or ever
will see again (Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19).
Consequently, we are also told that in the days
prior to the Messiah’s physical return to Planet
Earth, “Then the kings of the earth and the
great men and the commanders and the rich and
the strong and every slave and free man hid
themselves in the caves and among the rocks of
the mountains; and they said to the mountains
and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from
the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb’” (Revelation
6:15-16).
The sort of endurance that Yeshua
speaks of in Matthew 24:13 is not that one must
physically survive the Tribulation to be saved,
but that a person must endure in his faith
through these difficult times. Will those with
weak faith give up their hope of salvation in
favor of the antimessiah/antichrist? We need to
know that our call is to “Fight the good fight
of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which
you were called, and you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1
Timothy 6:12). We are told to never give up no
matter the cost!
The endurance of which Yeshua
speaks is our eternal life in Him. One’s
surviving the Tribulation period does not
guarantee him a position in His Kingdom,
especially since it is prophesied that at the
Day of the Lord (which occurs at the close of
the Great Tribulation), God says “I will make
mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind
than the gold of Ophir” (Isaiah 13:12). This
verse could imply that no one survives this day
and the ones to repopulate the Millennium are
those living persons who go up to meet Yeshua at
His appearing. However, the most critical
reference of the Messiah’s telling us to endure
is that we are to have strong faith in Him and
in Him alone. How many “Christians” when put
through difficult trials or tribulation will
abandon Yeshua (Jesus)? How many will truly
endure and make the required sacrifices?
The Gospel of the Kingdom
“This gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in the whole world as a testimony to
all the nations, and then the end will come”
(Matthew 24:14; cf. Mark 13:10).
The issue of the salvation
message (gospel) being preached to the far
reaches of Planet Earth is one that has
intrigued many evangelists, especially those
that place a high emphasis on prophecy. Many
noted evangelistic ministries have purchased
vast amounts of television airtime and others
have launched their own satellites which some
claim will be responsible for reaching the last
groups of people who have never heard of Yeshua
or Jesus before the Second Coming. Others
believe that this passage speaks of a coming
great revival that is to take place before the
Messiah’s return.
First and foremost, Matthew 24:14
tells us that the gospel will be preached to all
nations—and there are multiple definitions as to
what the term “nations” means. Some feel it
means literal countries while others feel it
means various ethnic groups. Some take this
verse and believe that not only will the gospel
be preached, but that millions upon millions (or
billions) of people will come to faith in the
Messiah. However, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 tells us
that the end “will
not come
unless the apostasy comes first,
and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son
of destruction.” The key word here is apostasy.
It is a departure or rejection of the faith, not
a massive embracement of it.
We must also consider the fact
that both the apostasy and the gospel message
being preached will be occurring simultaneously.
Most critically, we must conclude what
message is being disseminated. This brings
us to the heart of the Tribulation matter.
What is the Tribulation period,
also known as the Seventieth Week of Israel?
Daniel 9:24 explains, “Seventy weeks have been
decreed for your people and your holy city, to
finish the transgression, to make an end of sin,
to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and
prophecy and to anoint the most holy
place.”
As it should be clear, the focus
of the Tribulation is to ultimately restore
the Kingdom to Israel and to make “Jerusalem
a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:7), just as
was asked by the Apostles before Yeshua ascended
into Heaven:
“So when they had come together,
they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at
this time You are restoring the kingdom to
Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to
know times or epochs which the Father has fixed
by His own authority; but you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest
part of the earth.’ And after He had said these
things, He was lifted up while they were looking
on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight”
(Acts 1:6-9).
As the Messiah tells us in
Matthew 24:18-20, we are commanded to fulfill
the Great Commission by preaching the good news
of His death, burial, and resurrection that
others might repent and come to faith in Him and
be spared from eternal punishment. However,
another critical admonition is that we are to
pray and see that His Kingdom comes, just as
Yeshua prayed, “Your kingdom come. Your will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew
6:10). We are to pray that the Lord comes to
Earth to establish it.
Because Believers are a part of
the Commonwealth of Israel as clearly specified
by Ephesians 2:11-12, we are also called to
spread the good news of Israel’s end-time
restoration. Prior to the Tribulation, the world
will witness a massive prophesied ingathering of
the Two Houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim,
into the Middle East (Isaiah 11:12-16; Jeremiah
10:6-10; Ezekiel 37:15-28; Zechariah 10:6-10),
which is said to make the exodus from Egypt look
so small that when people refer to “the exodus”
in the future, they will be referring to this
one (Jeremiah 16:14-15). As Messianic Believers,
we are called to proclaim the good news of the
Kingdom of Israel and the prophesied restoration
that is to follow by Yeshua the Messiah taking
His place as king from Jerusalem. This involves
both the House of Judah, the Jewish people, the
scattered House of Ephraim/Israel, representing
those of the Northern Kingdom who were dispersed
throughout the nations, and those truly of the
nations who become a part of the Commonwealth of
Israel:
“The word of the
Lord
came again to me saying, ‘And you, son of man,
take for yourself one stick and write on it,
“For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his
companions”; then take another stick and write
on it, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all
the house of Israel, his companions.” Then join
them for yourself one to another into one stick,
that they may become one in your hand. When the
sons of your people speak to you saying, “Will
you not declare to us what you mean by these?”
say to them, “Thus says the Lord
God,
‘Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which
is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of
Israel, his companions; and I will put them with
it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one
stick, and they will be one in My hand.’” The
sticks on which you write will be in your hand
before their eyes. ‘Say to them, “Thus says the
Lord God,
‘Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from
among the nations where they have gone, and I
will gather them from every side and bring them
into their own land; and I will make them one
nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel;
and one king will be king for all of them; and
they will no longer be two nations and no longer
be divided into two kingdoms. They will no
longer defile themselves with their idols, or
with their detestable things, or with any of
their transgressions; but I will deliver them
from all their dwelling places in which they
have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they
will be My people, and I will be their God. My
servant David will be king over them, and they
will all have one shepherd; and they will walk
in My ordinances and keep My statutes and
observe them. They will live on the land that I
gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers
lived; and they will live on it, they, and their
sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My
servant will be their prince forever. I will
make a covenant of peace with them; it will be
an everlasting covenant with them. And I will
place them and multiply them, and will set My
sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling
place also will be with them; and I will be
their God, and they will be My people. And the
nations will know that I am the
Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their
midst forever’” (Ezekiel 37:15-28).
Consequently, the message of the
gospel being preached to the whole world
involves both personal salvation and
the message of the Kingdom being restored to
Israel. I personally believe that a substantial
portion of this message will be proclaimed by
the 144,000 sealed Israelites spoken of in
Revelation 7:4-8, as the world sees the
prophesied ingathering of all Israel into the
Middle East. In the Last Days it will be
evident that the world has rejected the Creator
God and is a recipient of His judgment. The
world will be forced to deal with both a major
phenomenon in the ingathering of all
Israel, and individuals will be given the clear
choice with all the Tribulation’s judgments
occurring around them to either receive
Israel’s Messiah, Yeshua, as their Lord—or they
will be given the choice of continuing on the
road to judgment with the antimessiah.
The Abomination of Desolation
“Therefore when you see the
abomination of desolation which was
spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing
in the holy place (let the reader understand),
then those who are in Judea must flee to the
mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not
go down to get the things out that are in his
house. Whoever is in the field must not turn
back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are
pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in
those days! But pray that your flight will not
be in the winter, or on a Sabbath”
(Matthew 24:15-20).
In Matthew 24:15-20, Yeshua very
clearly tells us to watch for the Abomination of
Desolation. Specifically, He warns those living
in Judea and around Jerusalem to escape town
immediately following this event and admonishes
people to dispense with personal belongings.
A specific debate among many who
study prophecy is exactly what the Abomination
of Desolation is. Yeshua Himself tells us that
the Abomination is the same one prophesied by
Daniel:
“Then he shall confirm a covenant
with many for one week; but in the middle of the
week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and
offering. And on the wing of abominations shall
be one who makes desolate, even until the
consummation, which is determined, is poured out
on the desolate” (Daniel 9:27, NKJV).
From the text of Daniel 9:27, it
is seems necessary that animal sacrifices must
be present for the Abomination of Desolation to
occur. As the NASU renders Daniel 9:27b, “in the
middle of the week he will put a stop to
sacrifice and grain offering.” The grain
offering very clearly cannot be allegorical as
some have tried to spiritualize the Abomination
making it something that it is not.
One specific debate that exists
is whether or not the Temple must be
reconstructed for the Abomination of Desolation
to take place. Arguably, when these prophesied
animal sacrifices and grain offerings begin,
they will not occur in a rebuilt temple—but
first at a sacrificial altar, then a tent-like
tabernacle, and then finally a stone temple—if
we follow the pattern of the Ancient Israelites
and what Kings David and Solomon did before the
First Temple was constructed. The argument that
a temple must be reconstructed partially
comes from 2 Thessalonians 2:4, in reference to
the antimessiah:
“[W]ho opposes and exalts himself
above every so-called god or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,
displaying himself as being God.”
This commentary from Paul leads
me to conclude that the Temple will be
rebuilt for the man of lawlessness show
himself as God. Current trends in the Mideast
Peace Process and the steady practices of the
Temple Mount Faithful do suggest that one day
Orthodox Jews wanting to reinstitute the Mosaic
sacrificial system will, and an ultimate goal of
that would certainly be the reconstruction of
the Temple.
Matthew 24:16 describes how
Believers in Jerusalem and in Judea will be
affected when this event occurs. They are told
to flee and leave immediately. A very intriguing
phrase is “Pray that you will not have to escape
in winter or on Shabbat” (Matthew 24:20,
CJB). It should not be surprising that in
Israel, the Old City of Jerusalem is closed to
vehicles on the Sabbath. When this event does
occur, whether on a Sabbath or otherwise, it
seems likely that those fleeing will have to
flee on foot, as opposed to car or bus.
We reach an impasse here between
Yeshua’s warning of the Abomination of
Desolation in Matthew 24:15-20. In Luke
21:20-24, the Messiah speaks of armies
surrounding Jerusalem:
“But when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by armies, then recognize that her
desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea
must flee to the mountains, and those who are in
the midst of the city must leave, and those who
are in the country must not enter the city;
because these are days of vengeance, so that all
things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe
to those who are pregnant and to those who are
nursing babies in those days; for there will be
great distress upon the land and wrath to this
people; and they will fall by the edge of the
sword, and will be led captive into all the
nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under
foot by the Gentiles until the times of the
Gentiles are fulfilled.”
Some have interpreted this
prophecy as already occurring in regard to the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. by the
Romans. Although Jerusalem’s demise was
certainly an important event in Jewish history,
it was not the event as prophesied in Luke
21:20-24, as Believers at this time did not flee
to the mountains and many had already left
Jerusalem by the time of the Roman siege. Yeshua
is simply telling us that at the time of the
Abomination of Desolation, there will be
military forces surrounding Jerusalem.
This is the key event that we are
commanded to look for by the Messiah. This event
signals the midpoint of Daniel’s Seventieth Week
and the initiation of the Great Tribulation or
the “time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25;
12:7; Revelation 12:14) in which the antimessiah
will “make war with the rest of her children,
who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Yeshua” (Revelation 12:17).
The Great Tribulation
“For then there will be a great
tribulation, such as has not occurred since the
beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
Unless those days had been cut short, no life
would have been saved; but for the sake of the
elect those days will be cut short”
(Matthew 24:21-22; cf. Mark 13:19-20).
Yeshua continues telling us that
the Great Tribulation will be like no other time
the world has experienced. In Matthew 24:22 He
says, “If those days had not been cut short, no
one would survive, but for the sake of the elect
those days will be shortened” (NIV).
The details of the Great
Tribulation and the events that we can and
should expect are recorded for us in the
Prophets and in the Book of Revelation. We
clearly know that this time will be a time of
great judgment upon the world for its rejection
of Yeshua the Messiah and that many will die.
The Messiah implies not only that many will die,
but also if He does not come back, humanity will
annihilate itself.
The world currently possesses
enough weapons of mass destruction to destroy
the population of Earth several times over, and
it is surprising why we have not destroyed
ourselves yet. Some believe that the Messiah’s
admonition of “except those days should be
shortened” (Matthew 22:24, NIV), or the time
period prior to His physical return, could mean
that during the Great Tribulation days will be
shortened from their current length of
twenty-four hours. This is certainly a
legitimate possibility to consider due to
prophesied Earth changes and that there will be
“a great mountain burning with fire…thrown into
the sea” (Revelation 8:8).
Another possibility that the
Messiah is implying is that if the Great
Tribulation were longer than its specified
length of 1,260 days (Daniel 12:11; Revelation
11:3; 12:6), no one would survive. Given that we
are trying to interpret future events, we
must consider both of these possibilities.
False Expectations
“Then if anyone says to you,
‘Behold, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There He
is,’ do not believe him. For false
Messiahs and false prophets will arise and will
show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead,
if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told
you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold,
He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or,
‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not
believe them. For just as the lightning
comes from the east and flashes even to the
west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will
gather”
(Matthew 24:23-28; cf. Mark 13:21-23).
Once again, the Messiah tells us
to be on guard against false prophets and false
signs that will exist in the days before His
return. In relation to the Great Tribulation, we
know that a particular figure, known as the
false prophet, will come and show signs and
wonders pointing to the man of lawlessness as
being the true “messiah” or “christ”:
“Then I saw another beast coming
up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a
lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all
the authority of the first beast in his
presence. And he makes the earth and those who
dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose
fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs,
so that he even makes fire come down out of
heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And
he deceives those who dwell on the earth because
of the signs which it was given him to perform
in the presence of the beast, telling those who
dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast
who had the wound of the sword and has come to
life. And it was given to him to give breath to
the image of the beast, so that the image of the
beast would even speak and cause as many as do
not worship the image of the beast to be killed”
(Revelation 13:11-15).
In Matthew 24:23 Yeshua the
Messiah very clearly tells us, “Behold, I have
told you before” (KJV). Interestingly, He also
makes the statement “Therefore if they say to
you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out;
or ‘Look, He is in the inner
rooms!’ do not believe it” (Matthew
24:26, NKJV). The Complete Jewish Bible renders
His critical admonition as, “if people say to
you…‘Look, He’s hidden away in a secret room!’
don’t believe it.” Not surprisingly, many are
expecting a (false) secret return of our Lord
before the beginning of the Tribulation period.
The Apostle Paul comments
extensively about “the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our being gathered to him” (2
Thessalonians 2:1, NIV), and from this quote it
is stated that both our being gathered to meet
Him in the clouds and His physical return to
Planet Earth are all part of the same
event. If this is the case, then the return
of Yeshua, according to His own words, “will be
like lightning that flashes out of the east and
fills the sky to the western horizon” (Matthew
24:27, NIV) and it will
not be a secret event.
Yeshua Himself told us directly
that those who would speak of a secret coming in
regard to His return were speaking falsehoods.
Could this possibly be a reference to the
popular pre-tribulation rapture doctrine? I
certainly believe so.
The words of the Messiah very
clearly tell us not to expect a secret return of
His to Planet Earth.
The Gathering of the Elect
“But immediately after the
tribulation of those days
the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
light, and the stars will fall from the
sky, and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of
the earth will mourn, and they will see the
Son of Man
coming on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory. And He will send forth
His angels with
a great
trumpet and
they will
gather together His elect from the four
winds, from one end of the sky to the other”
(Matthew 24:29-31; cf. Mark 13:24-27; Luke
21:27-28).
Matthew 24:29-31 vividly
describes both the Second Coming and what many
call “the rapture.” Matthew 24:32 describes
Yeshua sending His angels to gather the elect,
or all Believers dead and alive, with the sound
of a trumpet call. These verses are almost
identical to the Apostle Paul’s writing in 1
Corinthians 15:51-52:
“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we
will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will be raised imperishable, and we
will be changed” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Many believe that the Messiah’s
gathering of His own to Him occurs at the
beginning of the Tribulation period; however,
according to this passage of Scripture, this
cannot be. The idea that this is only
in reference to His physical arrival to Earth is
dependent on who the elect are. Pre-tribulationists
infer that God has two groups of elect: Israel
and “the Church.” By this same logic, those
gathered at this event are those of Israel into
the Holy Land, not the gathering of the true
ekklēsia or assembly of Believers, into the
sky to meet the Messiah.
We are not of the position that
God has two groups of elect; nor are we of the
position that Israel and the so-called “Church”
are separate entities. Dispensationalists may
claim that the text of Scripture we have just
analyzed (Matthew 24:1-31) is strictly for the
Jews, because “Jesus was speaking to the Jews.”
By this same logic, anything Jesus said to Jews
is not for non-Jewish Believers in Him, so those
of us who are not Jewish should dispense with
most of the Gospels. (And not surprisingly,
there are ultra- and hyper-dispensationalists
who do advocate this false doctrine.)
What these people first fail to
recognize is that if they are born again and
have faith in the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua,
they have been made a part of the community of
Israel (Ephesians 2:11-12). There are only
twelve gates to enter into New Jerusalem—for the
twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12), and
there is no gate for “the Church.” And
certainly, all Believers will be
ruling and reigning with Him from this city.
Believing that the event spoken
of in Matthew 24:29-31 is for Israel is somewhat
correct. What pre-tribulationists (and even many
post-tribulationists) do not understand is that
if they are saved, they are a part of Israel—the
Israel that will rule and reign with the Messiah
from New Jerusalem.
Who goes through the Seventieth Week of Israel?
Israel. Interestingly enough, the Greek noun
used throughout the Scriptures commonly
translated “church” is ekklēsia (ekklhsia)—the
same term that is largely used throughout the
Septuagint, or ancient translation of the Hebrew
Bible into Greek, in regard to the assembly
or congregation (Heb. qahal,
lhq)
of Israel. We now are forced to not only deal
with the timing of the Second Coming, but also
with who is gathered at that time. If we
can establish that “the Church” and Israel are
not separate entities, then other pre-tribulational
arguments shatter.
It is very important to note that
the Hebrew name Yisrael (larfy) or
Israel means “God prevails.” The same is what we
as Believers must do. Paul writes, “I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call
of God in Messiah Yeshua” (Philippians 3:14).
One could argue from these admonitions that if
you are not somehow a part of the elect, Israel,
then you are not part of the elect at all.
Those who have died in the faith
and those who are alive at the Messiah’s
appearing will be brought up into the clouds to
meet Him in the air, as the Scriptures clearly
attest. The issue that will continue to plague
evangelicals is not necessarily the event
itself, but the timing of it and just who is
involved: “the Church” or Israel?
Conclusion
Yeshua the Messiah has issued the
following warning: “There! I have told you in
advance!” (Matthew 24:25, CJB). As Believers in
Him, we have no excuse not to heed His warnings
of the impending judgment which is to befall
Planet Earth, nor are we to spurn His admonition
that “this good news of the kingdom will be
proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony
to all the nations; and then the end will come”
(Matthew 24:14, NRSV), which includes both the
good news of personal salvation and the news of
the Millennial restoration of Israel. The
Apostle Paul writes, “I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the course, I have kept
the faith; in the future there is laid up for me
the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have
loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
There are many other Scripture
passages in relation to the end-times such as
the Book of Daniel or the Book of Revelation. I
chose Matthew 24:1-31 because it provides us a
valuable outline of end-time events and it makes
an excellent starting point for students and
researchers of Bible prophecy. Its warnings are
also important to heed, as they come directly
from the mouth of the Messiah Himself and it is
from His words from which we should interpret
the rest of Holy Scripture.
As we continue into the
Twenty-First Century, many claiming Yeshua as
their Savior believe that “life as we know it”
is going to end at a moment’s notice, and many
outside of the faith believe we stand at the
dawn of a “new age.” Many are expecting
apocalyptic events to occur, and then many
others believe that nothing will happen.
In Matthew 24:44, Yeshua Himself
tells us “For this reason you also must be
ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
when you do not think He will,” because
He comes in a time we will least expect.
Although this verse is usually used erroneously
to support the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture
escape, Matthew 24:44 does certainly imply that
we need to be ready at all times for the return
of our Lord, whether it is because we can each
individually go to meet Him at any time, or
whether it is to be on guard to the signs which
He warned us about which would herald His
return.
Over the past several years, many
have spoken presumptuously about Biblically
prophesied events. As a result, many others have
chosen to ignore prophetic Scriptures. Such an
attitude is ill-advised and non-Biblical.
Rather, one must be objective in his or her
approach to this subject matter and be on alert.
Various world events have been set in motion
that can result in the fulfillment of major
Bible prophecies. Matthew 24:1-31 is only the
starting point.
So as a Believer in Yeshua the
Messiah, what should you expect pertaining to
the Last Days? Certainly, one should be aware of
the “birth pains” of wars, rumors of wars, and
natural disasters. We are also clearly commanded
to watch out for false prophets, teachings, and
those who would say that our Lord’s return is in
secret. A definite sign to watch for is the
Abomination of Desolation in Jerusalem. Over the
past few years, we have been alerted that the
proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom—the
message of Israel’s restoration—is also an
important “end-time” sign. Arguably, it is
this final element that has been the most
overlooked. The need to address issues that
surround the emergence of a mature and impactful
Messianic community will be on the rise as we
near closer to Yeshua’s Second Coming, whether
it takes place in our lifetimes or not.
J.K. McKee (B.A.,
University of Oklahoma; M.A. Student, Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist. He is author of several books,
including: The New Testament Validates Torah,
Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When
Will the Messiah Return?. He has also
written many articles on the Two Houses of
Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently
focusing on Messianic commentaries on various
books of the Bible. |
