THE FINISH LINE
By Brandon Gallups
PPSIMMONS News & Ministry writer
It should come as no surprise that we at PPSIMMONS fully
believe that we are living in the trumpet days of Revelation. This simply means
that God is sounding the trumpets laid out in the book of Revelation that will
ultimately signal Christ’s return at the sounding of the 7th trumpet.
Several here at PPSIMMONS have explained in great detail the
trumpets and how they have been fulfilled through major world-changing events,
right up to trumpet six which seems to point to a major world conflict centered
in the Middle East. Just take a look at the news, and this seems likely to
happen at anytime.
So other than the trumpets, what other indications or clues
are we given as to the timing of Christ’s return?
Let’s look at Mathew 24:3-14.
Keep in mind that as stated in verse 3, Jesus is
speaking privately to the disciples. We are the disciples now,
Jesus is speaking these words directly to us!
And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars
and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they
deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall
betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall
rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of
many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:3-14 KJV)
It seems as though Jesus basically gives a chronological
order of how end time events would unfold. Lets break it down verse by verse.
verses 4-5
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man
deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many. (Matthew 24:4, 5 KJV)
We know from scripture that there have been "false
prophets" from the time of Jesus right up through today. Jesus warns us of
this and specifically tells us to not be deceived. It doesn’t take much
searching of the news to find people today literally claiming to be the Messiah
or Jesus Christ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_claimed_to_be_Jesus
verse 6
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye
be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. (Matthew 24:6 KJV)
Again, there have been wars and rumors of wars from time before
Jesus spoke these words until today. The headlines of any news source are
filled with talk of war involving various countries: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon,
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Russia, China, US.
verse 7
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in
divers places. (Matthew 24:7 KJV)
We previously covered nation rising against nation, but
again we see "events" that have been, and are still, occurring since
before Jesus even spoke these words. History books are filled with stories of
great famines, earthquakes, and pestilences. We can again search headline news
and find these everyday.
famines
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/may/02/somalia-famine-worst-25-years
earthquakes
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/index.php
pestilences
http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/
verse 8
All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:8 KJV)
Notice Jesus doesn’t say that these things listed above
signal the end or now the end will come. He specifically says "these are
the beginning of sorrows." I think we have established that we are
currently seeing all of the above-listed events happening simultaneously. From
that I believe we can safely say that we are past the beginning of sorrows and
are currently living somewhere in the verses to come.
verse 9
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. (Matthew
24:9 KJV)
Now it seems we start to get into the meat of things. Notice
the word then, which is key in that it indicates this event will happen after
the events described in previous verses.
Today, Christians all over the world are being offered up to
be afflicted and killed. This is a huge part of what we see happening
throughout the Middle East everyday. It has been documented that over 100,000
Christians are killed every year only because they profess Jesus as Lord.
Christians are killed every year only because they profess Jesus as Lord.
The second part of this verse is also key in that it clearly
states that all nations will hate Christians. Up until the last six
years this would have been an impossible statement to make. After all the US was
a "Christian" nation, founded on Judeo Christian values. We are still
relatively free to worship and share our faith. But what has happened in the
last six years?
Obama says, "we are no longer a Christian
nation"http://www.wnd.com/2008/06/67735/
Christians now listed as "terror threat"
So you see the last, great, "free" nation may not
be so "free" after all, and it certainly appears as if the US has
moved to the list of "Christian
hating" nations.
verse 10
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another. (Matthew 24:10 KJV)
Remember that Jesus was speaking privately to the disciples
here so it seems he is speaking of those claiming to be Christians here. Our
churches today are filled with division and betrayal and infighting as a whole.
A lot of this points to the selfish society in which we live where every time
somebody disagrees with you it’s the end of the world!
Lets take it a step further. Betrayal - if you were faced with possible imprisonment or death
or the option of selling out or betraying another Christian, which would you
choose. Could you suffer the ultimate consequence to protect a brother or
sister? Would you be "offended" if you were the one betrayed? Would you "hate” the one who betrayed
you?
Seems a little extreme sitting here in the still relatively
free US, but remember the verse previous to this one. Those choices may face us
here in the US sooner than many realize. They are already being made all across
the world today!
verse 11
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
(Matthew 24:11 KJV)
Interesting that Jesus says this again. But this time He
doesn’t give a warning to not be deceived.
This time, He simply states "shall deceive many." It is a
statement of fact!
We covered earlier that many have already come claiming to
be Jesus and some even today make that claim. Let’s look at one more who has
not personally made that claim but whom others have claimed is the Messiah.
Barak Hussein Obama
verse 12
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold. (Matthew 24:12 KJV)
As a parent, the greatest love I have is for my son. The
greatest coldness I can possibly imagine is to intentionally harm or kill my
own child.
In the US alone since 1973 , over 54 million babies have
been intentionally murdered by their own mothers through abortion.
The love of many has definitely "waxed cold!"
verse 13
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. (Matthew 24:13 KJV)
Now we see the "end." Jesus plainly tells us that those who endure through all the
previously listed events will be saved!
Stay strong and hang in there, WE ARE CLOSE!!
verse 14
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew
24:14 KJV)
This is the most important and telling verse in the
sequence! We make it to the "end" and Jesus took his disciples into
the "future."
At the time Jesus spoke these words, the "Gospel"
was still being written! The world was still being discovered! This last
statement is the key! With the advent of air travel and then the Internet and
the fact that we have the completed "Gospel" says we are the
generation that can and dare I say WILL achieve this last requirement
for the return of Jesus!
Jesus plainly tells us "Then shall the end
come." Again a statement of fact!
Over two billion of the seven billion inhabitants of planet
earth currently have Internet access. So literally, with the push of a button,
I can send the gospel to one-third of the entire population of the world right
now! But what about the other two-thirds? We have to reach them too, right?
Just this last week Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg
announced that he is developing a plan and the technology to allow Internet
access to every human being on the planet!! This means that soon, with the push
of a button, the Gospel can literally go to the "entire world!"
Just a teaser! The following is a quote from Franz Och in
2010 who was at that time the head of Google’s machine translation team:
"This technology can make the language barrier go
away," Franz Och, who leads Google's machine translation team argued.
"It will allow anyone to communicate with anyone else."
So you see, very soon the gospel literally, with the
push of a button, can go to the entire world and in every language of the
world!
===========================================================
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