Matthew 24:42 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
God's plan for the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ is revealed throughout the Bible in the form of Biblical prophecy. Since the time of the early Christians, believers have asked themselves if they will be the generation to see the return of Christ. No one knows for certain when Christ will return, but Christians are not left to wonder without understanding or aim. Recognizable signs are to precede Jesus' return and Biblical prophecy sets forth a clear roadmap designed to give believers advance warning of the advent of the Great Tribulation.
The goal of this forum is to allow all Christians, from prophecy neophytes to sophisticated theologians, to recognize and understand those key prophecy signs that will confirm if and when we are living in the End Times (aka Daniel's 70th week).
Are we the generation?
I believe specific prophecy signs are being fulfilled before our very own eyes.
Below are some current news articles that relate to the 20 Key Prophecy Signs. If you would like to read any archived articles, click on '20 Key Prophecy Signs'.
Aug. 21 Deadline for Israeli Attack?
John Bolton: Russia's Loading of Nuke Fuel Into Iran Plant Means Aug. 21 Deadline for Israeli Attack
By: David A. Patten
News that Russia will load nuclear fuel rods into an Iranian reactor has touched off a countdown to a point of no return, a deadline by which Israel would have to launch an attack on Iran's Bushehr reactor before it becomes effectively "immune" to any assault, says former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton.
Once the fuel rods are loaded, Bolton told Fox News on Friday afternoon, "it makes it essentially immune from attack by Israel. Because once the rods are in the reactor an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf." Read More
Donnie's Remarks
The prophecy signs have been relatively quiet the last few months, (no seven-year covenant, no temple, no sacrifices etc.) but I still believe we are in a window where Daniel’s 70th week could begin (see timelines below). Accordingly, this story definitely caught my eye. Russia and Iran are probably the two nations prophesied by Ezekiel 38 & 39 to form the Gog/Magog alliance. Many believe Iran’s nuclear plant is the means to arming themselves for a future invasion of Israel.
John Bolton is hawkish and a lover of Israel. He poses that Israel is on the horns of a dilemma and is being forced into a go/no-go attack on Iran. The deadline for the Israeli attack on Iran is August 21, 2010.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/John--Bolton--Iran--Nuclear--israel/2010/08/13/id/367449
CNN warns that we may be fast approaching the reality that Israel is going to act against Iran soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87IQSG2vORw
If Israel attacks, it could be the trigger point indicating the 7 year countdown has begun.
Netanyahu turns to Bible in tussle over Jerusalem
In the News…
Reuters. By Dan Williams. Thursday May 13, 2010
JERUSALEM - Beset by questions about Jerusalem's future in talks with the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached for the Bible on Wednesday to stake out the Jewish state's contested claim on the city.
Netanyahu told a parliamentary session commemorating Israel's capture of East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 war that "Jerusalem" and its alternative Hebrew name "Zion" appear 850 times in the Old Testament, Judaism's core canon.
"As to how many times Jerusalem is mentioned in the holy scriptures of other faiths, I recommend you check," he said.
Citing such ancestry, Israel calls all of Jerusalem its "eternal and indivisible" capital -- a designation not recognised abroad, where many powers support Arab claims to East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The dispute is further inflamed by the fact East Jerusalem houses al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine, on a plaza that Jews revere as the vestige of two biblical Jewish temples.
Heckled by a lawmaker from Israel's Arab minority, Netanyahu offered a lesson in comparative religion from the lectern.
"Because you asked: Jerusalem is mentioned 142 times in the New Testament, and none of the 16 various Arabic names for Jerusalem is mentioned in the Koran. But in an expanded interpretation of the Koran from the 12th century, one passage is said to refer to Jerusalem," he said. Read More
Donnie’s Remarks…
What time is it?
Anyone who reads this site knows that God’s Word is complex, especially when it comes to prophecy. For instance, I think the Book of Daniel predicts the first coming of Jesus the Messiah… to the day. Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy sevens (70 x 7 weeks of years = 490 years) teaches us that it was exactly 483 years from the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus arrived on the scene, the Jewish leaders should have been looking for the Messiah.
Daniel 9:24-27 (ESV)
[24] "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
[25] Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.
[26] And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.
[27] And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."
Reading the passage below, you see that on Palm Sunday Jesus fulfilled another prophecy that every leader should have understood.
Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)
[9] “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
I find it very interesting that the Lord held the leaders of Israel accountable for their inability to recognize the time and the signs of His first coming.
What about us? Are we going to be held to the same standard of accountability? Are we expected to know the season of the Lord’s coming? I know the Lord made reference to not knowing the exact hour or day of His return, but shouldn’t we have a general idea and understanding of what we are to be looking for? Absolutely!
I want to make you aware of something in the Book of Daniel. God’s Word is so incredibly accurate that it can have multiple layers of meaning. Such is the case with the Daniel 9 passage quoted above. In the last few months, I have come to realize Daniel’s “seventy sevens” has a second layer of meaning and application. Daniel’s seventy sevens can also be translated seventy “Shavuots.” We would say, seventy “Feasts of Pentecost.” That means the Daniel 9 passage could be teaching this… From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem (which occurred on Nov. 29, 1947) to the coming of the Anointed One (The second coming of the Messiah) shall be 70 Shavuots or 70 Feasts Day of Pentecost.
The Jewish feast day of Shavuot is celebrated in the spring. This year it falls on May 19 which will make it the 63rd Shavuot or Pentecost since the decree was given to rebuild Jerusalem in 1947. That means we could be entering the final seven year period. Date setting is a hazardous game to play and this could be some kind of incredible coincidence, but on the other hand it may be something that we should take note of. So what should we be looking for in the next few weeks/months? The announcement of a seven-year peace agreement of some kind with the nation Israel, ongoing discussions regarding the dividing of the city of Jerusalem and the re-institution of animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount. We should also begin to see the rise of a little horn (the Bible calls him the Assyrian) who will begin to make war north of Israel. Also, earthquakes will continue to increase, as will wars and rumors of wars (the beginning of the birth pains).
I also believe that just before the end times begin, the book of Daniel will be unsealed for the final generation to have better understanding of the events they will be enduring.
The most amazing 'coincidence' of all is in Daniel 8 where we learn that the Antichrist’s time of authority in the end times will last for exactly 2300 days.
Daniel 8:13-14 (ESV)
[13] Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, "For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?"
[14] And he said to me, "For 2,300 evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state."
From this year’s celebration of Pentecost (May 19, 2010) to Sept 2, 2016 is exactly 2300 days! This date could mark the end of Daniel's 70th week.
Daniel 12:12 teaches that there will be 45 additional days immediately following the tribulation. During this period three Jewish holidays will occur: The Feast of Trumpets /Rosh Hashanah (Oct. 3, 2016), the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur (Oct. 12, 2016) and the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot (Oct. 17-23, 2016). Could this be the period of time when Jesus will return and fulfill the Jewish fall feasts?
Click for more on Daniel's timeline: Daniel's Timeline
Temple Institute wants to Offer Biblical Passover Sacrifice
In the News...
Israel National News. by Maayana Miskin. March 21, 2010
(IsraelNN.com) The Temple Mount Institute has filed suit in its fight for the right to sacrifice a sheep on the Temple Mount prior to Passover, as commanded in the Torah.
"The command to perform a Paschal [Passover] sacrifice is a positive commandment; the punishment for failing to perform it is 'karet' [lit. -- 'cut off', meaning that a person is cut off from the Nation of Israel], and it can be performed only on the day before Passover and only on the Temple Mount,” the organization explained in a petition to the Supreme Court. Fighting the group's request are the Israel Police, who argue that the sacrifice would lead to Muslim riots and thus threaten public safety.
Jews have the right to offer animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount under Israeli law, the organization claimed. Israelis are guaranteed the right to freedom of worship, and Israel prides itself in allowing members of all faiths to access their holy sites.
In previous years, the court has ruled that the right to freedom of worship is outweighed by the consideration of public safety, and has forbidden the Paschal sacrifice.
The Temple Mount Institute also took the opportunity to take police to task for barring Jews and Christians from the Temple Mount following Muslim riots. “The Israel Police is giving rioters a 'prize' and encouraging them to hold violent riots and disturb the peace, on the one hand, and is discriminating against Jews and members of other faiths and trampling their human rights – the right to freedom of movement and freedom of worship – on the other,” the organization accused.
The Institute asked the court to order police to explain why Jews are barred from the mount when Muslims riot. Read Story
Donnie's Remarks....
There is simply no way I could not post this story. If any kind of sacrifice would occur on God's Temple Mount, it is most definitely prophetically significant.
UPDATE as of 3/22/10: State: Passover Sacrifice Would Provoke Muslims
UPDATE as of 3/24/10: Supreme Court: No Passover Sacrifice Again This Year
(IsraelNN.com) The Supreme Court has rejected a petition requesting that Jews be enabled to offer the Passover Sacrifice this coming Monday, the eve of the holiday. Similar petitions have been submitted and rejected in recent years.
Tuesday evening, a rally demanding “freedom of Jewish worship” on the Temple Mount was held in downtown Jerusalem. The organizers also demanded to be allowed to celebrate this coming Passover holiday on the site of the Holy Temple by offering the Paschal sacrifice.
They noted that according to Jewish Law, the Holy Temple does not need to be built in order to resume the sacrificial offerings. They emphasized accordingly that the Temple Mount organizations are not trying to change or make modifications to any existing structures on the Mount, but rather aim to receive permission to build a temporary altar, which would be dismantled immediately following the Passover Offering. Read More
Stay tuned....
See Prophecy Sign #6
PM, ministers meet to discuss US crisis
In the News...
By Jerusalem Post.Com Staff. March 13, 2010.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his top ministers for a meeting Saturday evening to discuss the fallout of an announcement on construction in Jerusalem made during the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden.
During Biden’s visit, the Interior Ministry announced that 1,600 housing units will be built in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood.
Biden initially condemned the move but on Thursday said that after Netanyahu apologized to him the crisis was behind them.
Related
EU may use trade ties to force Israel into peace talks
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, called Netanyahu on Friday and scolded him over the incident.
Saturday evening, the Anti-Defamation League took the administration to task saying in a statement it was “shocked and stunned” by Washington’s “public dressing down” of Israel. Read More
Donnie's Remarks...
Tragically, the US/Israeli relationship took a very bad turn for the worst this weekend. Hillary Clinton warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that the relationship was at risk unless Israel toed the Obama administration's line in renewed talks with the Palestinians. This administration clearly wants Israel to divide Jerusalem. Apparently the crisis is spiraling out of control to the point that the US ponders denying Israel arms needed for conflict with Iran.
This, along with so many other events that have happened in the last few weeks that are equally significant, are causing me to pause and take notice. Devastating earthquakes are unquestionably on the rise. God's Temple Mount continues to be front page news. Jewish organizations that promote the reestablishment of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem wrote a letter to the Jerusalem District police commander asking him to allow the offering of the Passover lamb sacrifice (Passover begins on March 30, 2010). Their request has been rejected but to even consider the attempt of a sacrifice on the Temple Mount this year is phenomenal. (If approval is granted, I suspect they will employ a model of the biblical altar constructed by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem.) And the rebuilt Hurva Synagogue in Old Jerusalem opens this week which some Jews believe point to the rebuilding of the Third Temple. Is all this some wild coincidence? It could be, but then again...
From a prophetic point of view I am looking to a very specific event that may result from all this: a 7 year peace agreement. The book of Daniel teaches us the first sign we are to look for to indicate the End Times have begun is a seven year peace agreement! The details of the agreement are not clear in scripture, which means the Lord did not think them important to share with us. However, if we see a seven year agreement signed in the next few months, I think it will mean Daniel's 70th week has begun! Keep watching!
Daniel 9:27 (NASB77)
[27] "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
See Prophecy Sign #7
UN worried by Temple Mount clashes
In the News...
By ABE SELIG, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP. March 6, 2010.
The United Nations Security Council expressed concern overnight Friday after Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian rioters, Israel Radio reported.
Israel has crossed every red line and made prospects for peace even dimmer in clashing with Muslim worshipers on the Temple Mount, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement released Friday evening.
Abbas said Israeli security forces, which he termed the “occupation army,” were “provoking” members of other faiths in a way that could “set off a religious war in the region.” He warned that “Israeli escapades” in east Jerusalem would have repercussions not just in the city and the Middle East, but also in Muslim world. Read More
Donnie's Remarks...
Violence around the Temple Mount is escalating and there is talk that a religious war may be brewing. Muslim authorities are calling on the international community and the Quartet on Middle East peace -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- to "pay heed to the gravity of the Israeli violations and the threat they pose to the region now and in the future."
The Temple Institute News Update reports what Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin has to say about this: ‘'We will never relinquish the Temple Mount. Speaking Monday (Feb. 4, 2010) at a gathering in Jerusalem, he said the city's status as the capital of Israel has been undermined over the last few years. Far ranging plans have been put on the negotiating table, not only in east Jerusalem, but proposals have been made for Israel to relinquish Jewish sovereignty over Temple Mount, the Mount of Olives, and the City of David," Begin went on to say that "in the name of the Israeli government, such proposals and ones like them will not be considered under any condition."
Zechariah gives us a specific prophecy sign concerning the city of Jerusalem. This city will become a major problem for the entire world just prior to the Lord's return.
Zechariah 12:1-3 (NASB77) [1] The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, [2] "Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. [3] "And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
The rebuilding of the temple is also one of the key prophecy signs that Christians should watch for to indicate if we are approaching the End Times. In Biblical times, the temple was the center of Jewish worship and the only place where Jews were to offer sacrifice. This push to allow Jews more access to the Temple Mount will continue to escalate their desire, and ultimate demand, to build the Third Temple. I believe that soon the Temple Mount, the rebuilding of the Third Temple and animal sacrifices will be at the heart of the Middle East conflict.
See Prophecy Sign #6