Sound The Trumpet : Messianic Signs

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“Messianic Signs - Part 2”
by Art Sadlier
April 1st, 2011

Is the Bible the Word of God? How can we know it is? Why doesn’t God confirm His Word to us? Why doesn’t God write it in the sky?

The answer is that God has confirmed His Word to us. He has done something more certain than writing it in the sky. We can prove absolutely that the Bible is the Word of God and we can prove beyond any possibility of a doubt that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe. Fulfilled prophecy is the greatest proof, beyond any shadow of doubt, that the Bible is God’s Word and that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe.

The Bible is approximately 30% prophecy, containing several thousand prophecies. More than half of those prophecies have been fulfilled in exact detail. These fulfilled prophecies prove that God knows the end from the beginning.

In Isaiah 46:9-10 we read, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”

The proof of God’s existence, the proof that the Bible is God’s Word is found in the amazing, incredible fulfilment of hundreds of Bible prophecies. Among those prophecies are what we call the Messianic signs of the “end of the age.”

In the ages past the Hebrew prophets predicted that before the advent of the promised Messiah, there would come into the world, specific signs that would signal the end of the age. But not until 1948 when the nation of Israel was re-established, have these signs been taken seriously. These signs prove that the coming of Messiah is near at hand.

The world is changing every day, things are happening so fast we can hardly keep up. World news clearly reads like events predicted in Bible prophecy.

John Walvoord, one of the world’s foremost conservative Bible teachers has said, “Never before in history have all the factors been present for the fulfilment of prophecy relating to the end time events. Only in our generation have the combined revival of Israel, the formation of a world church, the increasing power of Islam, the rise of the occult and the world-wide spread of atheistic philosophy all been present as a dramatic setting for the fulfilment of prophecy.”

Ellwood McQuaid of Friends of Israel has said, “We are undoubtedly living in the last days of the last days.”

Today there are many signs, occurring in Israel, of events the Bible says will immediately precede the Tribulation Period and the Rapture of the Church. Remember the three major end time events foretold are:

I. The Rapture of the Church

II. The Tribulation Period

III. The Second Coming of Christ.

2,500 to 3,500 years ago the Old Testament prophets predicted the events which would take place immediately prior to the return of Christ to this earth. These events have been unfolding before our eyes in the last several decades. The exact date of Rapture and the Tribulation Period that follows it has not been revealed. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man.” But two verses earlier Jesus said, “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matthew 24:33). We cannot know the day or the hour, but we can know that it is near, even at the doors. We can know the times and the seasons.

The Word of God anticipates that there will be one specific generation who will recognize the times and the seasons; they will recognize that it is near, even at the doors. I Thessalonians 5:4 “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” That has to be one specific generation. We are that generation.

Luke 21:28, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke is not talking about the complete fulfilment of the signs at this point. All of these signs will be totally fulfilled before the second coming of Christ in Glory to the earth. But they will just begin to be fulfilled before the rapture. “Lift up your heads for your redemption (rapture) draweth nigh”

We want to look at more of the Old Testament prophecies that prove we are living in the last days of the last days. We have already looked at the first four signs (see Messianic prophecies Part 1 in the March Expanded Edition).

Sign # 5 - The Order of Return

Amazingly the prophet Isaiah foretold the exact order of Israel’s return. Isaiah 43:5-6, “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”

First - We read, “I will bring them from the east.” In the first half of the 20^th century, Jews began returning to Israel from the east. They came from Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other Mideast countries.

Second - In the mid 20^th century, Jews returned from Europe in the west. They were driven to their land by the persecution in Europe.

Third – In the 80’s and 90’s nearly a million Jews returned from Russia in the north. “I will say to the north give up.” For years Russia refused to allow Jews to return to Israel. For years the western nations urged Russia to let the Jews go. At long last the Russians relented. The prophet said, “Give up” and they did, over a million Jews left.

Fourth – “And to the south keep not back.” In the Mid 90’s 20,000 Jews came home from Ethiopia in the south, 2,800 years later it happened just as God said it would.

Sign #6 - A Pure Language

Jeremiah 31:23, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” The Lord said 2,600 years ago, when I get ready to bring my people Israel back to the land and send the Messiah, Israel will speak Hebrew.

For 2,000 years Hebrew was a dead language. Today in the streets, in the schools, in the army, in the Knesset, in the newspapers and everywhere the language of Israel is Hebrew. No such thing has ever happened before, that a dead language should not only be recovered, but returned to the common use of the people. 2,600 years before it happened, God said it would! It couldn’t happen but it did! Again we have proof that the Bible is God’s Word and proof that the Israeli’s are the people of God. The Lord have mercy on those who claim to be Christians and say that Israel is not God’s chosen people.

Sign # 7 - The Shekel

When Israel was born the currency of the nation of Israel was the pound and the US dollar. 4,000 years ago Abraham purchased the land to bury Sarah with shekels. Genesis 23:15-16, “My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.”

3,500 years ago when Moses instituted the Tabernacle the currency was the shekel (see Lev. 5:15).

Ezekiel tells us that when Messiah returns the currency of Israel will be the shekel. The Temple sacrifices will be valued by the shekel. Ezekiel 45:12, “And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.”

For 2,000 years there has been no shekel. In 1980 the shekel became the official currency of Israel. Another fulfilled prophecy that indicates the coming of Messiah is near.

Sign # 8 - The Cities of Israel

Ezekiel 36:10, “And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded.” For 2,000 years the cities of Israel were not inhabited. The decayed crumbling wastes of the old cities shall be rebuilt. Verse 11, “And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”

“I will settle you after your old estate.” The very old cities you inhabited in the past will be inhabited again. The old estates (names) will be used again. Isaiah 44:26, “That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof.” That’s the restoration of the old cities with their old names on their old sites.

After the year 70 AD., the Romans were in control and they renamed the cities with new Roman names. Then Islam came along and renamed the cities and towns with Islamic names. Then the Turks came along and renamed them again. Finally the cities were left unpopulated and crumbled into ruins. Wonder of wonders, today the old cities have been rebuilt on their original sites and have been given their old Bible names.

Another amazing Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. Today, Nazareth is Nazareth, Cana is Cana, Bearsheva is Bearsheva, Elath is Elath, Nain is Nain. All of the old biblical cities have been rebuilt and renamed with their old names.

There are three exceptions, three cities have not been rebuilt and repopulated. They are Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. The question is why? The answer is found in Matthew 11:20-23, “Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.”

Jesus cursed these cities for their unbelief in the face of His miracles and teaching in their midst. These are the only cities today that lie in ruins and are unpopulated.

God is the sovereign God. If God has kept His Word in the past, He will keep it in the future, and He will keep it today. You need to come to terms with God’s Word, with its demands and its warnings, if you do you will partake of its blessings.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13