Israel: God's prophetic clock is ticking toward the End Times

Bible End Times Prophecy Series – Week 49

Mount of Olives. Credit/Shutterstock

Israel is the world’s End Times prophecy clock

Israel experienced a miraculous restoration after the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Jews and Christians from the early Christian Church years were scattered across the world – and the Jews remained far from Israel until God’s prophetic clock turned to the next hour.

Ezekiel 20:42 - And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers. (ESV).

Israel 1867 - 2017: These are some highlights about Israel’s recent history:

1867 –.American writer Mark Twain visits the Holy Land and describes it in his book "Innocents Abroad" as a desolate area.

1867-1939 – Jews begin arriving in what was known as “Palestine.” 

Ezekiel 34:13 – “And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.” (AKJV) 

Isaiah 43:6 – “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” (CSB)

1917: The Balfour Declaration give impetus to the restoration of Israel as the historic home of the Jews. Great Britain was behind the declaration.

1922: Hebrew undergoes revival as the language of the Jews. Zephaniah 3:9 – “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord,
to serve him with one consent.” (AKJV)

1948: The United Nations recognizes Israel as the nation of the Jews, a move backed by U.S. President Harry Truman.

1967: Israel wins the Six Day War and captures Jerusalem.

2017: The United States recognizes Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel and moves to establish the U.S. embassy in that city. 

Zechariah 1:17 – “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” (CSB) 

Note/Commentary: For those who believe in the “rapture,” and who also believe that the rapture may occur before the Tribulation, it seems that nothing more must take in Israel for the rapture of the Christian church to occur. In other words, except for the great End Times outpouring of the Holy Spirit – and a final evangelistic push by the church, the rapture could come at any moment:

Acts 2: 17-18 - And it will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all people;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ I will even pour out my Spirit
on my servants in those days, both men and women
and they will prophesy. (CSB)

Romans 11:25 – “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,” (NIV)

Commentary: The full number of the “Gentiles” to be saved (others refer to it as the “fullness of the Gentiles,” likely will be reached after the End Times outpouring recorded in Acts 2:17-18. Who are “Gentiles?” All non-Jewish peoples.

Commentary: Believing in the rapture or even in a pre-Tribulation rapture is not a matter of doctrine requisite for salvation. The only requirement for salvation was proclaimed by Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry.

Don’t postpone a decision to follow Jesus Christ 

Matthew 3:2 Jesus speaking - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (ESV)

John 3:16-18 Jesus speaking –  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (NIV)

I John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (ESV)

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Shalom!

Faith Today Christian Ministries