Friday, May 24, 2019
Israel’s rebirth and 71st anniversary should alert the Church to the imminent 7-year tribulation, and the believers’ great need to prepare for it, followed by the resurrection rapture at the last day!
“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children” (Isa. 66:8). Another ancient prophet also saw Israel reborn after Jerusalem’s 70 AD destruction to mark the start of the final generation of this present age as recorded at Ezekiel 37. This is why Jesus’ Parable of the Fig Tree at Matt. 24:32–35 is today so powerfully relevant.
On Tuesday, May 14, 2019, the reborn nation of Israel celebrated its 71st anniversary. “On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier.” (Source: History.com)
In 1948 incumbent U.S. President Harry S. Truman immediately recognized Israel as a sovereign nation. One year later The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273 recognized Israel as a member of The United Nations. Israel was in fact reborn in one day just as God’s Word said. In considering the nearness of the seven-year tribulation, the age of Israel is intrinsically tied to that start, which begins with the “covenant with many” (Dan. 9:27), a seven-year peace plan.
In Jesus’ parable of the fig tree, meaning Israel, (see Joel 1:7 and Hos. 9:10) Jesus taught that the generation that sees Israel reborn and become fruitful and “its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near – at the doors!” Then, interpreting the sign of Israel’s rebirth and maturity, Jesus said “this generation [that sees Israel reborn] will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt. 24:34). And by “all these things” He referred to His preceding Olivet Discourse of the 7-year tribulation followed by His return.
I remember well the 1970’s and 80’s. The Church went into hyper-drive warning that the rapture was imminent! Dispensationalists preached that because theirs was the generation that saw Israel reborn, the rapture would occur imminently within 40 years based on the generation of Numbers 32:13 when God made Israel “wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone”. Thus, many believed the rapture would occur by 1988; hence, Edgar C. Whisenant’s book: “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988”.
However, with the inconsequential passing of 1988, and no signs of a pre-trib rapture as widely promised, the end-times zeal and fervor during the 1990’s and beyond waned as an awkwardly confusing, and even mocking memory. Why? – because “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov. 13:12). It’s not surprising that many churches, pastors and teachers today are without courage to teach the end-times. Their pre-trib rapture lie failed and will continue to fail, as it’s only wishful thinking, assumptions and conjecture, but God does not move according to man’s assumptions, but according to the truth and perfect testimony of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Yet, the evangelical church harbors its false pre-trib rapture narrative, while refusing Christ’s testimony for the end-times. Many church leaders refuse to repent of their pride that conjured the pre-trib rapture while many pastors and teachers in their hearts secretly believe the testimony of Jesus Christ, knowing that Christ returns only once more “Immediately after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29–31), but remain silent for fear of economic, traditional and doctrinal reprisals!
But that silence will bear fruit to devastating consequences. Many will be eternally lost as Jesus said, when in the tribulation “many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matt. 24:10). Many will be offended because they had not been taught the truth, nor had they prepared in the truth, that, “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matt.24:13).
There’s another generational marker wherein God said to Abram “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land [Egypt] that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years…But in the fourth generation [the 400th year] they shall return here” (Gen. 15:13, 16). Here, a “generation” can be viewed as 100 years. Thus, God has shown that a biblical generation can fluctuate from 40 to 100 years, but the average is 70 years. The Scriptures and the signs of the times today strongly point to the average of 70+ years when considering Jesus’ Parable of the Fig Tree of Matt. 24:32–35 for the end of this present age.
God said “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years” (Psa. 90:10). This passage best identifies the “generation” to which Jesus pointed in His Parable of the Fig Tree. The generation born in 1948 when Israel was reborn will endure at least 70 years, having even now passed that mark, but will likely endure no more than 80 years before “all these things” Jesus described in His Olivet Discourse are fulfilled. And if the latter is true, then only about nine years remain until the end of the seven-year tribulation and Christ’s return.
Discerning God’s Word and the signs of the times, especially with the real threat of the Ezek. 38 Gog Magog war, we know the “covenant with many” and start of the final 7 years of this present age are very near. Note this May 1, 2019 Breaking Israel News headline: “AMAZING THINGS ACCOMPANY THE IMMINENT ARRIVAL OF MESSIAH”. But the messiah Orthodox Jews expect will be none other than the Antichrist, who will spiritually deceive not only religious Jews and many unprepared, lukewarm Christians, but most of the entire world, see Revelation 13.
The article says: “All sources are saying that Moshiach (Messiah) is going to appear in the Galil (Galilee) in the north of Israel…then make his way down to Yerushalyim (Jerusalem). One of the first things we’re going to do is slaughter the red heifer. We do have a red heifer already, which is one of the many signs that Moshiach is already here.” But its Antichrist’s seven-year peace covenant of Dan. 9:27 that will permit animal sacrifices in the rebuilt third Jewish temple.
But animal sacrifices for the remission of sins is an abomination to God. Orthodox Jews reject Christ as the once-for-all slain sacrificial Lamb, raised to life for the sins of “whosoever will believe in Him” (John3:16), being the ONLY way to God, John 14:6. Thus, Christianity and Judaism have absolutely nothing in common, spiritually, but dispensational Zionists teach otherwise. Beware of those, who, for popularity’s sake unite Judaism and Christianity!
For example, many evangelical men and Messianic pastors and leaders, promote, for the sake of unity between Christians and Jews, wearing the Jewish prayer shawl head covering, though God clearly said “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head” (1 Cor. 11:4). And in the preceding verse we’re told that “the head of every man is Christ”, which means those false teachers teach men to dishonor Christ, yet another example of twisting God’s Word, forcing it to say exactly opposite from what it says.
We now live in an era of many false religious unities. Pope Francis, the perceived but apostate global leader of Christianity, has already united many deceived Christians with Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikh religions as revealed at TheFridayLetter.com on April 12, 2019. The United Nations’ One World Religion is very near while Christians are being slaughtered all over the world, but the MSM are silent. And here in America, the rage against God, His Word, and His saints, escalates daily. It will not be long before being a true Christian will be unlawful. Are you prepared for that, and the coming wars, famines and pestilences?
All signs point to the “covenant with many” (Dan. 9:27) coming to fruition within the next two years from now. But at the present rate of advance, it’s entirely possible for it to become reality in several weeks or months. And the trajectory of Chief White House Advisor, Jared Kushner, and U.S. President Donald Trump to begin releasing “the deal of the century”, meaning that peace plan, could be reality by the fall harvest months of this year. Are you prepared for that?
Marlin J. Yoder
