Knowing the ‘who’ and ‘why’ for watching for the End-times, we must consider timing:

WHEN?

Jesus’ major End-time teaching was given immediately after leaving the Temple with some of His disciples and He foretold its complete destruction, which was fulfilled about 40 years later with the infamous Roman siege of Jerusalem.

Jesus on the Mount of Olives:

As He sat on the nearby Mount of Olives, two sets of brothers (Peter & Andrew, James & John) asked Jesus to expand upon that prophecy, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?” (see Mark 13, Luke 21, Matthew 24).

He answered in some depth, and by examination of the details we can conclude that not only does Jesus describe later events in that First Century but also those of a much later time, one yet to come but which is now at the door!

So Jesus did – but didn’t – tell them precisely “when”.

In talking of that future time however, He tells them a parable about the appearing of leaves on a fig tree – which many believe refers to the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.:

“So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it (or ‘He’) is near – at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place..But of that day and hour no-one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is…Watch therefore…I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:28-37 NKJV emphasis mine)

Other passages of the New Testament imply that He, or Holy Spirit, subsequently gave those leading disciples, and Saul of Tarsus who became Apostle Paul, further insights on the approximate timing of those signs, as below:

Peter Preaching in the Temple:

Soon after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven and the Holy Spirit falling in flames of fire upon the prayer group of about 120 believers (Acts 1:!5), Peter and John went to the Temple at the hour of prayer. You may recall the account of their stopping to heal a lame beggar “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” – it led to everyone heading for the Solomon Portico to become ‘filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him’!!

Peter was then inspired to preaching about it not being either him or John who’d done the healing, but faith in Jesus’ powerful name and he reminded them about how badly the leaders had dealt with Him. So Peter called all the people to:

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since time began…” (Acts 3:19-21 – my emphasis.)

So there’s a huge contribution followers of Christ have yet to make across all spheres of society towards such restoration – we’ve hardly started; not to mention both human and demonic opposition – but however do we restore ‘all things’? We must conclude that only The Almighty is able to bring about the ‘restoration of ‘all things’ – and doubtless in the manner Zecharia prophesied to governor Zerubbabel:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit”, says the Lord of hosts. (Zech 4:6 NKJV)

Although we need to beware of false prophets, Acts 3:21 implies that the Lord will keep His prophets informed of His intentions in bringing this about (Amos 3:7). Hence the important relevance of contemporary prophecy.

Paul Writing to the Thessalonians:

We know from Acts and accounts in Paul’s Epistles that this Apostle to the Gentiles was blessed with visions of and revelations from Jesus Himself as, for example, in the main scripture quoted by ‘pre-Tribbers’:

‘For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.’ (1 Thess 4:15-17 NKJV)

‘But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.’ (1 Thess 5:1-5 NKJV – emphases added)

As modern history attests, Palestinian/Gazan leaders have been defiantly intransigent over any so-called ‘peace plan’ with Israel and, like Iran and Hezbollah, want to wipe Israel off the face of the map! Even so, let’s keep watching!

Note: UN’s theme for 2017-18 was ‘Together for Peace, Dignity, Safety & Respect For All’, as outlined in Three Prophetic Jigsaw Pieces.

20th CENTURY ‘KICK-START’

Although our focus is upon New Testament prophecy, we must not overlook not only that Jesus taught the parable of the ‘Fig Tree’ but also within our lifetime Old Testament prophecies of the future of the Jewish people were fulfilled by the stunningly rapid establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 – as recounted below:

Ten Scriptures Prophesying Israel’s Rebirth – Neil Mackereth

With Jerusalem no longer being “trampled down by Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) after the 1967 Arab-Israel war, that earlier date of 1948 could be regarded as ‘kick-starting’ the fuller aspect of the End-times.

Next, in Briefing 3 we consider what we are to watch out for that’s yet to come…

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[Image by courtesy of Elaine Tavolacci https://awordinseason.info/]