Today's Events in Light of Prophecy

My friend Phil Gottschalk (who teaches philosophy and apologetics at Tyndale in the Netherlands and shares our love for the Jewish people) recently posted a blog about studying prophecy in light of what is happening in the world today. [Seehttp://drphilginnlspensees.blogspot.com/2011/03/shoot-from-hip-response.html#comments.]

Among his thoughtful musings was the statement, “I think biblical prophecy is interesting and there are many things for us to learn from it. However, I think, for instance, speculation about who or what is the beast and who or what is the Antichrist is rather pointless. When these people or institutions or states come into being there will be no mistaking them.”

Over the three and a half decades of involvement in ministry with American Messianic Fellowship/Life in Messiah International, I’ve often been asked about how a whole variety of events may fit into the prophetic puzzle. Yeshua’s description (Matthew 24:4 ff) includes “wars and rumors of wars…famines and earthquakes in various places.”

The recent tumult in the countries around the Mediterranean basin (Egypt, Libya, et al.) and the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan last week would make great fuel for stoking the prophetic furnace. But something sadly macabre occurs when the tragic loss of human life is brushed aside in the rush to see how the latest catastrophe fits into a prophetic scheme.

In the mid-1970’s I was first exposed to the “eschatological excess of newspaper exegesis” (reading into today’s headlines a certain fulfillment of prophetic scripture). I admit the adrenaline rush was heady at first. But I began to liken it to eating cotton candy: a sugar high, with no nutritional value, and an inevitable crash when the Lord didn’t return right away.

And today? One need not look far to document the parallel between the violence and corruption that marked Noah’s day and ours (cp. Gen. 6:5&11 with Matt. 24:37). The reshaping of governments in the Middle East while radical Islam is surging makes for interesting possibilities for the near future. The earthquake in Japan graphically reminds us how quickly a single event can set in motion dramatic change. Now would be a great time to write a novel about how world events are shaping up for the end of days.

But I have no more desire to feed “speculative prophetic cotton candy” to others than to eat it myself. Predicting the time of the Lord’s return only causes one to lose credibility when the date passes. No one knows the day or the hour of Yeshua’s return “but the Father only” (Matt. 24:36).

Neither do I want to join the ranks of scoffers Peter describes (2 Peter 3:4), who sniff, “Where is the promise of His coming? …All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

There IS a day appointed for the Lord’s second coming, just as there was His first (Dan. 9:25; Gal. 4:4). And Israel is at the “epicenter” (Joel Rosenberg’s descriptive word). This is true:

• · Geographically – Ezekiel 38:12 describes Israel as the people living “at the center of the world”; the eastern Mediterranean is the land bridge between three continents.
• · Spiritually – Jerusalem is the place where God has set His name (Deut. 12:5; 2 Chron. 7:12).
• · Prophetically – Daniel’s “70 weeks” (Dan. 9:24ff) have in view the Jewish people (“your people”) and Jerusalem (“your holy city”). As I read Scripture, the first 69 “periods of seven” have been fulfilled in history. The 70^th will culminate in the return of the Savior to fulfill what remains of the promises to His people, and for “Jesus to reign where e’er the sun doth its successive journeys run.”

A purpose for living with a sense of the imminence of Messiah’s coming for His bride is found in 1 John 3:2-3, which states:

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Further, we have the exhortation of Titus 2:11-14:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Beyond the motivation for personal purity, the expectancy of the imminent return of Yeshua should create within us a sense of urgency do the Father’s work “as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work” (Jn. 9:4).

We do not know when our Lord will return, true enough. But none of us is guaranteed tomorrow (including loved ones and friends who don’t yet know Him). And even should He tarry for many years to come, ours is the only generation we are here to reach.

So, I will continue to monitor the news – with an eye toward Israel especially. But I do not want my energies to be diverted to “mere beginnings of birth pangs” when there is a world to win.

What about you?