Time is Short
7 Biblical Reasons Why These Are
The Final Days of Earth
Introduction
This booklet was
made to create enthusiasm for the
study of God’s Holy Word.
You may ask why the urgency to
study prophecy. Most people say
they are saved and going to
heaven and have no need to study
prophecy. This is true. Millions
of Christians have died and have
never studied prophecy. The
difference is they had no need to
study. The “time of the
end” was not during their
lifetime. YOU, however are
blessed by the Lord for some
special reason to be counted
among His children who are living
during the last days on Earth.
People have been
crying “wolf” for
centuries. So why is this
generation different? I want to
show you where the Bible lays out
7 distinctive BIBLICAL reasons
that indicate beyond a reasonable
doubt that we are living at the
“appointed time of the
end.” I want to also address
the age-old argument that many7
use quoting the Scripture that
“no man knows the hour or
day.”
Hopefully, after
reading this, it will inspire you
to begin studying God’s Word
for the truth that lies within
its pages.
Time is short, and
if more people would realize how
short it REALLY is, they would
spend more time in the WORD. But
just as in the days of Noah, we
are eating, drinking and being
merry, our lives going on as if
they will last forever. We all
wish our children to grow up and
live a long full life, get a
great job, meet a wonderful
partner, have children of their
own and be happy. But let’s
face it. Only temporary happiness
can be found in Satan’s
world of sin and suffering. True
happiness is found in Jesus and
our eternal life in the new
heaven and new earth.
For 6,000 years,
God had followed a consistent,
orderly reliable, predictable
behavior. He is the same
yesterday as today. His actions
show that He consistently warns
us of impending destruction. The
pattern was the same for Noah,
Judah, Jerusalem, Babylon,
Nineveh, Sodom, the Amorites,
Israel, (see reason #1 Full Cup
Principle), and the pattern will
be the same for the final days.
1 Corinthians 4:5
(KJV)
Therefore judge
nothing before the time, until
the Lord comes, who both will
bring to light the hidden things
of darkness, and will make
manifest the counsels of the
hearts; and then shall every man
have praise of God.
“But
you, brothers, are not in
darkness so that this day should
surprise you like a
thief. You are sons of the light
and sons of the day. We do not
belong to the night or to the
darkness. So then, let us not be
like others, who are asleep, but
let us be alert and
self-controlled.” (1
Thessalonians 5:4-6)
“Surely
the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan to his
servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7)
Men cannot make up
laws or rules for prophetic
interpretation. We
may only state what the rules are
by conducting a careful and
prayerful investigation. We will
show you how God carefully
designed the scenes in the
prophecies, how He orchestrated
their order, how He knew in
advance what He wanted them to
mean and how Hw withheld the
understanding of the principles
by which the prophecies operate
until the last generation should
arrive. Otherwise, how else would
the last generation know they are
the final one?
Therefore, if we
correctly understand the
prophecies in Daniel and
Revelation, we will not be
surprised like the “thief in
the night” scenario.
Although we do not know the day
or hour of Christ’s return,
we can know the timing of events
in relation to God’s
prophetic clock.
No Man
Knows The Hour
I well understand
the anguish that 99.99% of
Christians have about any
discussion on the timing of
Jesus’ return. A failed date
gives non-Christians something
more to scoff at. A failed date
gives Christian laymen (who know
very little about the Bible) a
sense of disappointment and
discouragement. A failed date
gives believers a sense that
their theology is flawed and of
course, no one can knowingly live
with a flawed theology unless
their greater need is to be
socially accepted. So, there are
plenty of good reasons to avoid
discussion about the timing of
Christ’s return. It’s a
whole lot easier to quote Matthew
24:36 and to terminate the
discussion.
Even though I
fully understand the issues
stated above, I think there
is a serious critical oversight
on the part of Christians in
general.
When Jesus
said,” … the Son of Man
will come at an hour when you do
not expect him,” Jesus was
not talking about the Second
Coming
When Jesus
said,” … the Son of Man
will come at an hour when you do
not expect him,”
Jesus was not
talking about the Second Coming
“No one
knows about that day or hour, not
even the angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father. As
it was in the days of Noah, so it
will be at the coming of the Son
of Man. For in the days before
the flood, people were eating and
drinking and giving in marriage,
up to the day Noah entered the
ark; and they knew nothing about
what would happen until the flood
came and took them all away. This
is how it will be at the coming
of the Son of Man. (Matthew
24:36-43)
Three phrases from
these verses deserve emphasis:
1.
“No one knows about the day
or hour… but only the
Father.”
2.
“As it was in the days of
Noah, so it will be at the coming
of the Son of Man.”
3.
“… And they knew
nothing about what would happen
until the flood came and took
them all away. That is how it
will be at the coming of the Son
of Man. Two will be in the
field…”
These verses are
obviously concerned with the
coming of the Son of Man. The
point is stated twice. Further,
no one but the Father knows the
date of Christ’s coming (a
singular coming). Second, Jesus
says there will be a parallel
between Noah’s day and His
coming. The parallel is twofold:
First, most people will be
surprised, and second, many will
be lost because of willful
ignorance. I believe most people
agree that two people can work
side-by-side everyday and yet,
one will be saved and the other
will be lost. This is the meaning
and emphasis of these two verses.
In other words, it boils down to personal
preparation. You cannot
depend on the crowd or the
charismatic oratory of popular
Christian preachers. When
end-time events unfold, the
people who prepared spiritually
will be saved, while many
unprepared will be lost. This
point is confirmed again in the
parable of the ten virgins, which
is the last part of this sermon.
No doubt, the wise and the
foolish virgins were close
friends. The only difference
between the wise and the foolish
was the issue of preparation.
When the foolish saw that they
were without oil, they went to
search for it. Meanwhile, the
bridegroom arrived and the wise
virgins followed Him through the
door and into the banquet. Later,
the foolish virgins showed up,
but they were rejected. (See
Matthew 25:1-13.) The key thought
that Jesus emphasized throughout
this parable is preparedness.
The big surprise
that Jesus continues to warn us
about is not the Second Coming,
but the commencement of the
sequence of events leading up to
His physical appearing. How does
the surprise occur? Notice the
verse: “But
you, brothers, are not in
darkness so that this day should
surprise you like a
thief. You are all sons of the
light and sons of the day. We do
not belong to the night or to the
darkness. So then, let us not be
like others, who are asleep. But
be alert and self
controlled.” (1
Thessalonians 5:4-6)
I understand these
verse to mean that there is no
need to be surprised if we are
awake, alert and prepared.
Centuries earlier the prophet
Amos wrote, “Surely
the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan to his
servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7)
Before the flood,
life went on as usual. People
were not fasting and praying for
understanding or preparation.
Instead, they were eating and
drinking, planning weddings, and
living as if the world was only a
figment of someone’s
imagination. (See 1 Corinthians
7:27.) Were the antediluvians
warned of impending danger? Oh,
Yes! For 120 years the work and
message of faithful Noah
irritated the antediluvians.
(Genesis 6:3; Hebrews 11:7; 2
Peter 2:5) Were the antediluvians
busy with life’s activities?
Yes! They went about their daily
routines with little concern. The
antediluvians were warned, that
the end was coming, but none
believed. They scoffed Noah like
the scoffers today.
So, what did Jesus
mean when He said: “…
and they knew nothing about what
would happen until the flood came
and took them all away.” In
their wildest imagination, the
antediluvians did not conceive
the enormity or the process of
what lay ahead. In their busy and
active lifestyles that existed
before the flood, the
antediluvians did not intimately
concern themselves with
Noah’s message or his
“crazy” activities out
on the hillside.
Because it was
hard to discern when the
conjunction of the new moon was,
the Israelites began using two
witnesses to sight the crescent
moon to begin their new month.
Six of the seven feast days began
after the start of the month.
(The 10th day, the 14th
day, the 21st day,
etc). The feast of trumpets was
the ONLY feast that began on a
new moon. Because the conjunction
has a window of 36 hours, it was
difficult to know exactly when
the new moon was in perfect
conjunction. The feast of
Trumpets was to begin on the
FIRST day of the month of Tishri.
So this feast became known as
“the feast of the unknown
day and hour” by Jewish
tradition. It is for this reason
that we do not know the day and
the hour of the sounding of the
first trumpet. The feast of
trumpets occurs near the
beginning of the Great
Tribulation.
If we correctly
understand the prophecies
contained in Daniel and
Revelation, we will not be
surprised like the thief Although
we do not know the day or hour of
the beginning of the Great
Tribulation, we can know the
timing of events in relation to
God’s prophetic clock.
Conclusion
– Once the Great
Tribulation begins, the Bible
tells us in Daniel 12 that it
will be 1,335 days until Jesus
returns. Therefore, it is not
Jesus return we do not know, but
the beginning of the Great
Tribulation.
