Every great football team has their star line up. As believers in Bible Prophecy, we see our own “Star” lineup coming into play, pun intended. For those watching the Great Sign of Revelation 12, you probably need no more convincing if this is true or not. You either believe it or you don’t. Just like all great works of God, He leaves room for faith. Yet, He in His kindness and mercy has made it very simple and clear to see that He is coming soon. He wants all to believe, and He has lined up events to show us He is right at the doors.
If we looked only at the Rev. 12 Great Sign, we may be intrigued, but not necessarily convinced. If we add to it all of the other signs coming into play, we see a perfect picture of how close we are to the end of the Age of Grace. God did not make any of these signs as stand-alone signs. They were all meant to work together, to tell a story of the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy and the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. First in our lineup is the hatred coming against Israel right now. I don’t think we should just focus on Israel’s Muslim enemies, but her enemies world-wide. The growth in hatred towards Israel has grown exponentially in my lifetime. Israel is seen as a bully, an occupier in her own land, and the world has treated her badly too many times to count. Israel should technically not even exist. What other country, roughly the size of New Jersey, surrounded by blood thirsty enemies, would even come into being without the sovereign hand of a God who wills it to be? Israel will not be destroyed. She will go through hardships, but she will survive. Her hardship will begin with war. We see the rumblings of war right now. Israel’s neighboring enemies are rioting and protesting against Israel, eager to start a war to do away with the “Jewish problem.”
God has one plan and one plan only for Israel: to recognize her beloved Messiah. This will eventually happen; her eyes will be open to the fact that Jesus is the One and Only Messiah. But this can only happen when the church is out of the way. Israel is getting ready to accept her Messiah, which means the church is getting ready to leave. God will pull the believers out of the earth just as soon as He is ready to deal with Israel. This could happen today, or tomorrow, or any time, but I do not think we have long to wait.
2. For anyone watching Bible Prophecy for very long, you would have to have been under a rock to not have heard about the Blood Moon Tetrads in 2014-2015. There were 4 blood moon eclipses that were designed by God to land on Israel’s feasts of Passover and Tabernacles. They were a thing of beauty and symmetry. (click image for Blood moons site)
Many waited for the Rapture to happen during the tetrads, but obviously that was not God’s plan. Many turned against the sign and against those that believed in it and said that this was all a coincidence and meant nothing. Look at the chart above. Was this coincidence? Is God not an artist that puts things together in the most beautiful way?! So if this was not meant to be a sign of the rapture, then what was it?
The answer is ……wait for it……..It was a sign of the rapture! Sometimes the answer is the most obvious one. It was a sign showing the coming rapture, and even more specifically, the beginning of the tribulation. Nothing has changed. It is still the sign it was always meant to be: a sign that God put in place to get our attention and warn us of things to come. We always think we have Him all figured out, don’t we? And then He shows us that He is so much bigger and greater than we could imagine! God put these tetrads in place so we would get used to looking up. Why? Cause the show is just getting started! The Blood Moon tetrads were only the beginning; we are only at half time. We have the main event coming – the Great Sign in the Heavens! It all leads to our victory at the Rapture!
3. Once again, I am not going to go into great detail in explaining the basics of the Great Sign of Revelation 12. There are many others who would do it more justice than I could. (Go HERE for a full explanation of the Rev. 12 sign)
The Great Sign is just like the Blood Moon Tetrads in its symmetry and beauty. It all lines up just as chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 lays out. It will never happen again in history. Many naysayers believe this is merely a coincidence, and that Chapter 12 couldn’t possibly be explained that easily. Well. Why not? God can do whatever He pleases, and really, it is not just simple, it is HUGE! I mean an enormous map-made-since-the-beginning-of- time HUGE! Yet simple enough for anyone to grasp if they can but read these verses and believe. Many ask, but what if we are wrong? You mean wrong, as in Blood Moon Tetrads wrong? Same thing applies. It is not wrong, because our opinions do not change it. It is still in the sky; it still fulfills scripture; it still points towards the rapture. If we are still here by Christmas time, it means that it was another road sign leading to the rapture and we wait for the next thing He will show us. There should be no fear in watching! God told us it was meant to be a blessing!
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. Rev. 1:3
I see so many watching this Great Sign growing weary, from fellow believers and non believers alike, harassing them for believing in this Sign. I know, because I have witnessed it personally numerous times and have had many come against me over it. The encouragement that I can offer is this: The world has fought every great work of God. The Israelites received manna from heaven, yet they still complained that they wanted meat. God gave them their own land that He promised them since the beginning, yet they still complained that they needed a king. God sent His only Son as a Savior from sin, and we killed Him. We have quite the track record of telling God His blessings are just not good enough.
So we see this Great Sign in the sky, following the Blood Moons sign, and we still cry that we need another sign, a better sign, a sign that fits into the way we want to see Bible prophecy, that fits into our interpretation and that causes us to have no doubts at all. It is impossible, because we will ALWAYS find doubts because we are sinful, fallible and imperfect. If God wrote out a billboard in the sky spelling out exactly what His plan was, mankind would still complain that it wasn’t written in the way that he thinks it should be. I can just hear it – “It’s not pretty enough – it’s not in my dialect – it’s not saying what I think God would say in the way I think He should say it…..” You get the picture.
So you can see why believers in the Sign get frustrated. We just want the sign to BE. We want to believe in a big God that can do big things in the heavens and earth! We just want to have the faith to believe He is fulfilling His promises to us and not always have to defend every single tiny detail to a world that doubts Him. We want to watch for His coming with peace and excitement, and not always be told that we are wrong for doing so.
I personally believe God gets complete joy out of those that have the faith to believe that He can come NOW. Most prophecy teachers and watchers think He is coming soon. Great. But it takes an extra leap of faith to believe that He is coming NOW, as in this year! Many find that thought uncomfortable. If it is causing you fear and discomfort, you may want to ask yourself why.
4. Next in our lineup comes Jerusalem, that great city that is mentioned nearly 700 times in the Bible. It is the city where Jesus died and rose gain, and it is the place where He will return again at the Second Coming. God has given special significance to this city, because it is has been home to the first and second temple. Everyone who is paying much attention to the news would know that there is a battle that has gone on for thousands of years over this city. Muslims believe it is theirs and they have controlled the Temple Mount with its Dome of the Rock mosque for well over a thousand years. When the Jews took back Jerusalem in 1967’s Six Day War, the Temple Mount was allowed to stay in Muslim hands as an appeasement to them. This has continued for 50 years now, with Jews not being allowed to worship on their own Temple Mount, as the Muslims are allowed to continue their worship of Allah on Israel’s most holy spot.
In studying Bible prophecy, we know that a third temple will be built on the Temple Mount. We know this because the Anti-Christ causes sacrifices to cease half way through the tribulation and sets up the Abomination of Desolation. Watchers have been watching the Temple Mount closely for 50 years now, waiting to see if Israel will take back her mountain.
We have seen just in the past couple of weeks tensions escalating on the Temple Mount. You can read about it HERE.
Things have changed with the status quo of the Temple Mount. Israel wants it to all go back to normal, but her enemies now do not want to take it back. Really, Israel wants them to take it back because she knows if a single Jew walks onto the Temple Mount to worship, she will have a Muslim war on her hands. So for now, the Temple Mount sits vacant. I was kind of surprised at this since I have always thought that once the Muslims vacated the Mount, Israel would gladly step in and take it. Not so. They are too afraid of the threat of a regional war. They are too afraid to trust in God to protect her…….for now. I believe that after the Gog Magog War of Ezekiel 38 & 39 takes place, Israel will see that God has protected her. Her eyes will be open once again. And I believe that will be the time that they take the Temple Mount back as their own and immediately begin construction of the Third Temple.
5. Along with the prophecy of the God Magog War, we have another prophecy that fits in perfectly with it. In Isaiah 17, we read that the city of Damascus will be a ruinous heap. It will not be populated any longer. After years of a bloody civil war, we know that this prophecy is not far off from being fulfilled. Many nations of the world are gathering in and around Syria, right at the northern boarder of Israel. I do believe it is possible that Damascus will be destroyed as a part of the Gog Magog war.
The reason that Isaiah 17 and Ezekiel 38 & 39 are so important to our lineup is that I believe they are tribulation events. These wars could begin tomorrow. All the players are in place. It will only take one match to light the whole thing up. There is only one thing that would make this whole thing explode, or really the absence of one thing – the Restrainer. We’ve all heard people say, “I’m surprised the whole Middle East hasn’t exploded in nuclear war already.” And why hasn’t it? Because the restraining power of the Holy Spirit and the overwhelming patience and mercy of God will not allow it until it is the time of HIS choosing. Many have tried to destroy Israel but He will have none of it. Only when His purpose is being fulfilled will He allow such a thing as nuclear war to happen. And I do believe nuclear war is God’s judgment and wrath. This is reserved for the tribulation. We live in the Age of Grace and it is called that for many reasons, one of them being that God has shown us grace and given us time to come to Him before He finally says ENOUGH.
6. Finally we look at another great lineup, the beautifully symmetrical lineup of year counts concerning Israel. Much like the Blood Moon Tetrads and the Rev. 12 Sign, this lineup shows a God of order and organization, a God that controls the time and seasons. I love this!
120 years ago
In 1897, the First Zionist Congress came into being, with a goal of establishing a Jewish homeland promised to them by God.
100 years ago
In 1917, Britain seizes what will one day be Israel from the Ottomans. The Balfour Declaration is written, stating that a national home for the Jewish people will be established.
70 years ago
In 1947, the UN partitions land to be used for a Jewish State.
60 years ago
In 1957, Israel creates a nuclear research program in Dimona and construction of Israel’s’ first nuclear reactor begins. This will be the basis for Israel’s nuclear weapons program that will assure her existence. (Outside of God, of course.)
50 years ago
In 1967, Israel fought and won the Six Day War and miraculously took the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
Tell me, how could this possibly be by coincidence? The odds of this happening by chance are astronomical. Only a sovereign God who controls time could cause something like this to line up in this way.
But there is one argument out there against this timeline. Many think this means nothing, because the Jewish calendar doesn’t line up in the same way. The Jewish calendar years line up as:
5657 (1897)
5678 (1917)
5708 (1947)
5717 (1957)
5727 (1967)
5777 or 5778 (2017 or 2018)
All of these years are not ending the same as it would be on a Gregorian calendar. So what’s up with that?
If you put 2017, or 5777 at the end of that line, you see 4 years ending in sevens and two ending in eight. If we are not raptured before their New Year, you will add 5778 to the list and have a pretty little line up of three sevens and three eights. (The Jewish calendar changes to 5778 on Rosh Hashanah on September 21-22.) So what does that mean?
Seven is the number of completion and perfection. Is God saying that His work in the Age of Grace is complete? The number eight means a new beginning or a new birth. Is He saying, at this time in history, there is going to be a new beginning? With the Age of Grace ending and the tribulation beginning, the world will be in the process of God tying things up, where Jesus judges the world, after rescuing His perfect bride from it all, and sets up His Kingdom on Earth.
See, these two numbers, 7 and 8, along with this lineup of number counts from the Jewish and Gregorian calendar, tell a perfect story. It is the tale of ending and beginning. We need to look at the whole picture of year counts to see this. God is making things clear to Jew and Gentile alike, just as He always has.
So that is our star lineup.
Our God is a planner, an artist, a revealer of mysteries, as well as a God of patience, mercy and long suffering towards us. The whole purpose of all these many signs (and there are many more than the ones listed here) is to show us that He is coming soon. He started warning the world so very long ago, and as time continues, He has been showing Himself more and more. He commanded us to watch for a reason, so that we will be able to see His handiwork, to see how He is lining it all out, so we will KNOW that He is coming NOW. This gives us an urgency like never before to get our hearts right with Him, to witness to others like never before and to comfort one another with these words.
I hope you can see that God lines things up and shows us His mysteries as a gift and blessing to us. Bible prophecy was not meant to be a burden, a point of contention and arguments. It is a beautiful painting to be studied and admired, to show us the heart of the Artist that loves us so dearly. Look at these signs with renewed interest and with new love and admiration for a Savior who sent us this perfect information because He loves us so much!
God bless you all, and I’ll see you all when we meet in His presence.
