Anyone who has been a Watcher (one who is watching for the return of Jesus Christ at the Rapture) for any period of time would have to be living under a rock to have not heard of the Revelation 12 Great Sign to be fulfilled this September. As of now the “baby” is in gestation and the pregnancy is in its last trimester. Instead of trying to explain all of this, I will refer you to the article that got me excited about this sign. The author, Gary, Has done a wonderful job at warning those that would listen that this Great Sign is fast approaching. Check out his many articles, not just this one:
The Revelation 12 Sign Compendium
Btjm also has some great resources on her blog that help explain this sign. I urge to use them!
I’ve been a Watcher almost all of my life, since I was a child. I remember reading the book of Revelation as a pre-teen and something drew me to it. I went to a private Christian school, and while the pastor was speaking at our daily chapel services or on Sunday morning, I was opening my Bible, reading Revelation, wondering what it all could mean. One Sunday, the movie “A Thief in the Night” was played. I don’t think I blinked during that whole movie. When discussing it with friends of mine, many of them were afraid and I could not understand why. Why would any Christian be afraid of being raptured? Aren’t we here to grow to love Christ enough to WANT to be with Him more than anything? To this day I see many good Christian people not wanting to hear or discuss Bible prophecy. They love Jesus, but they can wait to see Him. They have too much to do to think about giving up this life. But me? Take this life, Jesus! It’s Yours anyway. And I’m ready to see Your face!
As I grew up, I read anything by Grant Jeffrey and JR Church, and I ate it up like it was candy covered in chocolate, deep fried and dipped in salted caramel. I remember staying up for hours, as my first born baby slept next to me, reading that Jesus would come for me, and for all who were saved by His grace. I watched Y2K pass by. I watched 2012 pass by without Yellowstone exploding. I watched Israel become more and more hated, the players of Gog and Magog fall into place, and I watched the world become so engulfed in sin that it made me sick. Then one day in 2008, I woke up to the reality that the rapture was any day now. Seriously, something in my brain just changed. It drove me to my knees, asking God “How much time do we really have left?” And from then on, my life has been all about Bible prophecy: reading about it, writing about it, praying about it, and talking to others about it until they were sick of me.
Fast forward to now. When I learned about this Great Sign, I had a moment where I just froze. My brain was buzzing, just as it had been in 2008, and something changed again. I didn’t ask God, “How much time do we have left?” this time. I asked Him, “Now, Jesus? Are you coming NOW?” I once again dove into reading all I could, watching every video I could, and talking to great friends about how marvelous this sign was! Except……….
I found there were many friends, Christian friends that had loved Bible prophecy as I had, who ignored this sign. Or worse, they made fun of it and scoffed and jeered. These same people that said they hated how the world scoffed at Jesus were scoffing at the fulfillment of the Great Sin spoken of in Revelation. At first, I was thinking that I must be wrong. This sign must be false. I listened to the naysayers, and thought that they must be right. After all, they were the big names with big churches with big money behind them. They would have to be right, wouldn’t they? But God would not let me let it go. One thing He has taught me through many years of being a Watcher is to search out a matter for myself, for there are many false teachers out there. Just because some teachers have a big church, a big following and big money does not mean they are teaching truth. It simply means they are marketable. This sign, to many of the big-wigs, is just not marketable, so they refuse to give it any merit. So I began to search, and with the help of Btjm and other friends, I saw things more clearly. How could this not be from God? Why is this Sign causing people to search the Word of God like never before, and even cause non-believers to read the Bible for the first time? If it was false, why are we seeing God working in this Sign?
The more I read and watched videos of brothers in Christ who are amazing teachers, the more I saw a trend of naysayers, and not just those disagreeing that this Sign was from God, but those that seem to HATE this sign. I’ve seen condescending remarks from Bible and Prophecy teachers that I once respected. I saw a split happening in the group that had always watched for the rapture, a split between those that hate this Sign and those that dare believe it. The same old argument surfaces: “We watched Y2K and the Mayan Calendar and the Blood Moons and nothing happened! So therefore, nothing will happen this time either.” When that kind of argument comes up, I think of this analogy:
“There were two men standing outside staring at the sky. The sky was dark and full of black storm clouds, looking as if the mother of all storms was about to hit at any time. One man says to the other:
“It looks like it’s about to storm.”
The other man says, “No, it isn’t.”
“But look at those black clouds! There is thundering and lightening! A storm is definitely coming!”
The other man says, “No it isn’t.”
“How could you possibly think there is no storm coming when it is so obvious one will hit any moment now?!”
The other man says, “There will be no storm, because there wasn’t one yesterday.”
That is the mentality of what we are seeing right now. Since the rapture did not happen in the past when we were looking for it, then it certainly won’t happen in the future. That mentality is foolishness.
After seeing the vindictive attacks of Sign-deniers, I often want to lash out and reply in anger. I want to scream, “Lay down your PRIDE! And then let God show you what He will.” I want to scream from atop a soap box, “The end is coming!” But that is not what He will have me do. Then what would He have me do?
As a mother of 3 kids, I often think of Mary and how it would have been to watch the Messiah grow up, to know Him so well and love Him so dearly. So I think of Mary, and I want to be like her, as a woman and as a mother. Mary knew she was to be “blessed among women” and have the Messiah. An angel told her so! There was no doubt in her mind that the baby she carried was the Messiah! But did she go and stand on a soapbox, screaming that the Messiah was here!? Did she get in people’s faces and say, “You better believe I am the mother of the Messiah or you are a fool?” No. She did something that would be very hard for anyone to do:
“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19
Some translations say she “treasured” all of these things and pondered them in her heart. So that is my approach to this Great Sign. I TREASURE it! I PONDER it! I hold it close to my HEART. It is a dear promise given to us by our Savior! I will not get on a soapbox and scream at those not believing it! Yes, I will point out falsehoods, because the Bible tells us to rebuke others if need be, but I will not argue and try to hurt others because they do not see what I see. I leave it all up to God. I will keep my heart focused on Him and I will grow my faith by believing that this Sign can be fulfilled in whatever way He sees fit. I believe that is His will for me. I can clearly see that this Sign is something He wants me to have faith in, and have faith enough to believe He is coming for us very, very soon! All praise be to Jesus our Savior!!
