Implosion
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Daniel understood that only God “removes kings and establishes kings” and that “it is He who reveals the profound and hidden things” (vv. 21-22). Daniel, therefore, took no credit for what he did that day. Instead, he gave all the credit to the Lord as he explained that the king had dreamed about a great statue with a head of gold, a body and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly made of iron and partly made of clay. Daniel then described how all the different elements were crushed by a stone “cut out without hands” (v. 34). Nebuchadnezzar was stunned. Daniel had his full attention, for that was exactly what he had dreamed. Now, what did it mean?
Daniel explained that the head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar, overseeing the Babylonian Empire. “After you there will arise another kingdom [of silver] inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze . . . Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron.” But that, Daniel said, would be “a divided kingdom” (vv. 39-41).
Remarkably, Daniel had not simply told the king the substance of his private dreams. He had also explained that this dream was given by God to describe future events, namely the coming destruction of the Babylonian Empire and the rise and fall of three other great world empires, one after another.
The accuracy of Daniel’s analysis is startling. Just as he said, the Babylonians were overtaken by the Medo-Persian Empire, which was symbolized by silver, a metal precious to the Persians to this day. The Medo-Persian Empire was then overtaken by the Greek Empire, represented in the dream by bronze. The Greek Empire was overtaken by the Roman Empire, with its iron-strong military might, so powerful it overwhelmed all others before it. The Roman Empire was, as Daniel foretold, a divided kingdom. It was ruled for a time by four coemperors. Later, it was divided into eastern and western empires, with its western seat of power in Rome and its eastern portion becoming known as the Byzantine Empire, whose seat of power was centered in the city known in antiquity as Byzantium—the city that was later called Constantinople and is known today as Istanbul.
The Prophecies about the First Coming of the Messiah Came True
One of the most compelling reasons we can trust that Bible prophecies related to the second coming of the Messiah will come to pass is because the prophecies related to the Messiah’s first coming have already come to pass.
The Hebrew prophet Micah, for example, told us the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, a town located south of Jerusalem in the area of Judea. “‘But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.’ . . . And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD” (Micah 5:2-4). Sure enough, some seven hundred years later, the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, just as the prophecy foretold.
The prophet Isaiah, meanwhile, told us that the Messiah would be born as a male child, yet he would actually be God himself and would live and minister and bring divine light to the people of Israel. “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light,” Isaiah wrote. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:2, 6). Sure enough, God became flesh for a time by being born into the world as a baby boy named Jesus, who grew up to live, minister, and bring a great light to the people of the Galilee region, as well as to all of Israel and the world.
The prophet Daniel, writing nearly six hundred years before the time of Jesus, told us that while the Messiah would come to make atonement for our sins and bring mankind into everlasting righteousness, something tragic would happen to him, and at some time after that, Jerusalem and the holy Temple would be destroyed by an invading power. God declared in Daniel 9:24-26 that a certain period of human history had been “decreed for your people [the Jews] and your holy city [Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, [and] to bring in everlasting righteousness,” and then “the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing,” and after that, “the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Sure enough, the Lord Jesus came early in the first century AD, he was “cut off” through a terrible torture and crucifixion at the hands of the Roman army around AD 32, and then in AD 70 the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, just as Daniel prophesied.
The Prophecies Spoken by Jesus Came True
Another reason we can trust the prophecies found in the Bible is that the prophecies uttered by the Lord Jesus himself have all come true, except for those that will be fulfilled in the Tribulation, by his second coming, and by events he spoke of that will occur after his second coming.
For example, Jesus once told his disciples, who had not caught any fish after fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee, that they would catch some fish by casting their nets on the other side of the boat, and his prediction came true immediately. He told them, “‘Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.’ So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish” (see John 21:1-6).
Another time Jesus pronounced that a fig tree that didn’t have any fruit on it would never bear fruit again, and it happened within twenty-four hours. “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” Jesus said. The next day, “as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered’” (see Mark 11:11-21).
Jesus prophesied that the Second Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, and it came to pass about forty years later (see Matthew 24:1-2).
Jesus prophesied that he would “go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day,” and his torture, execution, and resurrection dramatically and miraculously occurred less than three years later (see Matthew 16:21-23 and Matthew 26–28).
Shortly before his death, Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny knowing him three times before the rooster crowed the following morning, and it happened just as he said it would—despite Peter’s intense promises to the contrary (see Matthew 26:31-35 and Matthew 26:69-75).
Jesus prophesied after his resurrection that his disciples would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now,” and it came to pass within a few days (see Acts 1:5 and Acts 2:1-4).
The fact that Jesus was both a great prophet and the Messiah should not come as a surprise. Centuries before, Moses had told the children of Israel to expect a prophet in the future who would be like himself in the sense that he would speak the words of God and demonstrate the power of God through great signs and wonders. Moses warned the people to listen to and obey the future prophet or face the judgment of God. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, [and] you shall listen to him,” Moses explained. “The LORD said to me, ‘. . . I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15, 17-19).
In the early years of the first century AD, the rabbis and priests from Jerusalem heard about the things John the Baptist was doing, and they wondered whether he was the one Moses had foretold. “Are you the Prophet?” they asked him. John replied, “No. . . . I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1:21-23). Then John saw Jesus and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! . . . I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29, 34). In other words, John the Baptist made it crystal clear to the people of Israel that he was not t
he prophet of whom Moses spoke, but Jesus was. Many Jewish people began to realize this for themselves after hearing Jesus teach with authority and seeing him perform miracles that could only be done by the power of God. “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world,” they said in Galilee after Jesus supernaturally fed more than five thousand people with just five loaves of barley bread and two fish (see John 6:1-14).
The apostles eventually understood this and preached it as well. “Repent and return [to the Lord], so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ [or Messiah] appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time,” the apostle Peter said to a crowd of very curious Jewish people at the Temple after a lame man had been healed at Peter’s command. He continued, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people’” (Acts 3:19-23).
Bottom Line
The Bible actually contains about one thousand prophecies, more than half of which have already been fulfilled.[107] Most of the prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled relate to the events of the last days of human history before the second coming of Jesus Christ. These include prophecies about the Rapture, the Tribulation, and the Day of the Lord, all of which we will examine in due course. Other major Bible prophecies will be fulfilled during the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth (known as the millennial kingdom), the final battle between God and Satan at the end of history, and the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth. While it is beyond the scope of this book to provide a survey of the more than five hundred Bible prophecies that have already come to pass, let me encourage you to carefully study and test the Bible and ask God to reveal to you the truths contained therein.
Now, with this foundation established, let’s continue in our journey to examine the questions “Are we living in the last days?” and “Is America mentioned specifically in Bible prophecy?” Then, as we understand what the Bible says and how to examine events and trends in the United States and around the globe through the third lens of Scripture, we will be able to effectively answer our central questions, “What happens to America in the last days?” and “Is America heading for an implosion?”
CHAPTER FIVE
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Are we living in the last days before the return of Jesus Christ? You might be surprised how many Americans say yes. To many in politics and the media, the idea may seem ridiculous. But millions of Americans from Maine to California have seen events in this country and around the world and have come to the conclusion that we are, in fact, living in the last days.
In 2006, when I was working on a nonfiction book called Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future, I commissioned a national survey of American adults to better understand contemporary attitudes toward Bible prophecy. The poll was conducted by the respected firm of McLaughlin & Associates, founded by John McLaughlin, who over the years has worked with some of the world’s leading business and political leaders, including Steve Forbes, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, and Florida governor Jeb Bush.
The survey asked people if they agreed with the following statement:
Events such as the rebirth of the State of Israel, wars and instability in the Middle East, recent earthquakes, and the tsunami in Asia are evidence that we are living in what the Bible calls the last days.
Remarkably, more than four out of ten Americans (42 percent) said they agreed that yes, we are living in what the Bible calls the last days. Perhaps more remarkably, common stereotypes notwithstanding, it was not just white Anglo-Saxon Protestants or rural Southern men who said they agreed.[108]
• One in three Jews believe we are living in the last days.
• Four in ten Catholics believe we are living in the last days.
• Half of all women believe we are living in the last days.
• Nearly half of all senior citizens believe we are living in the last days.
• Nearly six in ten young people age eighteen to twenty-five believe we are living in the last days.
• A remarkable 75 percent of African Americans believe we are living in the last days.
To be sure, plenty of Americans disagree. More precisely, most Americans do not believe we are living in the last days. But when it comes to those who do believe these are the End Times, we are not talking about a tiny fringe minority. We are talking about 100 million Americans or more.
Ultimately, however, the important thing is not how many Americans believe we are living in the last days. The important thing is whether they are right.
Analyzing This Present Time
In Luke 12, we find thousands of people gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. His critics were growing in number and in the intensity of their opposition to the man from Galilee, but so were the number of those who wanted to learn more from the one who taught with such wisdom and authority. Then, to the surprise of many, Jesus sharply criticized the crowd for not analyzing current events through the third lens of Scripture.
When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, “A shower is coming,” and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, “It will be a hot day,” and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?
LUKE 12:54-56
Why such a strong rebuke? Because while those living in first-century Judea (as the Romans referred to the biblical land of Israel) certainly knew the many ancient Hebrew prophecies describing the coming Messiah (that he would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, live in Galilee, teach in parables, do miracles, care for the poor, etc.), they could not—or would not—connect the dots and accept that it was Jesus himself to whom the prophets were pointing. And the stakes were high. This was a matter of eternal life with the Father in heaven or eternal punishment in the lake of fire. As Jesus had said before, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. . . . He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:16, 36).
The situation isn’t that different today. How many people living in the twenty-first century who are familiar with the many biblical prophecies concerning the second coming of the Messiah are able—or willing—to connect the dots and see what is coming? And the stakes are just as high today as they were in the first century.
Not all future events are described in advance in the Bible. Nor can the prophecies be used to determine the future of every country. But there are key events and trends that Jesus and the prophets and the apostles said would occur in the last days that would help us know Christ’s return was drawing closer. It is imperative that we know what those are and understand what they mean if we are to properly analyze the signs of the times.
What Are the Last Days?
Let us begin by defining some terms.
Last days is a biblical term used in both the Old and New Testaments in reference to the time leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is described as a time of prophetic signs and wonders, the spread of the gospel, the growth and persecution of believers, and other dramatic events. Also variously referred to in the Scriptures as the “latter days,” the “latter years,” and by the prophet Daniel as “the time of the end,” this period is sometimes known colloquially in the modern era as the “End Times” or the “end of days.” This is not because this period leads up to the actual end of the world but because it constitutes the last days before the Day of the Lord, when the Mes
siah comes to earth to reign over all mankind in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
It is beyond the scope of this book to deal in depth with all the other elements of the last days that the Bible tells us to expect. Many books have been written about topics like the Rapture and the Tribulation and the Millennium, and I will not get into those events here (though I will talk more about the Rapture in chapter 12). But I do want to look a little more closely at the Day of the Lord because that is the culmination of the last days—and arguably the most significant event in human history.
The Day of the Lord refers to the actual, physical, literal second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth. This is the time when the Scriptures indicate that Christ’s feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives, splitting the mountain in two. The Bible describes this as a time of darkness and judgment, during which no more salvations will be possible. At this time, Christ will cleanse the land of Israel from the horrors of war, oversee the building of a new Temple (the one described in Ezekiel 40–48), and begin his one-thousand-year reign in Jerusalem over all mankind, a period that believers commonly call the “millennial kingdom.”
The Day of the Lord—including related biblical references to this unparalleled moment in human history such as “the day,” “that day,” and the like—is mentioned more than sixty times in the New American Standard translation of the Bible. The Day of the Lord is synonymous with the second coming of Christ, and the two phrases are often used interchangeably by scholars and commentators. The term Second Coming itself is not a phrase found in the Bible, though it is a powerful and pervasive concept in the Scriptures.
The prophet Malachi refers to “the great and terrible day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5). The prophet Joel refers to “the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31, NIV). Why does each prophecy use such divergent terms to describe the same event? Why would the coming of the Lord be “great” on the one hand and “terrible” or “dreadful” on the other? In one sense, the Second Coming will be great in terms of its enormous scope and magnitude. Yet in another sense, the Day of the Lord will be great for those who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and thus are excited about his return and his loving and benevolent rule over the earth that will follow. However, the Scriptures also indicate that the Day of the Lord will be terrible and dreadful for those who have rejected Jesus as Messiah because the time for accepting him will have expired. Those who are not at that moment born again (as explained in John chapter 3) will go to hell. That’s how high the stakes are. This is why the Scriptures put such a heavy emphasis on the importance of believers sharing the good news of Christ’s love and forgiveness with the whole world and urging them to receive Christ as Savior before it is too late.