The Gospel Being Preached to the Whole World
In a YouTube video message from Israel entitled “Expecting to See Jesus,” Bible teacher and author Anne Graham Lotz talked about the preaching of the gospel to the whole world (Matthew 24:14). She said,
The gospel of Jesus Christ, right now, is being preached to the whole world for the first time in history. He (Jesus) didn’t say that everybody in the world would hear it, but that it would be preached to the whole world. Everyone in the world can hear the gospel.
And in an interview with CBN News, Lotz said, “It may not be in their first language, but may be in a second language, or third language…it might not be a live presentation but could be in printed material, through the Internet, the media, ham radio, or even tweeting the gospel; the gospel is going out to the whole world.”29
CONVERGENCE OF SIGNS
These are just a few of the signs that are all converging at once. Can you sense how things are looking up? When I was a child, I would hear about a natural disaster or fearful event on the news, and then months would go by before I heard of another. My mother, who’s in her eighties, has commented frequently that in her lifetime she’s never seen so many major things happening all at once. Deception, false prophets, wars and uprisings, earthquakes, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and famines are all just the beginning of the birth pains signaling the nearness of the end times. I could go on and on, but take a moment to read Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, and take note how many of the signs mentioned in these chapters are converging today.
There are people who say that the world has always had floods, wars, hurricanes, persecution, famine, violence, earthquakes, and fearful events. Yes, that’s true, but Jesus’s words in Matthew 24:33 serve as a trumpet call for anyone with ears to hear, and a great sign for anyone with eyes to see: “When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates” (ESV). As never before in history (with the exception of the still-future abomination of desolation that will occur in the Holy Place, as stated in Matthew 24:15), all of these signs are now converging. We are the generation that is seeing these things take place more frequently and with increasing intensity. The tribulation period is casting a long shadow on the remaining days of the church age.
It’s easy to become discouraged and overwhelmed by all that is taking place, but according to Jesus, things are looking up: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28 NKJV). As Jan Markell has said, “Things aren’t falling apart. They’re falling into place.” Remember, God knew the end from the beginning and has a plan!
THE SUPERSIGN
Have you ever wondered why the tiny nation of Israel is always in the news? There isn’t space in this book to cover Israel’s significance in the end times (we’ll dig deeper into that in the books that follow), but many Bible scholars agree that the number one sign, what they refer to as the supersign, that we are ever closer to the return of Christ is the existence of the modern nation of Israel.
Isaiah 66:8 says,
Who has ever heard of such things?
Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Ezekiel prophesied about the dry bones of Israel coming to life, with flesh again, in Ezekiel 37. He saw a valley of dry bones, which represent death. In AD 70, Jerusalem was burned and destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were driven away. The land did not thrive or flourish. It became a wasteland; it was dead, just as Ezekiel and other prophets prophesied.
After nearly 2,000 years of being scattered around the world, beginning in the late nineteenth century the Jewish people began to move back to their homeland in large numbers. This continued for the next few decades, and then it happened. Just as Isaiah prophesied, Israel was “born in a day.” On May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation recognized by the UN. The regathering and restoring of the Jewish nation are prophesied in several places in Scripture (Isaiah 43:5-6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:34; 37:1-14; Jeremiah 30:3; Romans 11:25-27), and this fulfillment continues to take place today as even more Jews go back to their land.
Throughout God’s Word we learn that He will make the Jews a nation; He will do the scattering and regathering of them; He will rebuild them; He will cleanse them; and despite their rejection of Him (and despite what many churches teach today about the Jews), God will never reject them. As the apostle Paul said, “God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” (Romans 11:1 NASB). He will do all these things according to His Word; as He says in Ezekiel 36:36, “I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.” Take a moment and read Ezekiel 36, taking note of how many times God said, “I will.” God’s love for Israel isn’t based on the Jews’ faithfulness, but on His!
Never in the history of the world has a nation been reborn. There is no ancient civilization that, after being cast out of its land, has ever been regathered and restored to that land to become a nation again. Never. Ever. This was a historic, unprecedented event. The fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 66:8 is absolutely remarkable!
Many people in the world believe the core problem with Israel has been who should control the land, but British journalist, author, and broadcaster Melanie Phillips calls this “historical illiteracy of high order.” She states that the Jewish people are “the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national kingdom in history. Unfortunately, many in the West who are ignorant of Judaism, of the Bible, of history, and of the Middle East have bought into this [historical illiteracy] in large measure, and they believe it.”30
WHY IS ISRAEL THE SUPERSIGN?
The reason that the Jewish people’s return to their ancient homeland is the supersign is because many end-time prophecies can’t be fulfilled without Israel’s existence. The people had to be back in their land and become a nation in order for many prophecies to be fulfilled. For example:
•The Antichrist will confirm a seven-year covenant with Israel (Daniel 9:27)
•The Jewish temple will be rebuilt; the first two temples were destroyed and there is currently no Jewish temple in Israel, but a future one is mentioned in the Bible in Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, and Revelation 11:1-2
•The Antichrist will invade Israel and desecrate the temple (Daniel 11:40-41; Matthew 24:15-20)
•All the nations will turn against Israel, invading her land (Zechariah 12:1-9; 14:1-2)
Bible scholar John Walvoord says that “few events can claim equal significance as far as Bible prophecy is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their land. It constitutes a preparation for the end of the age, the setting for the coming of the Lord for His church, and the fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic destiny.”31
Walvoord once said that when we see decorations and advertisements for Thanksgiving show up, then we know that Christmas is right around the corner. With all the visible end-time signs converging in the world today we can also anticipate what’s around the corner, but it will be better than any Christmas we’ve ever known! When we see that Christmas is near, we shop, we decorate, we bake, we put special events on the calendar, and we do whatever else must be done to prepare for Christmas Day.
As you see so many end-time signs converging, are you preparing for Christ’s return?
WHERE IN THE WORD?
DIFFERENT LIVES
In review, our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) is Christ coming in the air (the snatching away or rapture) for His bride, the church. It is comforting and encouraging to know that Christ will first raise the dead who are in Him, then He will remove His bride before God’s wrath falls against evil.
Look again at 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And those who have died believing in Christ will rise first” (NCV).
“IN CHRIST”
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Why do I keep emphasizing in Christ?
A Key Distinction
First, this resurrection of the dead will not include all the dead believers from throughout the centuries, but only those who died during the church age, those who became believers after the Day of Pentecost, when the church was born (see Acts 2). The church didn’t exist prior to that.
Old Testament believers did not put their faith in Christ because He hadn’t died on the cross yet. They believed on the basis of God’s promises to them. Now, those who become believers during the tribulation will put their faith in Christ after the catching up of those who are in Christ, so this group will be resurrected at the end of the great tribulation (Daniel 12:1-2; Revelation 20:4). David Reagan explains,
Some people are startled by the thought that the Old Testament saints will not be resurrected until the end of the Tribulation. But keep in mind that the rapture (Greek: harpazo, emphasis mine) is a promise to the Church, and the Church only. Also, the book of Daniel makes it clear that the Old Testament saints will be resurrected at the end of the “time of distress” (Daniel 12:1-2).1
Even Demons Believe
Second, I keep emphasizing in Christ because the resurrection of the dead and the great snatching away of believers is not just for any believer, but for those who are in Christ. Many people around the world believe in other gods, many believe in God and might also believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but that doesn’t mean that those people are in Christ. That only happens when they place their faith and trust in Christ alone as Lord and Savior.
Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” We don’t make the rules. Jesus said that there is only one way to the Father. Either we believe that Jesus is that only way or we don’t, and either Jesus said those words because He is in fact the only way, or because He was insane. We also know that there is more to being in Christ than mere belief. The Bible tells us that even the demons believe:
•“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19).
•“Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’ ” (Mark 3:11).
Even the demons knew who Jesus was. They had enough knowledge of God to shudder at His power. How many of us shudder and are in awe of His power?
By definition, our culture’s “gospel of accommodation” doesn’t allow for shudder or awe. Paul pointed out that “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). On his Facebook page, pastor and author Alistair Begg said, “A man or woman should not profess to be a follower of Jesus unless their life is changed by Jesus.”
Author Jaquelle Crowe was just a teenager when she wrote,
Jesus followers don’t live like they did before following Him. We don’t talk about the same things or read the same books. We no longer dress or act or think the same way. Jesus makes people one hundred percent new. He takes the spiritually dead and makes us thrillingly, beautifully, and abundantly alive. But this is where we encounter a problem. There are people all across our world—from magazine cover celebrities to the soccer mom down the street to perhaps that person who occupies the locker next to yours—who claim to follow Jesus but actually don’t. While saying they have hearts devoted to a passionate pursuit of God, they live unchanged lives. Indifferent lives. Lives that blend in, conform to, and meld with the world. Jesus changed nothing in their lives.2
This change means that we are to no longer indulge what our flesh desires (“do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh”—Galatians 5:13). If we are truly in Christ, then the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, in constant battle with our flesh. Galatians 5:16-18 says,
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH
This battle between the lusts of the flesh and the Holy Spirit results in one of two things:
•We will no longer practice our sin because we can no longer tolerate it in our lives.
Or
•We quench the leading of the Holy Spirit, our actions telling Him to get out of our lives.
In case there is any confusion, Paul lists the works of the flesh in verses 19-21 of Galatians 5:
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery [debauchery is excessive indulgence of the appetites: lust, drunkenness, sensuality, drug use, sexual immorality]; idolatry and witchcraft [the word translated witchcraft, in the Greek, is pharmakeia: “spells and potions, drugs”]; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Did you read that last verse? Paul doesn’t advise us or offer us a tip. He warns us, saying that those who practice these sins will not enter the kingdom of God (see also 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 22:15). If Jesus really lives in us, then we are guided by the Holy Spirit. We want to be more like Jesus and less like ourselves. We want to be drawn closer to Him and away from the sins that entice us and hold us in bondage.
When it comes to the practice of sin, Jim Cymbala said, “If you love God and have been born again, you can’t live in that. It’s contrary to the Word of God. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”3 Pastor Cymbala referenced Galatians 5:24 when he said those words, and I’ll add Galatians 2:20, which says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
If we are in Christ, we can no longer live to gratify our flesh. We surrender our fleshly desires. Do we sin? Of course! Even the apostle Paul, in Romans 7, wrote of his own struggles with sin:
What I want to do I do not do…Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me (verses 14, 21-23).
For this reason, Paul says, “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body…Do not offer any part of yourself to sin” (Romans 6: 11-13). We all sin, but there’s a difference between a person who turns to God in genuine repentance and desires to avoid sin and a person who actively engages in sin without repentance.
DIFFERENT LIVES
Jesus Himself described what it means to be in Christ:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (John 15:5-6).
If we are in Christ, our lives are different from the world; we deny ourselves the sins that please our flesh as we follow Christ, living surrendered and fruit-bearing lives. If we don’t remain in Him, we aren’t in Christ, and the chains of enslavement get heavier around our necks as we practice sin. When we don’t remain in Christ, we are just like a branch that is pruned and has fallen to the ground, where it withers and dies, and is thrown into the fire. We are nothing more than kindling that goes up in flames.
Hebrews 10:26-27 warns of the consequence of the intentional, habitual practice of sin: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” How can we say that we are in Christ if we keep deliberately si
nning without shame? According to Scripture, those who do this aren’t God’s children but the devil’s children (1 John 3:9-10).
If we wrestle with sin, if it plagues us and causes us shame while we’re sinning, that’s a good thing, because that means the Spirit of God within us is wrestling with our flesh. But if we do not find ourselves wrestling with sin, we’re in a dangerous place, and God will give us over to a depraved mind (Romans 1:28), meaning He won’t hold us back from what we want. When we persistently rebel against God, He lifts His hedge of protection from around us.
WORTHY TO ESCAPE
Regarding the end of the age, Jesus said in Luke 21:36, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (KJV). Here, Jesus speaks of escaping what is to come. The Greek word translated escape is ekpheugo, meaning “to flee out of, to escape.”
This same word is used in 1 Thessalonians 5:3: “When people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” That is, they won’t escape God’s judgment. Only believers will be “accounted worthy to escape,” as Luke 21:36 says. The word “escape” is used in Acts 16:27 and 19:16 (take a moment and read those verses), but in those instances the Greek translation of escape means “a covering of safety and protection in flight.” Do you see the amazing difference? Jesus didn’t say that we would have a “covering of safety and protection” during all these things that will come to pass (the New Living Translation says “escape these coming horrors”); He spoke of escaping/fleeing out of what is to come.
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