From Someone called Gary on FB Friday, July 01, 2016. Thanks for sharing:
Previously we’ve discussed 20 specific signs that were foretold in the Bible indicating that Christ’s coming is now imminent. This new list is a little different – these are ten indicators that we have reached the upper limits of when Christ can return. God is sovereign and we can merely speculate, but I believe there is sound reasoning behind each of these:
1. The culmination of signs
From the return of the Jews to their God-given land beginning in the late 1800s, to the rebirth of Israel in 1948 and the recapturing of Jerusalem in 1967, the signs foretold in the Bible are all here. Over the centuries that have ensued since Christ ascended to Heaven, dozens and dozens of people have speculated that they would witness His return – many even setting specific dates for the parousia, yet all these speculations were lacking the myriad of prophesied signs.
Israel is back in the land, a pseudo-global government exists (in the form of the U.N.), a spirit of lawlessness prevails, homosexuality is rampant “as it was in the days of Lot”, violence (via abortion, euthanasia, terrorism, and war) are at unprecedented levels (“as it was in the days of Noah”), signs in the heavens are appearing left and right, the Jews have virtually everything in place to rebuild their Temple, the technology finally exists to implement the Mark of the Beast, the players in the Middle East are rapidly aligning in such a way as to fulfill Ezekiel 38, there is a truly unprecedented apostasy as foretold (beginning in force around 1960), the population at large calls good “evil” and evil “good”, the world’s leaders are proclaiming each and every day the damning words “peace and security” (1 Thessalonians 5:3), and many both inside and outside the Church are saying, “where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:4) In the words of the LORD Himself:
“Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God. – Isaiah 66:9
2. The latter days
The Bible seems to indicate that Christ’s first coming signaled the beginning of the “latter days” (1 Peter 1:20, Hebrews 1:1-2). According to the Bible the Earth is only about 6,000 years old, so with that said, now that it has been 2,000 years since Christ’s first coming, we must be approaching the climactic end of the age – else God’s Word is gravely mistaken – and I have absolute confidence that it is not.
3. Tower of Babel Part Deux: “Out of many, one”
In Genesis 11 mankind apparently reached a point of no return when the collective decided to band together apart from God and ascend to Heaven on their own strength. As their tower grew, God decided it was time to intervene and judgment came quickly – He destroyed their tower and confused their languages. The language confusion has prevailed to this day as the very basis of national divisions.
Yet mankind is once again defying God in its attempt to resurrect a collective world government (via the U.N. and other supranational institutions). With the advent of information technology and automated translation services, language divisions mean less and less, and the humanistic collective continues full speed ahead without thought to what they are doing.
Mankind, for the first time in history, is actually ascending to the heavens via aircraft and spacecraft, so combined with mankind’s globalist overreach you have an almost verbatim replay of Genesis 11.
Interestingly, the E.U. Parliament building appears to be modeled on classic paintings of the Tower of Babel. Why would the E.U. powers that be purposely design their building after something the Bible obviously condemns?
4. CRISPR and genetic manipulation
The past several decades have witnessed the advent of the the genetic revolution and great good has come from it, but mankind continues to demonstrate its innate affinity for evil. Throwing aside moral and ethical restraints left and right, geneticists are now combining species against God’s created order and are even developing three-parent babies, and babies resulting from two fathers or two mothers. If human/animal hybrids are not created yet, they are on the very, very near horizon. How long will God allow this to continue considering the very real possibility these children and hybrids may not have souls? Are they made in God’s image or man’s image? God intervened when angels began interbreeding with the human population. Hybrids seem to be another point of no return where judgment must ensue very quickly (see Genesis 6).
5. “Will He find faith on the earth?”
Referencing the end of the age immediately proceeding the parousia, Jesus questions if He will find any faith at all. While I firmly believe He will, I think the larger point is a foreshadowing of the end-times apostasy foretold in 1 Timothy 4:1. Every generation of Christians has had its apostates, false prophets, and false teachers, but the apostasy beginning primarily in the 1960s is utterly unprecedented. Some polls and surveys indicate that less than one-half of self-proclaimed Christians around the world still believe all the tenets of historic Christianity. Many embrace “soft universalism”, homosexuality, moral relativism, and every other vice. Genesis is largely dismissed, the resurrection is often denied, and Christ’s return is routinely questioned.
Indeed, who will maintain their faith in God’s Word in the midst of this lawless world where Christianity seems to be the object of every attack and ridicule?
6. End of the Millennial Week
If you add up the ages of the patriarchs in Genesis in addition to the roughly 1,500 years that continued from Moses until Christ and the two millennia from Christ until now, you arrive at almost exactly 6,000 years. Revelation 20 promises a coming 1,000 year reign of Christ before eternity. This pattern is unmistakably related to the six days of work and one day of rest as the weekly pattern God created in Genesis 1. Since we are literally within years, maybe even months, of the end of 6,000 years, what should that tell you?
7. Access to the Tree of Life
Another time in history when God had to intervene was after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God banished them from the Garden of Eden and sent an angel to guard it from them so that they could not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in a fallen state (Genesis 3:22-24). Humanity remains in its fallen state and now geneticists and scientists believe we are on the verge of reversing or even ending aging altogether. There is even a U.S. presidential candidate who promises his voters immortality. I think science may be nearing a point where humanity may be able to replicate the effects of eating from the Tree of Life, so God will most certainly intervene.
8. God does not withhold judgment forever
About 1,600 years transpired before God brought a global, cataclysmic judgment in the form of the Flood. 700-800 years passed before God brought judgment upon Israel after bringing them into the land. A similar time passed before God brought a complete judgment upon the Canaanites. Sodom, though, had reached such an incredible level of depravity that God brought judgment after only a few hundred years.
Consider these timespans. We are now nearing 2,000 years since Christ’s death and resurrection. We are now living in the longest time period between judgments in the history of the world and God’s Word promises that another global judgment will most certainly come (2 Peter 3:5-7). He is not distant or sleeping. He has planned the end from the beginning and this wicked world is living on borrowed time. Get on the ark while there is still time.
9. The technological and societal backdrop
The technology for the Mark of the Beast, along with the ability for the world to witness the ministry of the two witnesses is now in place. Certain other passages seem only to be fulfilled by modern technology, including rapid transportation and information technology (Daniel 12:4), nuclear weapons (Isaiah 17:1 and see here), and dams that can halt the flow of entire rivers (Revelation 16:12).
Considering that the Bible describes Jesus returning when life still appears to go on as normal with marrying and buying and selling (Luke 17:27-28), it seems that the fact that society is moving towards a gender-less, marriage-less future and global economic collapse is on the very near horizon, the window for the parousia is narrowing substantially.
10. “I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Great Commission itself contains the promise that this age will most definitely end. Many preterists want to deny this fact (though not all), but the Lord’s words will not change. This age had a definite beginning and it will have a definite end. The eternal future belongs to God and His people, not a collective, godless, fallen humanity.