1 Corinthians 11:26

I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me... For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23–26)

When we break the bread, we proclaim a death—and a coming. But how will we know when that coming is near?

Proclaiming His Death Until He Comes

Before we partake of the gifts, I want to take a moment on that phrase at the end of verse 26: "you do show the Lord's death until he comes." This is a reality of the church's mission. We, as the church of God, are called in this world to proclaim the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection until He comes—until He returns.

The Bible clearly describes that Jesus will one day return. Jesus told His disciples this in John 14: "Let not your heart be troubled... In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself." Later in that chapter He said again, "I go away and come again unto you."

As the disciples watched Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives in Acts 1, two angels told them, "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go." Jesus instructed His disciples, and the angels affirmed it.

Revealed, Affirmed, Taught, and Confessed

The reality of the second coming was later taught to the church in the epistles. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout... and the dead in Christ shall rise first." In 2 Thessalonians 2 he speaks of "the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with him." John writes in 1 John 3, "when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

Revealed by Jesus, affirmed by angels, taught by the apostles—and in the very last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, Jesus affirms it three times: "Behold, I come quickly," and finally, "Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

It is established in the creeds of the church. The Apostles' Creed confesses, "He will come again to judge the living and the dead." When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we proclaim His death and we proclaim that He will one day come again, looking forward to the day when we will sup with Him in His kingdom.

"This Is Not the End of the World"

The second coming is also associated with the end of this age. His coming ushers in His kingdom, and so it means the end of this world as we know it.

A week ago, on his MSNBC show, Lawrence O'Donnell responded to the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan by saying, "The book of Revelation is a work of fiction... no half-smart religious person actually believes the book of Revelation." He looked into the camera and declared, with "absolute certainty," that this is "not the end of the world"—repeating it no less than seven times. "For the sake of your children, for the sake of your grandchildren, listen to me, it is not the end of the world."

Is he right? Is Revelation a work of fiction? Is it foolish to believe that the end will one day come? I'm not ready to take an MSNBC commentator's view as the final word—even if he is Harvard-trained. With all that is happening in the world, the question must be: what does the Bible say?

A Warning Against Speculation

I have to give a qualifier, and note it carefully. If end-times prophecy only excites you to search news articles for trends and count days until the end, you've completely missed the point. And if you use cable news, periodicals, or the internet as your source, expect to be deceived.

Search the internet right now and you'll find Harold Camping, an 89-year-old Bible teacher, declaring through his radio program that the rapture will happen May 21st, 2011, and the end of the world October 21st, 2011. But Camping wrote a book in 1994 called 1994, saying that would be the end—and before that he said 1988. He is not to be believed.

The Mayan calendar ends December 21st, 2012—maybe they just ran out of room on the rock. Some say the sun will be between the horns of Taurus on Pentecost this year; others point to a tetrad of lunar eclipses in 2014–15 falling on Jewish feasts; still others say Daniel's seventy weeks will be fulfilled on Yom Kippur 2015. Must these mean something? Maybe, maybe not. We are told one of the things we do know about the last times is that many will be deceived. Don't be deceived.

If it's not supported by the Scriptures, it's all speculative. Sadly, most of the evangelical community in America has received its eschatology—the study of the end—from the Left Behind series, a fictional book series. The Antichrist's name is not Nicolae Carpathia. And as much as I respect Hal Lindsey, I don't believe the beasts of Revelation are cobra attack helicopters. We need to look at what the Scriptures say, because there is One who is the authority on these things, and He gave us a book.

The Olivet Discourse

When Jesus was with His disciples, they asked Him a question, and His answer became the longest discourse He gave to any question—the Olivet Discourse, recorded in Matthew 24–25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. The details differ, but the outline is exactly the same in each: the destruction of the temple, present history and conditions, the future tribulation period, the second coming of Christ, and the application and our response.

As interesting as the voices on the internet may be, they are not the authority on the second coming. Jesus is. We need to be students of the Scriptures far more than students of people online—even those we respect.

Matthew 24:1 gives the setting: "Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple." That temple had been under construction more than forty-five years. Josephus tells us that approaching Jerusalem from the east at sunrise, the temple, overlaid with gold and marble, shone so brightly you could not look directly at it. Its foundation stones, hewn without modern technology, were as big as school buses and fit perfectly together without mortar.

Not One Stone Upon Another

After Jesus had given a heavy rebuke to the religious establishment, His disciples said, in effect, "But look at this beautiful temple, isn't it wonderful?" Jesus answered, "There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."

In August of A.D. 70, Titus led the legions of Rome into Jerusalem, and by the end of that year the temple was completely torn down. Titus did not intend to destroy it—generals normally captured great temples and gave them as gifts to the emperor. But the story goes that one of Titus's archers fired a flaming arrow into the temple courts, the gold melted down into the stones, and the Romans, to retrieve the gold, tore every stone down and threw it into the Kidron Valley. Jesus predicted nearly forty years before that not one stone would be left upon another, and it was literally fulfilled.

On the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew came privately and asked, "When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" They associated the destruction of the temple with His coming and the end of the age.

The Beginning of Sorrows

Jesus answered, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Reach over and underline that—it's so important. "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled... but the end is not yet." Highlight that: "the end is not yet."

"For nation shall rise against nation... and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows"—the beginning of birth pangs. He goes on to speak of persecution, betrayal, false prophets, and love growing cold, "and then shall the end come."

So wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilence, famine, and persecution are not the sign of His coming and the end of the world. They are signs of the last days generally. Hebrews 1 tells us the last days began when Jesus ascended and will end when He returns. We are living in the last days. But are we near the end of them?

Birth Pangs Increasing

Historians tell us man has been in a perpetual state of war ninety-five percent of recorded history. As technology advances, war grows more brutal: seventy-two million died in the Second World War, and every year since 1985 at least a half million have died in war. Pestilence has been with us, too—in the 1300s the Black Death killed a hundred million, sixty percent of Europe, and the influenza of the early twentieth century killed more than twenty million.

These things are described as birth pangs. Anyone who has gone through labor knows the frequency and magnitude increase as the time draws near. So the frequency, magnitude, and intensity of these signs will probably increase until the end—yet it is nothing compared to the Great Tribulation.

Are we seeing such an increase? Just weeks ago, a 9.0 earthquake off Japan caused a tsunami in places seventy-seven feet tall. New Zealand, China, Chile, Haiti—where 200,000 died—Samoa, Italy, Pakistan, and Indonesia in 2004, where 230,000 perished. The list goes on. This year the world's population will reach seven billion. From the flood, where humanity dropped to eight, it took until 1800 to reach one billion; since then we've reached seven. And Revelation describes two-thirds—five billion people—dying during the Great Tribulation. That's a heavy reality.

Every time there is a great earthquake or famine, people cry, "It's the end of the world." Stand in the grocery checkout and the periodicals shout it. No. This is how things have been because we live in a fallen, cursed world. All creation groans under the curse, and in our day we see it instantly on our phones and screens, constantly reminded that we live in the last days. But how will we know if we are in the last of the last days?

The Sign: The Abomination of Desolation

Matthew 24:15 gives the answer: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand)." When you see this, it is the sign of the second coming and the end of the age. Daniel 12 tells us that from the abomination of desolation until the coming of Messiah the Prince is 1,290 days—three and a half years, to the day.

Daniel describes that in the last of the last days, one will rise as a figurehead over the world, enter the temple in Jerusalem, cause the sacrifices to cease, and declare that he is to be worshipped. This is the abomination that makes desolate. Jesus' disciples believed it had already happened under Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century B.C., but Jesus says no—it has not yet come to pass.

"Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains." Many today look at world events and say, "We must flee to the mountains." Not yet. When you see this happen, that is the indication to get out of Jerusalem. "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." All the devastating things that have happened for thousands of years are nothing compared to what is coming.

"I Have Told You Beforehand"

There is a false teaching circulating about the "shortening of the days"—that the Chilean and Japanese earthquakes shifted the earth's axis and shortened the day by microseconds. Jesus is not talking about that. He says unless that three-and-a-half-year period were shortened, no flesh would survive; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

He warns of false Christs and false prophets showing great signs to deceive, "insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." Put a star next to that—"I have told you before." That is what predictive prophecy is about. An estimated third of the Bible is predictive prophecy; I believe it's more. John Walvoord estimated a thousand predictive prophecies, five hundred fulfilled after the first century, with five hundred yet to come. Not one jot or tittle will pass away until all be fulfilled.

So if they say He is in the desert, or in the secret chambers, or that He secretly returned to Brooklyn early in the twentieth century—do not believe it. When Jesus comes, "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Every eye will see Him.

Israel in the Land

How will we know we are in the last of the last days? First, all end-times prophecy assumes a Jewish presence in the land of Israel and their holding of the city of Jerusalem.

In A.D. 70 Titus destroyed the temple, and by A.D. 120 Israel had been completely dispersed. The Romans deforested the land, salted the earth, and renamed Israel "Palestine." For nineteen hundred years it lay a barren wilderness, with no Jews there until the Zionist movement of the late 1890s, when they began purchasing back land they once held. After the Second World War and the Holocaust, the world cried out to give them a homeland. On May 14, 1948, at sundown, Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence; on May 15 they were attacked by surrounding Muslim nations, and they have been in a perpetual state of war ever since. The enemy does not want these prophecies fulfilled—but God's Word will be.

They did not hold Jerusalem in 1948. Not until June 7, 1967, in the Six-Day War, did they take Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and most of the West Bank. Zechariah 12 predicts that in the last days Jerusalem would become "a cup of trembling" to the whole world. A hundred years ago people scoffed; now scarcely a week passes without Jerusalem in the headlines of every major news organization. The Bible also predicts the whole world turning against Israel. Many in the American church said that could never happen—the only way would be if the church were raptured. But read the Jerusalem Post; since 2008 there have been repeated editorials saying the United States is no longer a help to Israel. A Jewish presence in the land, the holding of Jerusalem, Jerusalem as a cup of trembling, and the nations turning against her—these are indicators we are in the last of the last days. It's not fiction.

Nebuchadnezzar's Image and the Revived Empire

A second indicator comes from Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The king woke unable to remember his dream and demanded his wise men both tell it and interpret it on pain of death. God revealed it through Daniel: a great image with a head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (the Medo-Persians), belly of brass (Greece), and legs of iron (Rome), with feet of iron mixed with clay. A stone cut from a mountain struck the feet and crushed it all to dust.

History fulfilled it precisely: Cyrus took Babylon in 539 B.C., Alexander's Greeks overtook Persia, and then Rome arose. The legs of iron are an interesting detail—many believe they speak of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. The Roman Empire was split in two; the Western portion dissolved, while the Eastern continued for over a thousand years and became the Ottoman Empire. At the time of the New Testament, at least sixty percent of the Roman Empire was land now under Muslim control.

The Bible declares that in the last days a revived Roman Empire would arise, and from it would come the Antichrist. For thirty years evangelicals have said this is the European Union, with the Antichrist out of Europe. Not so fast. The Roman Empire spread far east into lands that are now Muslim. Which world-dominating power is rising today? Islam. And even Europe is being overtaken—in Denmark there is a common saying among Islamic youth: "2050, and then we take over," because by birth rate they expect to govern much of Europe by then.

The Spiritual Battle Manifested: Islam as Babylon

The last days will witness a spiritual battle brought onto the world scene—the battle between God and Lucifer that has raged since Lucifer said in Isaiah 14, "I will ascend... I will be like the most High." It will be manifested between those governed by God—Israel means "governed by God"—and those governed under Lucifer.

Isaiah 14 names Lucifer the prince of Babylon. Allah, the god of Islam, was the moon god, Sin, of Babylon—he is Lucifer, completely Antichrist. What we are watching is the rise of Islam, Babylon repackaged under a different name, Lucifer waging war against God. I believe the Antichrist will not come out of Europe but will be a Muslim. People say you can't talk about Islam, that it is a religion of peace—and I agree they want a piece of this and a piece of that. But if you study Islam, you find it is the Antichrist system, Babylon of the new day.

Islam's Three Coming Men

Like Christianity, Islam has an eschatology, and in it three great men usher in the coming of Allah.

The first is the Mahdi, the "guided one," the Islamic Messiah and descendant of Muhammad. Iran's president Ahmadinejad believes it is his call to usher in this Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam—which is why he seeks nuclear weapons. According to their own writings, the Mahdi comes during a time of great crisis and turmoil, makes a seven-year agreement with the Jews and the West, rides a white horse with a sword, and (they claim) is the figure of Revelation 6—though that passage describes someone else. He establishes a new world order around Islam, destroys all who resist, ushers in the final Islamic caliphate, has supernatural power, is loved by all the earth, discovers "hidden scriptures" near Galilee to prove Jews and Christians wrong, leads armies under a black banner to take Jerusalem, and sets up his rule on the Temple Mount. Does that sound like anyone described before? It is nearly identical to the biblical Antichrist.

The second is the "true Jesus," who will come to assist the Mahdi as a radical Muslim. He descends to a minaret in Damascus, meets the Mahdi, prays to him as Lord, makes pilgrimage to Mecca, establishes worldwide Sharia, becomes the greatest Muslim evangelist, leads Christians to reject the Jesus they knew, and—in their words—"shatters crosses," destroying the church. He is the false prophet of Revelation 13.

The third is the Dajjal, the deceiver, the Islamic Antichrist, destroyed by the "true Jesus." He claims to be Jesus and the Son of God, claims deity, comes riding a donkey, works false miracles, and attempts to stop the Mahdi. In Islam, every bad guy of the Bible is a good guy, and every good guy is a bad guy. It is completely opposite—completely Antichrist.

The Nations of Prophecy Are Islamic

Every nation mentioned in end-times prophecy besides Israel is an Islamic nation. Ezekiel 38 describes an invasion of Israel by an alliance of eight nations—all Islamic. Persia is named; they changed their name to Iran in 1913. Ethiopia is named—biblical Ethiopia covered much of northern and eastern Africa into Yemen, and included Egypt. Libya is named—have we heard about them lately? Look at what is happening across Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Syria.

You'll hear it called the spread of democracy. It is not. The Muslim Brotherhood is behind it, and Turkey will play a key role—watch Turkey. After a bloody coup, Turkey's constitution separated religion from the state, but right now, under Erdoğan, they are amending it to reestablish Islam at the center of the nation. We are also seeing the rise of a global economy, which the Bible describes.

And the sign of the end culminates in the abomination of desolation in the temple in Jerusalem. You say there is no temple. True—but in Jerusalem there is the Temple Institute, which has gathered chief rabbis, identified Levites through genetic testing, reconstructed the temple instruments, and built a tabernacle. They've said that if given the green light, they could begin temple practices on the Temple Mount tomorrow. They don't need a temple building; Israel functioned without one for a long time.

How Then Should We Respond?

The Olivet Discourse ends with application. Through the parables of Matthew 24–25, Jesus tells us the church is to be watching and waiting—but also working. At what work? The commission: "Go ye into all the world... make disciples of all nations." We should be engaged in evangelizing people with the true Word of God as we see these things come to pass.

Peter writes in 2 Peter 3, "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night... the heavens shall pass away... Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Prophecy fulfilled should stir us to evangelism and to holiness. Paul says in Romans 13, "now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed... let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light... but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh."

Don't be deceived by the speculative hyperbole of the world. Study the Scriptures, and when we see these things come to pass, let it change how we live.

Do You Want the Lord to Return?

People ask, "Don't you want the Lord to return?" Yes—and no. Let me explain. The Bible says two-thirds of the world's population will be destroyed in the Great Tribulation. The wrath of God has not come on the earth since the flood; it fell on Jesus at the cross, but it is coming upon humanity. I don't look forward to that. I know the church is not appointed to wrath. Many believe we'll be taken out before these things—I pray that's the case. Pray for pre-trib; prepare for post.

But when I look at this world, there are billions currently under His wrath. Amos 5 says, "Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD!"—it is a day of darkness. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but longsuffering, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He has tarried because He wanted you to know Him. How many of you, had He come five or ten years ago, would not have met Him in the air? You're thankful He has tarried.

So we say, "Lord, come quickly"—yet if prophecy does not stir you to be more evangelistic and more Christlike, you have the wrong focus entirely. We ought not waste time guessing the hour, because no one knows it; instead, be ready at all times, because Jesus could come at any time. Are we living in the last of the last days? In line with Scripture, I think the indications say we very likely are. What manner of people, then, ought we to be?

Closing Prayer

Father, we come very soberly before You when we consider Your wrath. Lord, we thank You that You are slow to anger. We thank You that You forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that You have mercy for thousands. We so need Your mercy and grace, and we thank You that You have extended the time of Your grace as long as You have. Father, give us a sense of urgency to carry the message to our family members, friends, and coworkers who don't know You, and even to those in the uttermost parts—because Your word is true, and I know in whom I have believed, and I know I will see You on that day. But God, stir me to walk in holiness and righteousness, to walk in godliness by the power of Your Spirit, and to have an urgency about sharing my faith. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.