All These Things Be Fulfilled - Part III - The End

The Third (70th Week) Temple standing upon 

Mount Moriah, Jerusalem in the very near future.

28 January 2014: It won't be long until a real-world fact very close to as what the image above depicts comes into existence. How the 3rd Temple comes to exist is the subject of the many pre-70th Week prophecies you can read about in these Eschatology Today pages as well as in the many linked websites and blogs found along the right margin of this blog's main page. However, the focus of this article is the third and final installment of the original 2009 "All these thing fulfilled... Part I and Part II." 

In Part III we will recapture the some key points from Parts I & II in concert with key items of Jesus' prophetic discourse to His disciples on the Mount of Olives circa the year 33 AD (Matthew 24). As a statement of eschatological belief, I convicted by the Spirit that from this point in time, January 2014, and going forward through the next 17 months or so the world literally will witness several of these major prophetic events coming to pass before our eyes and this disbelieving world will find itself landed squarely on the doorstep of the angel Gabriel's prophetic 70th Week, specifically, Daniel 9:27, as given us through the full "70 Weeks Prophecy" of Daniel 9:24-27.

The first point I would like to bring attention to in Jesus' Olivet Discourse is His prophecy in verse 2 regarding the destruction of the 2nd Temple. Let's consider that this prophecy stands like a proverbial book end on the left side of the prophecy. Our Lord then works his way through the several pre-70th Week signs:

1) Deception of many men falsely claiming to be anointed ones (false messiahs).

2) Wars and rumors of other wars that must take place (i.e. the prophetic wars of Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49, Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38/39 that must take place), but the end is not yet .

3) Wars on a global scale followed by global famines, infectious plagues and earthquakes around the globe.

Our Lord then wraps this up neatly for us by referring to these signs as "All these are the beginning of sorrows" in verse 8. These the pre-70th Week "birthpangs" are heralding the coming of His Kingdom, and we are very familiar with them because we are currently living in them.  

Then a instantaneous transition occurs. I believe this transition has two sides or parts to it and occurs in instant of the Harpazo when the Father will have sent His Son to collect all of us, the Bride of Christ. In the Harpazo the bride will be physically caught up, snatched away from this earth and instantaneously changed into new spiritual bodies and met by the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to remain with Him ever more. This is the side of the transition that you want to be on because the other side of this transition is from the present world to the advent of the 70th Week. The Tribulation has arrived.

In this side of the transition that just occurred, back on the earth, terrible things now occur with respect to those who were left behind, who were Christian in name only; those of "Churchianity who were not truly redeemed and were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They suffer the consequences of their lack of decision to be covered by the redemptive Blood of the Lamb. At Matthew 24:9 Jesus tells us these people will be hated in all nations, persecuted and killed for "My name's sake."  

Facing an onslaught of universal hatred some will completely lose whatever basis of faith they had. Hatred of and betrayal of those who do repent (as seen in verse 13) in the aftermath of the Harpazo will become rampant. So, the time for a decision for Jesus Christ if you have not already done so is right here, right now, because in one instant, no one knows exactly when except for God the Father, this transition will occur without any further warning. 

Again, the 70th Week, the tribulation has arrived and is just getting started, as in verse 14 Jesus makes a crystal clear reference to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists will be going around the globe preaching "this Gospel of the Kingdom." The Bride of Christ has been Harpazoed into the the many mansions of His Father; the places He has prepared for the past nearly 2000 years for His Bride. On earth the fulfillment on Ezekiel 39:29 has occurred after the battle of Gog/Magog, and the redemption of Israel has begun wit the Lord pouring out His Spirit and the fulfillment of Paul's prophecy in Romans 11:22-27 has taken place.

Then, in verse 15, Jesus gives us the right side book end of this prophecy. He jumps forward 42 months into the 70th Week and to the point where the Abomination of Desolation, the man-made image of the Antichrist, the beast, the son of perdition, is standing within the Holy Place inside the 3rd Temple. These proverbial book ends capture a sequence of events that date back to their prophetic beginning. 

The sequence was of the destruction of the 2nd Temple, the destruction of Jewish Jerusalem and the end of Israel with a global dispersion. This process, as noted in Part I of this article, took precisely 70 years, a Biblical generation (Psalms 90:10) to complete.  On our calendar these events began in 66 AD with the first Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire and came to a final conclusion in 136 AD with the end of the third and final Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire.

In the initial Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire, also known as the "Great Revolt" and the one in which Jesus appears to have prophesied expressly in the Olivet Discourse, extended from late 66 AD to early 74 AD. This war was literally begun and ended at the fortress redoubt of Masada over a period of period of precisely 7 years. And those 7 years had a hiatus, definable first and second halves which had been brought about by first civil war among the Jews in Jerusalem, and, secondly, by a Roman civil war for control of the Empire. The result is well known world history, which can be read about here, and here, for those history buffs (like myself) who are so inclined.

As a related aside concerning the fulfilled prophecy of Daniel 9:26b "the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary," these links will prove beyond any doubt that two of the four key Roman Army legions (V Macedonica; XV Apollinaris and X Fretensis; XII Fulminata) which besieged and sacked Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD arrived direct from Europe via seaports on the Mediterranean coast of Roman Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon) and Samaria (modern-day Israel). The latter two had been garrisoned in Greco-Roman Aram-Damascus under Procurator Agrippa II and the 10-city Greco-Roman Decapolis.

So, the duration of these events, the revolts of 7 and 70 years respectively,  appear to be significant numbers of years when it comes to Bible prophecy, enough to make the Preterists hold to their eschatological position as they do. But all is not quite that tidy and neat, as we shall see. There are other critical factors which must be accounted for.

Now, moving on to the modern era beginning in 1948, the process has reversed with the restoration of Israel (per Ezekiel 37) in 1948 and the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967. These events have maintained through the  battles or mini wars of the ongoing Psalm 83 war (1973 and 2006) with the final battles yet to be joined, but entirely and glaringly imminent. The Psalm 83 war begun in late 1947/early 1948 is now in its 66th or 67th year. So what remains in the reversal of this prophetic process are the conditions permitting the building of the 3rd Jewish Temple... the 70th Week Temple... the tribulation Temple... the Abomination of Desolation Temple.

If the first, deconstructive part of this prophetic sequence occurred over a period of a literal 70 years, a single generation (as Jesus also noted), then why not consider that the restorative part of the prophetic sequence will also occur in precisely 70 literal years, or from 1948 AD to 2018 AD?  This seems logical, even possible given a quick glance considering where things are to day. However, that would be akin to engaging in what is known in these modern times as 'newspaper exegesis.'  There are other key factor involved which allow for more time for all of the pre-70th Week prophecies to achieve independent fulfillment.

No pun intended, but chief among those key factors is the prophecy of Ezekiel 38/39 in conjunction with the literalness of Psalm 90:10 which provides two definitions in terms of years or durations of a single generation: 70 as normal, or 80 of strength.

We must be cognizant that the prophetic Word which came to Ezekiel contains two timelines of prophetic significance. 7 years of burning, and 7 months of burying. In the text it appears as though the burning begins first and then the burying commences. The 7 years of burning the Magog Confederation's weaponry as a form of reciprocal plundering and pillaging is the critical eschatological factor to be considered as the text states this burning occurs over a literal and Biblical (360 days each year) 7-year period of time per Ezekiel 39:9.

Let me be perfectly clear about this conclusion: nothing is 100% certain or dogmatic or date-setting about the time-line interpretation I am presenting here, excepting only that "Eretz-Israel" was declared into its modern existence in a single day just as prophesied by Isaiah 66:8 and Psalm 90:10 defines the number of years in a generation. The Word of God is Supreme. And these two points must be addressed.

The first point is the date which starts the Lord's prophetic time-line with respect to Israel and the last days prophecies. That date was May 14, 1948 AD.  In the declaration of "Eretz Israel" David Ben-Gurion made no mention of borders of "the land," and no mention of the Lord God and His Abrahamic Covenant in their right to re-establish "Eretz-Israel" was made either. The declaration of "Eretz-Israel" was based upon a declared "natural and historic" right based on "the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly" upon which Ben-Gurion and those gathered with him in assembly in Tel Aviv simply declared the existence of the "State of Israel." They signed the very secular Proclamation and placed their "trust in the Almighty" on the 5th day of Iyar, 5708 - 14th May, 1948. Nevertheless, the prophecy of Isaiah 66:8 was precisely fulfilled at that moment, and the prophetic process of the redemption of Israel began.

The second point is that a normal generation per Psalm 90:10 was given a duration of 70 years. If one were to count forward 70 years in time the count would end in mid-2018 AD. However, if we are in a generation of strength, or 80 years per the same Psalm 90:10, that would count forward to 2028 AD.

Getting back to Ezekiel 38:9, I agree with all of my fellow students of the Lord's Word who say that Israel will have to complete this burning of the Magog Confederation's weapons prior to the middle of the 70th Week. Accordingly, IF the 70th Week should commence circa mid-2018, then the middle of the 70th Week would be circa mid-2021 AD plus and additional 6 months (to account for the full 42 months of the first halve of the 70th Week, thereby placing the time further forward to almost 2022 AD.  2022 minus 7 years is 2015, and for me that is just cutting everything a little too close. In fact, it does not work at all.

Therefore, consistent with my belief that this final generation is a Psalm 90:10 generation of strength of 80 years duration, my conclusion is that we must in sound hermeneutic exegesis push these times forward by most if not all of those additional 10 years. I realize folks are most urgently desiring the Lord's return, and pray daily for the Harpazo to occur without delay. However, in so doing in consideration of those additional ten years we allow for the literal fulfillment of Ezekiel 38/39 and the burning of the weaponry for a full 7 years as well as all of the other preceding prophetic wars (Jeremiah 49:34-39, Isaiah 17, Psalm 83 and associated prophecies) to transpire, each in their own time, and from which Ezekiel also declares that Israel will have recovered from, and be living in peace, safety and fearing no enemy when the Gog/Magog launches its attack. And, most importantly, we do nothing with respect to the timing of the Harpazo of the Bride of Christ. The Father will send His Son at a time we do not expect, Even so, Marana'tha!

The Doctrine of Imminence: Have Men Determined That Our Sovereign God Cannot Act According to His Will?

The man-made and so-called “Doctrine of Imminence” has three main tenets according to an article at the Pre-Trib Research Center by Dr. Gerald Stanton, “The Doctrine of Imminency: Is It Biblical? ”  Those three tenets are:

(1) While no one knows the time of Christ's return, He may come at any moment and it is possible that He might come today.

(2) The Rapture is signless, and will be unannounced and largely unexpected.

(3) No clearly prophesied event must transpire prior to the Rapture (Harpazo), for this might date the time of His coming.

While I accept and agree with the first two tenets because they are based solidly upon multiple Scriptures, the third presents a very significant problem because it unilaterally precludes our Sovereign God from any prophetic act according to His will prior to the Rapture (Harpazo) during the present age. This tenet is not based upon any Scripture that I am aware of, and therefore is based upon human error.

Since when can any man or group of men attempt to dogmatically tell other men what our Sovereign God can or cannot do according to His will? 

Since when has any man or group of men determined to dogmatically know the precise order of fulfillment of all prophecies our Lord God has given us in His Word, and when they can or cannot come to literal fulfillment?

What language might one use to describe such a man or group of men holding to such a dogmatic view as this?

This is the error within the third tenet as expressed above. There is nothing within the Word of God which unambiguously states that the Rapture (Harpazo) is the next prophetic event on “the revealed program of God.” How can the third tenet be correct when the tenet which precedes it clearly holds that the Rapture (Harpazo) is signless, unannounced and unexpected?  

I’m not aware of any Scripture wherein God has published His personal calendar of unalterable prophetic events. On the contrary, Scripture clearly tells us that only the Father knows when He will send His Son to collect His Bride.

I maintain that there are numerous prophecies in the Word of God which must come to a literal fulfillment prior to the 70^th Week because they are essential precursor events that will shape the geo-political world that will exist during the 70^th Week.

For the brevity sake I’ll name just a few of the more important among these prophecies.

Have not the prophecies of within Ezekiel 36/37 come to a literal fulfillment in the modern State of Israel?

Is the modern State of Israel not the single stick composed of the house of Joseph and the House of Judah as prophesied? And has this prophecy not come to literal fulfillment within just the past 70 years?

Do not the prophecies of Ezekiel 38.39 foretell of this State of Israel living securely within the land, and is this state of existence not prior to the 70^th Week? And how does Israel achieve this existent sate of safety and security if not for the literal fulfillment of other prophecies such as Isaiah 17, Isaiah 19, Psalm 83, Joshua, 13:1-5 and Jeremiah 49 among still others? Does not Ezekiel provide prophetic proof of this prophetic fulfillment occurring prior to the prophecy of chapters 38 and 39 by saying the following in Ezekiel 28:20-26:

“Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”

Is this prophecy from Ezekiel not mirrored by Isaiah 11:11-15:

^“ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.”

And, to conclude, there is also the prophetic rebuilding of the Temple which the fulfillment of these prophecies will by then have created the conditions for in allowing unfettered construction to occur on Mount Moriah where the previous two Temples once stood on that sacred ground. 

The sovereign will of God is His alone, He determines its course for His purposes; it is not subject to tenet within a man-made doctrine.  The Harpazo will occur when God the Father determines the time for the Son to elope with His Bride and keep her from the wrath that will follow on the Earth.