All believers are commanded to watch for
the return of Jesus:
Watch
therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. (Matthew 24.42)
Looking for
the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2.13)
How do we watch
and look for the return of Jesus Christ? There is only one way and that is by
watching for the warning signs that must precede the
Rapture.
Many prophecy
teachers claim that the Rapture can take place at any moment and there are no
more signs that must be fulfilled before that glorious day. This claim is not
biblical.
Here are the warning
signs that have already been fulfilled and those which will be
fulfilled before the Rapture:
Seven major end-times
prophecies have already been fulfilled:
1. Balfour Declaration (Zephaniah 2.1a)
2. Return of the Jews to Israel (Ezekiel 37.1-14;
Zephaniah 2.1-2)
3. The two World Wars – birth pains (Matthew
24.6-8)
4. Founding of the United Nations (Luke 21.29-32)
5. Israel becomes a nation (Matthew 24.34)
6. Capture of Jerusalem – end of “times of Gentiles” (Luke 21.24)
7. Gaza abandoned by Israel (Zephaniah 2.4).
Eight other major end-times prophecies are currently being fulfilled:
1. Breakdown of morality and society (2 Timothy
3.1-5)
2. The “falling
away” (2 Thess. 2.3; 2 Timothy 2.1-5; 4.3-4)
3. Conflict between the corporations and workers
(James 5.4-6).
4. Increase in travel and knowledge (Daniel 12.4)
5. Rise of anti-Semitism (Psalm 83)
6. Resurgence of the homosexual movement (Luke
17.28-29)
7. Mark of the Beast technology (Revelation 13.15-18).
8. Israel dwelling securely (Ezekiel 38.8, 11, 14).
The nine warning
signs that take place, from a few years to several months, before the
Tribulation are:
1. Destruction of Russia, Islam, Egypt (Ezek.
38.1-39.16; 30.1-5)
2. First conversion of Israel and Gentiles (Ezekiel
39.7)
3. Rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon (Zechariah
5.5-11)
4. Moving the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church
from
Rome to Babylon (Zechariah 5.1-5)
5. World church and the False Prophet (Rev. 17.1-5,
18; 13.11-17)
6. World economy (Revelation 13.15-18)
7. World government (Daniel 7.23)
8. World government breaks into 10 divisions (Daniel
7.24)
9. Rebuilding the Temple (Revelation 11.1-2; 2
Thessalonians 2.4)
The five warning
signs that take place a short time before the Tribulation are:
1. Rise of Antichrist (Daniel 7.20, 24; Revelation
6.1-2; 13.1-10)
2. The “overflowing
scourge” (Joel 2.1-11)
3.
Appearing of Elijah (Malachi 4.5)
4. A time of “peace and safety” (1 Thessalonians 5.3)
5. Signs of a covenant between Antichrist and Israel
(Isaiah 28.15).
The final warning
signs that take place on the day the Tribulation starts are:
1. Signs in space and on Earth (Joel 2.30-31)
2. Distress and fear among the nations (Luke
21.25-27)
We must remember Jesus rebuked the religious leaders
of His time for not knowing the time they were living in:
Ye
hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and the heaven;
but how is it that ye know not how to interpret this time? (Luke 12.56)
Jesus
rebuked the Pharisees for not knowing the time of His First Coming. They
failed to analyze the time they were living in. They missed the signs of the First Coming of the
Messiah. If we do not “watch” for the signs of the Tribulation we will also not be ready when Christ
returns.
All
of these warning signs must be
fulfilled before the start of the Rapture. Christians should keep close
“watch” of their
fulfillment. As they are fulfilled we will understand that the Rapture is
that much closer. The Antichrist will sign the covenant with Israel on the
day of the Rapture Day (Daniel 9.27), but we will not see it since we will
have been raptured earlier.