The Second Coming of Christ: His Appearing, His Return, Our Preparation

By Greg Hinnant

The second coming of Christ is the most anticipated, consequential, and controversial event since His Ascension. For 2,000 years, it has been loved, hated, dreaded, and ignored. Committed Christians have loved it, sinners have hated it, carnal Christians have dreaded it, and lukewarm Christians have ignored it. Thus, it has been yearned for, mocked, feared, and yawned at, and yet debated ad nauseam. But there it is, in Jesus’ own immortal words, “I will come again!” (John 14:3).

Today a turbulent vortex of confusion and controversy swirls around just what Jesus meant and when He is coming. This powerful new book by Greg Hinnant seeks to quell the controversy and clarify the confusion by setting forth God's biblical prophetic plan for Christ's appearing - the rapture - and the amazing divinely scheduled events that follow on earth and in heaven. It also offers much detailed, practical, biblical teaching on how to be prepared for the rapture. Finally, it closes with a very thorough, informative, concisely written comparison of the major Christian End-Times views.

Many books present biblical prophecies about Christ’s Second Coming, but offer little or no Christian living instructions. Others present excellent Christian living instructions, but do not interpret End-Times prophecy. Rich with abundant prophetic and Christian living instructions, this book is truly unique. You will not find another like it!

Described as “a comprehensive handbook for the preparation of the bride of Christ,” it is a must-read for pastors, leaders, and anyone seriously desiring to be ready when Jesus suddenly appears to receive His church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Aug 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662929106

Book preview

PART ONE

PROPHECY

Chapter One

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES (1-9)

ALMOST 2,000 YEARS AGO, Jesus commended His Jewish peers for discerning the signs of the weather, but rebuked them for not recognizing the signs of the times (Matt. 16:1-3). We have come a long way in two millennia. Or have we? Though we predict the weather far more accurately than Jesus’ generation, we are little or no better at discerning our times. They didn’t understand they were living in the season of the First Advent; we don’t yet understand we are living in the season of the Second Advent. For that, we need sign education.

Geographically, a road sign is a poster or marker advising travelers the direction and distance to a desired destination. Prophetically, a sign is any indicator or signal hinting that the fulfillment of prophecy is drawing near. In His End-Times teaching, Jesus repeatedly commanded us to watch. Take heed, watch . . . watch ye . . . I say unto all, Watch (Mk. 13:33-37). Watch for what? Watch for signs—indicators, signals, or nonverbal situational messages—telling us we are nearing our desired destination: the rapture of the church, or sudden catching away of faithful believers to be with Christ forever (Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:49-53; Phil. 3:20-21; Col. 3:1-4; 1 Thess. 1:9-10; 4:13-18). Specifically, the signs for which we watch are fulfillments of biblical prophecies describing the season of the rapture. When all these sign-fulfillments appear, that season, or general extended period in which Christ’s appearing may occur at any moment, has come.

Nothing new, God has always used signs to give hope to believers. When Noah’s dove returned with an olive leaf plucked off, he knew his epic sojourn in the ark was near its end (Gen. 8:10-11). When hiding beside the stone Ezel, David heard Jonathan call to his servant boy, the arrows are beyond you, it was a sign that David’s season of favor with Saul had ended and a new season of persecution had begun (1 Sam. 20:22, NIV). When the wise men saw a brilliant eastern star, they recognized it signaled the birth of the King of Israel, Jesus (Matt. 2:1-8). Later, the same star again guided them to His home in Bethlehem (2:9-11). Before Israel’s King comes again, God will give other signs, or prophetic fulfillments, that will cause wise men and women to know the season of the King’s appearing has come. To be among them, we need prophetic insight.

Prophetic insight is available to every trusting, obedient Christian, directly or indirectly. We receive it directly as the Holy Spirit illuminates our study of Bible prophecy. We receive it indirectly as we receive the instruction of New Testament prophets and prophetic teachers. Of these prophetically gifted ministers, A. W. Tozer wrote:

A prophet is one who knows his times and what God is trying to say to the people of his times . . .

What is needed desperately today is prophetic insight. Scholars can interpret the past; it takes prophets to interpret the present . . .

One hundred years from now historians will know what was taking place religiously in this year of our Lord; but that will be too late for us. We should know right now.¹

We desperately need this prophetic insight because we are living in the End Times, or the terminal period of God’s predetermined dealings with Israel, the church, and the nations. It is even more vital for our leaders, if they are to lead rather than mislead us in these days of destiny. Zechariah, a God-fearing prophetic interpreter who mentored King Uzziah, had understanding in the visions of God (2 Chr. 26:5), and his prophetic instruction was a key factor in Uzziah’s many years of godly leadership. David also was blessed by the prophetic insight of the sons of Issachar, who were men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do (1 Chr. 12:32). Today, more than ever, we need understanding in the visions of the prophets and understanding of the times.

Jesus made it abundantly clear that the precise time of the rapture—the year, month, and day—is His Father’s secret. Even Jesus does not know the day He will appear to retrieve His bride (Mk. 13:32).² But, as a merciful concession, God has given us signs of the times in the Bible. By doing so, He confirmed that, when the season of Christ’s appearing comes, He wants us to know it. Why? To prod us to spiritual readiness (see Matt. 25:6-7).

Each sign discussed below is an event, change, or trend that fulfills some Old or New Testament End-Times prophecy and thereby indicates Christ’s coming is near. As you ponder them, three key facts should leave a lasting impression lingering in your mind:

1. All these signs have appeared in the last 70 to 100 years, mostly in the post-Second World War period.

2. All are historically unprecedented in the 2,000-year history of the church. They are, thus, undeniably, entirely new.

3. All refute last-days unbelievers’ claim that everything has remained the same (2 Pet. 3:4, NLT), with no substantial changes, since the times of the Jewish and Christian fathers, and the beginning of creation (ESV).

In this postmodern world, we read the signs of the weather excellently. It’s time we also read the signs of the times with equal accuracy and confidence. So, please study these signs that tell us the season of Christ’s appearing has come. We will discuss nine signs in this chapter and nine in the next.

The Signs of the Times (1-9)

1. The Modern State of Israel

Nearly all Israel’s sixteen writing prophets predicted that in the last days the Jewish people would regather, not in any land (South America, Uganda, Cyprus),³ but in their divinely given home, the Holy Land. This was necessary to the fulfillment of their much-prophesied Day of the Lord, or kingdom age.⁴ Ezekiel proclaimed, O mountains of Israel . . . I will multiply men upon you (Ezek. 36:8-10). But for 1,900 years, a restored Jewish state in Roman-, Ottoman-, and Arab-held Palestine appeared laughably impossible.

Then, Theodor Herzl’s seminal work, Der Judenstaat [The Jewish State], published in 1896, led to the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in August, 1897. There Jews from many nations gathered to pursue their dream of a restored Jewish homeland. The visionary lexicographer, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was already living in Jerusalem, busily restoring and augmenting the Hebrew language. Through Zionism, God providentially brought together extraordinary individuals who over the following decades built a foundation for a restored Jewish state. David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, Golda Meir, and others worked tirelessly until the modern State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. For the first time in 2,000 years, an autonomous Jewish state populated with regathered, Holocaust-surviving Jews speaking a resurrected Jewish language existed in the ancient Jewish homeland. Against all odds, they won their 1948 war of independence and, for over 70 years since, have not only survived, but thrived—despite being surrounded by implacably hateful Arab states and enduring ongoing wars, conflicts, terrorism, and UN condemnation!

Without question, Israel’s amazing national rebirth was an unprecedented event, and it occurred after the Second World War.

2. Jerusalem and The Temple Mount Retaken

After Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, it possessed only the western half of Jerusalem and thus had no control over the temple mount. Yet Old and New Testament prophets foresaw Israel possessing all Jerusalem, and Antichrist desecrating a Jewish-held third temple there, in the last days (Dan. 9:24-27; Zech. 14:1-2; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 11:1-2). Considering the increasingly adamant Arab animosity, and the UN partition authorizing Jordanian control of east Jerusalem, Jewish repossession of the temple mount seemed out of reach.

Then came the Six-Day War in June 1967. Acting preemptively to prevent an imminent Egyptian-led Arab invasion, Israel crippled the Arabs’ air power and went on the offensive, soon retaking east Jerusalem and the temple mount—for the first time in over 1,900 years!⁵ This key terrain remains in Israeli control.

This full repossession of Jerusalem and the temple mount by the Jewish people was unprecedented in the post-Roman era, and it occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century!

3. Weapons of Mass Destruction

Paul prophesied the last days would be perilous times (2 Tim. 3:1), or extremely dangerous,⁶ and, just before the Tribulation, the world would be calling for peace and safety (1 Thess. 5:2).

He was envisioning our thermonuclear age, which began at the close of the Second World War with the advent of first, nuclear (1945), and then, thermonuclear weapons (1956). Since then, increasingly destructive WMD (weapons of mass destruction), land- and submarine-based ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), and other delivery systems, have made our world frighteningly insecure.⁷ The list of twenty-first century mega-killers is chilling: nuclear, thermonuclear, and neutron bombs; chemical and biological weapons; and nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapons (EMPs), which can bring cities, even nations, to a standstill. While the Cold War perils were great, they increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991), whose scientists subsequently sold thermonuclear technologies to nations previously denied them (India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran). With this new, increased doomsday potential, nations are crying more than ever, peace and safety.

Why did Paul foresee these conditions immediately preceding the Tribulation? WMDs and ICBMs will surely be used during the Tribulation wars, which will severely depopulate the earth, first, by one-fourth of its population (Rev. 6:7-8), and later, by one-third (9:15-18). Also, the Tribulation officially begins when Israel’s secular government initiates (or renews) a 7-year treaty with Antichrist (Dan. 9:27)—in hopes of gaining peace and safety from annihilation by WMDs!

These perilous times of weapons of mass destruction are unprecedented in world history, and they have come in the latter half of the twentieth century.

4. Increasing Wars

Jesus warned wars and rumors of wars will mark the beginnings of sorrows, or the start of the 7-year Tribulation period (Matt. 24:4-8). Revelation’s account of that period agrees, closely tracking the same perils Jesus cited and identifying the false Christ (Antichrist) as the cause of this dramatically increased aggression (Rev. 6:1-8). But before the war-filled, 7-year Tribulation begins, armed conflicts will increase in the final years of this church age. This is part of the ominous prelude introducing the themes of the major work of divine judgment yet to follow.

It is generally agreed that there have been more wars in the twentieth century than in any other, and that they have caused more deaths. Roughly, an astounding 941 wars or armed conflicts began between 1900 to 1999!⁸ So, almost every day of the twentieth century there were wars and rumors of wars in some part of the world! Over 50 conflicts were considered major wars,⁹ including two massive World Wars. Various sources estimate twentieth-century armed conflicts caused 160 to 175 million deaths, military and civilian, mostly in the two great global conflicts. This twenty-first century is no safer. Today even the smallest conflict potentially threatens world security, since it could quickly escalate to involve major powers possessing WMDs.

Also, two new frightening military concepts were introduced during the twentieth century: total war and blitzkrieg. Total war is unrestricted warfare, in which a nation’s entire population, resources, and economy are engaged in waging war and thus not only its military assets but also its infrastructure and civilian population are considered legitimate targets, and conventional rules of war are disregarded. While surprise attacks and ambushes have been used for millennia, blitzkrieg, or lightning war, was developed during the Second World War by Nazi Germany. This style of military aggression uses carefully coordinated air, land, and sea forces to quickly overwhelm a nation’s defenses and force its capitulation within a matter of days, or even hours. Daniel and Revelation tell us Antichrist’s military forces will be awesome, cause massive destruction, and enable him to conquer first nations, and then the world, very rapidly (Dan. 7:8, 20-21, 24; 8:24; Rev. 13:4-7). When combined with the recent threat of WMDs discussed earlier, total warfare and blitzkrieg will make the Tribulation the most terrifying season of war in human history bar none.

So, the prelude has already begun sounding one of the themes of the coming time of judgment. Daily wars and rumors of wars involving nations possessing, or soon to possess, WMDs appear in our news. This prelude tells us God’s major work of judgment—the Tribulation—is very near. And since the Tribulation cannot begin until the Holy Spirit catches away the church in the rapture (2 Thess. 2:6-8), Christ’s appearing is even nearer!

The number and lethality of the twentieth century’s wars are historically unprecedented, and rumors of wars have increased significantly from its beginning to the present.

5. European Reunification

In the sixth century BC, Daniel prophesied the coming rise of the Roman beast empire (Dan. 2:33; 7:7). He then added that, after its demise, it would rise again as a ten-nation federation led by a little horn (Antichrist) who would conquer and oppress Israel in the last days: I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints [Jews], and prevailed (Dan. 7:21; see 7:24-25). For the next twenty-six centuries there was neither a ten-nation Roman federation nor an autonomous nation of Israel for that federation’s leader to conquer and oppress. But this changed after the Second World War.

The Modern State of Israel emerged quickly after the war, as discussed earlier. Soon after, with Europe ravaged by war for the second time in thirty years, European leaders decided drastic changes were needed. Europe’s long and bitterly divided nations would unite! If their economies were linked, they reasoned, war would be much less likely and their chance to compete with the then-dominant American and Soviet economies much more likely. Thus, the European Common Market (European Economic Community), the precursor to the current European Union, was formed in 1958, with six nations participating. In time, this alliance grew into the prosperous and powerful European Union, which currently has 27 member states (2022) and governs the economies, currency (Euro), emigration, law, climate, social issues, and other areas of its citizens’ lives in a representative democracy.¹⁰ Not since the fall of western Rome in AD 476 has any ruler successfully unified Europe. Holy Roman emperors, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, they all failed. But the EU has succeeded . . . for nearly seventy years.

It remains an open question how Daniel’s ten-nation European federation will come into being: will certain EU states withdraw and form a new ten-nation union? Perhaps including other western nations? Will a crisis arise that causes many EU states to secede, leaving it with only ten states? (In 2020, for instance, the United Kingdom withdrew.) This remains unknown and may not be answered for some time. But one thing we know: European nations have stopped warring and begun prospering together economically and politically for the first time since the fall of western Rome. Before 1945, a united Europe was laughable. Today, no one’s laughing.

Europe’s surprisingly successful reunification is historically unprecedented, and it has occurred after the Second World War.

6. Worldwide Rapid Mass Transportation

In the sixth century BC, an angel informed Daniel that, in the time of the end, many shall run to and fro (Dan. 12:4). Or, Many will go back and forth (NAS); or many will rush here and there (NLT); or, many will travel everywhere (GW). This describes: (1) mass transit, many will go; (2) rapid transit, rush; (3) commuting traffic, go back and forth; and (4) it is occurring not nationwide (in Israel only) but worldwide, travel everywhere. Finally, all these things will occur in the time of the end, or the terminal period of Israel’s predetermined history, just before and during its 70th week of years (the Tribulation) (Dan. 9:24-27).

For the next twenty-six centuries, there was no mass transit, or many rushing. At most, ships carried only a few hundred passengers at a time through the nineteenth century. Nor was there rapid transit. People moved about slowly, on foot or by donkeys, horses, wagons, sailing vessels or galleys; the advent of steamships in the 1800s made maritime travel slightly faster. Commuting was not common, as people generally worked near their homes. So, for 2,600 years after Daniel’s prophecy, there was no worldwide rapid mass transportation. Not a hint of it.

As the twentieth century dawned, travel changed little, though strange, new horseless carriages began emerging. Mass transit meant only a few dozen travelers on streetcars or a few hundred on ocean liners or trains. Commercial aviation grew significantly during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, making transportation more rapid and common, but air travel was still used mostly by the rich, privileged, or daring. Ordinary people preferred the older, slower, surer means of travel. During this period automobiles and trucks increased dramatically also, making land travel faster for individuals and goods.

When the 1950s arrived, transportation exploded worldwide. American superhighways, like Germany’s Autobahn, made travel by car or truck much faster. Most importantly, jet airliners emerged and travelers began preferring to cross continents and oceans by air rather than on ships and trains. Travel time was reduced significantly. Trips formerly taking weeks or days now took a matter of hours. Consequently, air travel was increasingly preferred for business and pleasure trips and cargo shipments. With Boeing’s nearly 400-seat 747 Jumbo Jet beginning service in 1970, annual air travelers soared into the millions. Proliferation of corporate and private jets, and even supersonic airliners (SST), made long trips or commutes easy and quick, though not inexpensive. Today (2022), the Airbus A380, when fitted for single seating, can carry over 800 passengers! Every day, hundreds of thousands of commercial and private flights and millions of passengers are in the air all around the world, while millions more traverse highways, municipal transit systems, and high-speed rail services nonstop. We are Daniel’s prophecy come to life. We have mass transportation, it is rapid, we commute vast distances regularly, this is happening worldwide, and, as previously shown, we are at the doorstep of Israel’s time of the end, or Tribulation.

This worldwide rapid mass transportation is historically unprecedented and has developed since the 1950s.

7. Rapidly Increasing Knowledge and Technology

Daniel prophesied that, in the time of the end, knowledge shall be increased (Dan. 12:4). This predicts a rapid growth of human knowledge in the last days. The apostle John added to Daniel’s revelation by prophesying that people from every nation would see the two witnesses of the Great Tribulation lying dead in Jerusalem’s streets and their subsequent resurrection and ascension to heaven (Rev. 11:7-12). Yet for centuries no technology existed by which this could happen. So, John implies there will be remarkable new technologies in the End Times.

Human knowledge has not been precisely measured and documented down the centuries, due to the sheer size of such an accounting and because, especially in modern times, different fields of knowledge are advancing at different rates of growth. So, we are forced to use the best estimates available.

One source frequently cited, futurist R. Buckminster Fuller, estimated that, before the twentieth century, recorded human knowledge doubled every century. After the Second World War (1945), however, it was doubling every 25 years. And by the 1980s, it was doubling every 12-13 months. IBM estimates that, in today’s Internet-aided world, recorded human knowledge is doubling even more rapidly, astonishingly, approximately every 12 hours!¹¹

Human knowledge has experienced major leaps forward as the means of recording information has progressed. Writing began with cuneiform in Sumer (Mesopotamia) in the fourth millennia BC. The invention of the western printing press (Germany) in the 1430s greatly increased communication and thereby the recording and transmission of knowledge. When the Internet (world wide web) went public in the 1990s, communication and knowledge skyrocketed again. Each of these huge leaps—writing, printing, the world wide web—resulted in an exponential growth of recorded human knowledge.

Today (2022), while all fields of human knowledge are growing rapidly, science and technology are growing the fastest. As I write, wireless Internet access makes it possible for anyone anywhere on or above the earth—in jungles, deserts, mountain summits, mid-ocean, the sky, even in space stations—to access and increase the world’s aggregate recorded knowledge in any field. All this fulfills Daniel’s ancient prophecy, knowledge shall increase.

And satellite TV technology introduced in the 1960s, and Internet streaming software introduced in the 1990s, now makes it possible for the fulfillment of John’s prediction that the whole world will see the two witnesses’ death, resurrection, and ascension simultaneously in real time.

This rapid, vast increase in human knowledge and technologies is historically unprecedented, and it has occurred in the post Second World War era.

8. Worldwide Preaching of The Gospel

Jesus prophesied the gospel would be, not received by, but preached to, all the world before the end comes: This gospel . . . shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matt. 24:14). In this prophetic context, He is describing the worldwide evangelism of 144,000 converted Jews during the first part of the Tribulation (Rev. 7:1-8); they will reach all nations, beginning with Israel, with the message of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) before the end, or the Great Tribulation and Armageddon, comes (see Matt. 24:15-28; Rev. 13:4-18). But, as with other signs of the approaching Tribulation, there will be a buildup, or noticeable increase, of evangelism just prior to the Tribulation during the last years of this present church age.

After Pentecost, for centuries the gospel spread westward—from Palestine to Syria, Asia Minor (and Egypt), Greece, Rome, Saxony (Germany), the Netherlands, England, and North America. Then missionaries began increasingly visiting the remaining continents. First, the Catholics evangelized Latin America (1400s, 1500s) and the Orient. Later, Protestant missionaries (Moravians, Separatists, Baptists, others) began crossing oceans with the Good News (1600s, 1700s). Protestant evangelism grew significantly in the nineteenth century, as missionaries translated and printed the Bible in many languages, and missionary and Bible societies increased.

Then, in the twentieth century, evangelism exploded due to many factors: increased Bible translation; more missionaries; global missionary organizations; international evangelistic ministries; worldwide Bible distribution networks; jet air travel; mass media communications (radio, satellite TV, movies); and the Internet. It is estimated that Billy Graham’s ministry alone presented the gospel to over 200 million people in over 180 countries during the last half of the twentieth century. It is also claimed that the preaching of South African evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, the Billy Graham of Africa, resulted in some 79 million conversions.

In this twenty-first century, millions of Internet websites, YouTube videos, and mass emailings, accessible on personal computers, iPads, iPhones, and other handheld devices, have put written and audible evangelistic messages, Bible translations, biblical teaching, and entire biblical libraries within the reach of nearly every living soul. For example, as of May 2020, The Jesus Film alone has been translated into over 1,800 languages, reached an estimated 8.1 billion people in over 200 countries, and led to over 500 million conversions since its release in 1979.¹² Despite such mass evangelism, and millions of individuals and ministers sharing the gospel daily, it is estimated that over 7,300 ethnic groups are still considered unreached people groups, meaning (a) they have never heard of Jesus, or the true facts about Him and the gospel, and (b) their ethnic group doesn’t have enough indigenous churches to present the gospel to them without outside help. Nevertheless, every day global missions and evangelistic ministries are presenting this gospel of the kingdom to more and more unreached people and we are rapidly nearing the moment when Jesus will catch away His church and we will pass the baton of worldwide evangelism to 144,000 Jews to finish the global gospel race.

The gospel’s vastly increased global reach through Christian mass media, international evangelism, and worldwide missions is unprecedented, and it has developed most significantly in the last 70 to 100 years.

9. The Great Apostasy

The apostle Paul prophesied a great, final falling away,¹³ or defection or revolt from biblical truth and faith, would occur just before Christ’s appearing and the subsequent rise of Antichrist to begin the Tribulation phase of the Day of the Lord: that day [of the Lord] shall not come, except there come the falling away first (2 Thess. 2:3). Apostasies have occurred periodically in church history, but never on the scale Paul envisioned. We are experiencing this final falling away now and you may wonder, how did we get here?

After merging with Rome in the fourth century, the church became an integral part of European culture. Consequently, even many pagans esteemed the Bible as God’s Word. This carried over into the new world, as even unchurched Americans, from the seventeenth to the late-twentieth century, retained some respect for the Bible, even if they chose sin over the Savior. But not now.

Denying there is any absolute truth, postmodern philosophers and academics smugly reject the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible and dismiss it as a deceptive, mythological metanarrative. This is Satan’s big lie to discredit the Bible. Why? When the Bible is discredited, our faith, which is fed and guided by its message, is undermined, and we lose confidence in the veracity and authority of its text and the integrity of its Author. Soon we stop believing and obeying God’s Word altogether.

This most recent apostasia has spread through every strata of our society, included many of our seminaries, which now produce ministers who openly doubt the veracity of the Bible they expound on Sunday mornings. Consequently, many Millennials, the generation reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century, are most affected by all this, as many of them are unchurched and biblically illiterate. Why study a Bible or worship a Christ widely considered to be unreliable? To fill this void, humanistic science, political correctness, (so-called) social justice, social media, faith in human goodness, and truth by polling have arisen as the new gods to be lauded and trusted. And instead of converting this erring generation, far too many churches, weakened by their own doubts, are being subverted by it. How did we come to this radical falling away from biblical truth and faith?

This grand-scale defection from biblical truth occurred over several centuries. It began with the enlightenment philosophers of the 1600s and 1700s, who rejected biblical revelation, insisting truth could be known only by human reason and scientific method. In the 1800s, historical criticism arose in Europe, and then biblical criticism—viewing the Bible as merely human literature to be analyzed with skepticism rather than accepted by faith.¹⁴ In the 1900s, biblical criticism gave rise to theological liberalism—the belief the Bible contains, but is not entirely, God’s Word. As the twentieth century progressed, so did theological liberalism until, from the mid-twentieth century to the present, it has infiltrated many seminaries, even those traditionally evangelical.

Today belief in the inspiration and veracity, and thus the authority, of the Bible is at an all-time low.¹⁵ Many pastors are being ordained who doubt the inerrancy of the Bible.¹⁶ As a result, Bible exposition has decreased in many churches, and, without binding biblical standards, immorality and spiritual confusion have rapidly increased. Instead of protesting them, many American churches condone or embrace biblically condemned practices, such as: abortion; fornication; homosexuality; lesbianism; bisexuality; gender reassignment or fluidity; and other things that for 2,000 years have been considered sin—or madness! So-called progressive Christianity has compromised virtually every core evangelical belief to conform to these current trends and avoid rejection by a growing anti-Bible, anti-Christian, antichrist public. Yet even this shocking falling away is serving God’s sovereign purpose, because it confirms the Bible’s prophecy of a great falling away just before Jesus appears!

The current radical apostasy is historically unprecedented, and it has increased significantly since the mid-twentieth century.

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IN CHAPTER ONE, we discussed nine of the eighteen unprecedented, recently fulfilled, biblical signs of the times that indicate Christ’s appearing is near. In the next chapter, we will discuss nine more in order to build in our minds a deep assurance, a rock-solid foundation of confidence, that we are indeed living in the End Times.

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1. Tozer, A. W., Of God and Men, (Moody Publishers; Chicago, IL), 1960, 20-23.

2. This accords with Jewish wedding customs of Jesus’ day, in which the bridegroom’s father alone determined when his son, after completing the wedding chamber, would be released to retrieve his bride and begin the wedding week.

3. These were some locations proposed by Theodor Herzl and others for a Jewish homeland; all were ultimately rejected by Zionist Jews in favor of the Holy Land.

4. For more on Israel’s Day of the Lord, see: Hinnant, Greg, The Day of The Lord Commentary: Interpreting Old Testament End-Times Prophecy (Columbus, OH; Gatekeeper Press), 2021.

5. Though the Third Temple is not yet under construction, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem is busily producing sacred objects and operational plans for it in anticipation of its construction. See: www.templeinstitute.org (accessed 5/05/2022).

6. Perilous is taken from a Greek word (chalepos) meaning very violent, dangerous, harsh, regrettable. See: Spicq, C., & Ernest, J. D., Theological Lexicon of The New Testament (Peabody, MA; Hendrickson Publishers), 1994, s. v., chalepos.

7. Germany’s use of chemical weapons in the First World War was a dreadful harbinger of the coming age of WMDs. Japan also used biological weapons against China with devastating effectiveness during the Second World War.

8. This is a reliable rough estimate, based upon Wikipedia’s current data. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lists_of_wars_in_the_20th_century (accessed 5/5/2022).

9. See: https://www.historyguy.com/major_wars_20th_century.htm (accessed 5/5/2022).

10. For more information, see the official website of the European Union at: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en (accessed 5/5/2022).

11. While Internet connectivity, networking, AI (artificial intelligence), computer hardware and software development, scientific research, technological advances, and scholarly collaboration have grown exponentially in recent decades, not every field of human knowledge is growing at this warp speed. But, unquestionably, many are.

12. See: https://www.jesusfilm.org/about/learn-more/statistics.html (accessed 5/5/2022).

13. Falling away is taken from the Greek apostasia, meaning, defection, revolt, rebellion, abandonment. Apostasy is the natural result of sustained unbelief. If one comes to believe God’s Word is false, one naturally revolts against it, and God, and abandons Him and His faithful servants, going over to the other side. For definition, see: Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., and McKenzie, R., A Greek-English Lexicon, (Oxford University / Clarendon Press; Oxford, UK), 1996, s. v. apostasia.

14. Three major atheistic influencers, Darwin, Freud, and Marx, also arose in the nineteenth century. Their writings rendered the historic Creator, Great Physician, and Law Giver nonexistent, impotent, or obsolete in the minds of millions.

15. A 2017 Gallup poll reports only 24% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal Word of God, and this is the lowest percentage in Gallup’s 40-year trend. See: https://news.gallup.com/poll/210704/record-few-americans-believe-bible-literal-word-god.aspx (accessed 5/5/2022).

16. A very recent (May 2022) Cultural Research Center nationwide survey conducted by Dr. George Barna finds as few as 37% of American Christian pastors hold a biblical worldview. See: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2022/05/12/shocking-lack-of-biblical-worldview-among-american-pastors/ (accessed 5/25/2022).

Chapter Two

MORE SIGNS OF THE TIMES (10-18)

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, we researched nine signs of the last days, each being fulfilled in the very recent past and each telling us Jesus’ appearing is drawing very near.

Now let’s review nine more of these End-Times indicators given in Old and New Testament prophecy, beginning with sign 10.

The Signs of the Times (10-18)

10. The Laodicean Generation

In Revelation 2-3, Jesus sent messages to the churches in seven cities in Asia Minor. Laodicea was the last He addressed (Rev. 3:14-22).

These messages are not only historic, but also prophetic. They obviously describe seven churches existing in AD 95. Yet they also foreshadow seven successive periods in church history from the first century to the rapture.¹ Therefore, at the end of the church age, many churches will be like the Laodiceans, of whom Jesus gave this very unflattering assessment:

(16) Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew [vomit] thee out of my mouth.

(17) Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

—REVELATION 3:16-17

So, Jesus was telling us that the last generation of Christians, like the Laodiceans, will be: rich, or materially wealthy; increased with goods, or inundated and dominated by many consumer goods; [in] need of nothing, or boastfully self-sufficient, without a sense of needing anyone’s help, even God’s; wretched, and miserable, or deeply discontent and spiritually barren, despite their boasting and wealth; poor, neither having nor seeking spiritual riches; blind, or without spiritual discernment of their times, God’s working, or Satan’s; naked, or living after their flesh instead of clothing themselves in Christ’s righteousness; lukewarm, or neither hot with devotion nor cold with unbelief, neither zealously holy nor enthusiastically immoral, but consistently compromised; and knowest [know] not, or unaware of their true spiritual condition, because their sins have deceived them. This boastfully proud, spiritually lukewarm, morally compromised, covetous, discontent, self-deceived condition sickened Him: I will spew [vomit] thee out of my mouth (v. 16). How did they get in this low condition?

The final apostasy described previously has helped make many Christians, especially American, Laodicean in spirit. While the original Laodiceans’ faults have existed throughout church history, no people or period has been more Laodicean than post-Second World War Americans. Our post-war economic boom, which was a blessing, became a stumbling block. Far too many American Christians did not respond humbly by diligently thanking, worshiping, obeying, and personally seeking the One who so lavishly blessed us (and other Allies) with victory in history’s greatest global conflict and a vigorous post-war economy. Modern conveniences, technological advances, and great national wealth created a material standard of living never before witnessed on earth. Many American Christians fell, slowly but surely, from true spiritual living to living only for pleasure, prosperity, or political power. This trend increased dramatically as the century closed. Since the 1980s, far too many have become, as Paul prophesied, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:4). We are now more Laodicean than the Laodiceans.

Mammon has mastered us; we depend on our worldly wealth—or our credit, forgetting our heavenly Shepherd. Yet we are poor, knowing little or nothing of spiritual wealth. Consumer goods have consumed us and our spiritual potential. We live for our net worth, not our new worth in Christ. Instead of being self-examining, we are self-exalting. We boast on our own abilities and accomplishments rather than God’s amazing grace, power, and wisdom. We imagine politics are more powerful than the gospel. We feel we have need of nothing, even Christ, and show it by neglecting to seek Him and obey His Word and Spirit earnestly every day. We respect Christ, but give our true love and worship to the successful, rich, popular, and powerful. Despite our wealth, goods, and pride, inwardly we remain wretched, and miserable. We are blind to God’s hand working in our lives and Satan’s wiles in our culture. We are naked, with our fleshly natures and lusts on full, embarrassing display. Some carnal Christians are literally naked—immodestly dressed, binging on pornography, living in fornication, pursuing random Internet sex hookups, having abortions, or even joining Christian naturist (nudist) groups!

With our devotional fires burning low, if at all, we are neither cold nor hot concerning key moral issues and core doctrines. Christ meant us to be a prophetic, moralizing, healing influence on our culture, but we have become captivated, degraded, and injured by it, just as Lot and his daughters were by Sodom (see Gen. 19:30-38). The surest proof of our Laodiceanism is the longevity of the unprecedently bold false prosperity doctrine that has entranced millions worldwide since the 1970s and persists to this day.

Yet, amazingly, just as Jesus offered hope to the Laodiceans, He is also calling us to repent (Rev. 3:18-19). If we respond, He is abundantly able to restore, train, test, and transform us before He appears (3:20-22).

Our generation’s hyper-Laodiceanism is unprecedented in church history, and it has arisen after the Second World War.

11. Exploding World Population

In AD 95, the apostle John prophesied something that, at the time, was preposterous: a 200-million-man army, marching from the east, killing one-third of the world’s population as it fought its way westward during a time of great trouble: And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand (Rev. 9:16), or 200 million mounted troops (NLT). For the next 1,900 years, this scenario remained preposterous.

In John’s day, the entire world population was much less than 200 million and it remained so for many centuries. Not until 1804 did the world population reach one billion. It did not reach two billion until 1930. Since that time, nearly 1,900 years after John’s prophecy, it has been increasing exponentially, as follows:

• 3 billion in 1960

• 4 billion in 1974

• 5 billion in 1987

• 6 billion in 1999

• 7 billion in 2011

Today, the world’s estimated population is fast approaching 8 billion (7.9 billion, May 2022). Population experts expect us to reach that mark by the end of 2022 or sometime in 2023.²

Even more importantly, in 1965, China announced its ability to field an army of 200 million. This was a watershed moment in human and church history, not only that one nation could field such a massive force but that that nation was China. Why? John also stated the 200-million-strong army would come from the east, cross the Euphrates River, and fight (unsuccessfully) for world domination (Rev. 9:14-15; 16:12). For 1,900 years, China, though populous, was isolated from the west and, despite some significant inventions and cultural advances, remained largely backwards by modern western standards. Never was it a threat to even attempt ruling the world. But, since the communist takeover in 1949, China’s influence has been growing. At the start of the twentieth century Britain dominated the world and Japan was the superpower of the east. During the Second World War, however, Japan’s military power and regional ambitions were crushed. After the war, America and the Soviet Union became the world’s two superpowers, with China, still mostly rural and backward, lagging far behind. But in the 1970s, China began opening its doors to America and the west, and since the 1990s, its economy and military have been growing fast. Consequently, of late, the world scenario has changed drastically.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. And America, though briefly the world’s lone superpower, has been steadily declining in geopolitical influence during this twenty-first century. Meanwhile, China’s influence has been steadily growing. It now has the world’s largest population (1.4 billion), the second-largest (and fastest-growing) economy, can easily field a military force of 200 million, openly seeks world domination, and its atheistic communist government is growing more belligerent toward America and the west daily. Its regional communist ally, North Korea, led by the murderous, self-deifying, Kim Jong-un, also has a large military force with thermonuclear capabilities and has been belligerent toward America since the 1950s. Therefore, these two nations, China and North Korea, will almost surely field the massive military coalition of the kings of the east that John envisioned. Though impossible for twenty centuries, this fulfillment is not only possible but also probable as I write (2022).

The exploding world population and rising influence of the east is unprecedented, and this has occurred largely after the Second World War.

12. Knowledge of End-Times Prophecy

An angel ordered Daniel to shut up the words, and seal the book of his prophecies until the time of the end (Dan. 12:4), adding Daniel’s words were (spiritually) closed up and sealed (12:9), or to remain secret and sealed (CJB), until then. But he assured Daniel in the time of the end, the wise shall understand his (and other prophetic) visions with full clarity, because God will unseal or open them (12:10). Thus, God will give increased, and ultimately full, insight into End-Times prophecies as the season of their fulfillment draws near. Or, we will know what we need to know when we need to know it.

As predicted, Daniel’s End-Times prophecies were sealed, or not widely and clearly understood, for centuries. Why? One reason was eschatology (the study of the last things) has been arguably the slowest developing branch of Christian theology. Several factors contributed to this.

For the first three centuries, church leaders looked for Christ’s imminent return and Christians greeted each other with maranatha, or the Lord comes! But despite this, many did not study prophecy, including Daniel, in depth. They were too busy surviving the sporadic, deadly Jewish and Roman persecutions. Instead, they focused generally on understanding other more vital theologies, such as, salvation, the person and work of Christ, and the Godhead, while busily refuting many emerging heresies. In the fifth century, when the leading theologian, Augustine, interpreted Revelation allegorically, amillennialism became the church’s primary eschatological outlook. Subsequently, the expectation of a literal fulfillment of End-Times prophecy and the imminent, personal return of Christ declined. During the Reformation era, most theologians were occupied with researching and debating its great doctrinal controversies: salvation by grace alone, justification by faith alone, the sole authority of Scripture, the papacy, a vernacular translation of the Bible, Marian doctrine, purgatory, and many other issues. So, for the next two centuries, eschatology was not ardently pursued.

In the last two centuries, however, prophetic interest revived. This is not coincidental but providential, as it has coincided with the previously discussed Zionist movement, the reestablishment of Israel, and the retaking of Jerusalem, all of which revived Jewish and Christian hopes of