Most Christians believe that today is no different than any other previous period in human history. They remind us that there have been earthquakes, wars, severe famines, and pestilences throughout history. “So, what makes today unique?” they ask.
Israel. The existence of Israel as a nation alone signifies that today is a time like no other. The Lord told Isaiah that Israel would become a nation again in just one day (Isaiah 66:8), and on May 14, 1948, and just as He predicted so long ago, the Jewish state miraculously emerged after a 2,000-year absence. Nothing like that had ever happened throughout all of human history.
Many voices in the past pointed to Israel’s reemergence as a harbinger of the last days.
Irenaeus (AD 130-202), an early church leader and prominent theologian, wrote Against Heresies in AD 180 to combat the spread of Gnosticism. Writing 110 years after the Roman army under Titus destroyed the second Jewish temple, Irenaeus wrote that there would be a third temple that the antichrist would defile. He believed that at His Second Coming, Jesus would cast the defiler into the lake of fire, just as John wrote about in Revelation 19:19-20.
Later in life, Isaac Newton spent several years studying the books of Daniel and Revelation, writing copious notes. Six years after his death, others used his handwritten notations to publish his two-volume work, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John. Newton’s detailed study of these books led to his prediction that Israel would again become a nation over 250 years before it happened. He recognized the necessary link between Israel’s reemergence as a nation and the fulfillment of future Bible prophecy.
In the early 1900s, many Bible scholars scoffed at C.I. Scofield because he wrote about the Gog/Magog battle of Ezekiel 38-39 with Russia leading an invasion of Israel. At the time, there was no Jewish state, and Russia was a Christian nation. Like Irenaeus and Isaac Newton, Scofield and others of his day knew that Israel would again become a nation because the Bible said it would happen in the latter days before Jesus’ Second Coming.
The events in Israel since 1948 also signify that our homegoing is ever so close. Based on their study of God’s Word, both Irenaeus and Isaac Newton believed there would be a Jewish temple in the last days. Although Israel doesn’t yet have control of the Temple Mount so as to start its construction, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem is training Levites to serve as priests. And the Israeli government is building and planning infrastructure to support the vast number of visitors who will come to see the future temple. It’s only a matter of time before a temple appears in Jerusalem in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
The passion that currently exists within Israel to build the temple is what we would expect leading up to the seven-year Tribulation when the antichrist will fulfill prophecy by defiling it (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-16; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).
The current Middle East war also signifies that we live in the last days. The over-the-top determination of Iran and its proxies to destroy Israel is not rationally driven, but is, rather, demonically inspired. Before 1948, Satan inspired Hitler and the Nazis to kill all the Jews and thus prevent the formation of the Jewish state, which was already in the works. Since May 14, 1948, he has continued his dogged determination to wipe out Israel and thus thwart the Lord’s plans for Jerusalem and the Jews.
The heightened antisemitism of our day also signifies that our time is rather short before the Lord appears to take us up to glory. The Bible warns that there will be another holocaust during the second half of the seven-year Tribulation. What we already see in our day will become increasingly violent until it reaches its height during the last half of the Tribulation.
Israel’s existence puts all the other signs of the last days in perspective. The many signs warning that the seal judgments of Revelation chapter 6 are ever so near take on added significance because we know this is a time like no other, as the world’s attention on Jerusalem continues to grow, just like the Bible said would happen in the last days (Zechariah 12:1-3).
Israel’s existence also alerts us to the convergence of all the other signs, warning the world that the Tribulation period is rapidly approaching. For us, nothing has to happen prophetically between now and when we meet Jesus in the air.
As the signs of the last days continue to multiply, we know that it’s just a matter of time before our Savior appears and takes us to the place He’s preparing for us in Heaven (John 14:2-3).
