You Are Here: Identifying our Nearness to the End – Part 3
In the past two articles we’ve looked at end time signs in Scripture and how that most of them are immeasurable unto themselves, but two particular signs stick out as being more measurable. These two signs can be like the old mall directories that would say, “You are here” or for us today, they can be the little blue dot revealing our location on our phone. And I believe both signs at least point to the fact that we’re way down the tracks towards the end of the age, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The first of these two is a timeline in the form of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that runs from the life of Daniel until the return of Jesus found in Daniel 2. In the last article we looked at how those details of that five-division timeline show we’re likely in the last division and have been there for 100-1500 years. Yes, that sign points we’re way down the prophetic track.
The second sign comes from the second most prolific prophecy in Scripture. Running throughout the Bible the most prolific prophecy is the coming of an Anointed One—the Messiah. Of course, there’s not just one verse that prophesies a coming Messiah. Rather, nearly every prophet speaks to it and then in the New Testament we meet the Messiah and see more prophecies of His return. Those many verses are why it’s the most prolific.
When prophecy passages are categorized and totaled, the second greatest number of verses are of an ultimate scattering and gathering of the nation of Israel. Almost every prophet spoke of this ultimate scattering and gathering. Here’s a listing of just a few of those passages: Isaiah 11:11-12, Isaiah 66:8, Jeremiah 31:10, Ezekiel 11:17, Amos 9:14-15, and Jeremiah 23:7-8.
To understand more about this prophecy, read the words of Ezekiel,
“Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, I will gather you from the nations and collect you from the lands through which you were scattered, so I can give you the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 11:17).
This understanding of the ultimate scattering and gathering is tricky because Ezekiel gave this message while he and his people were scattered from Judah. He was in Babylon where Judah was scattered and that was after the ten northern tribes had been scattered by the Assyrians over a hundred years before. There’s no doubt the prophets spoke of the Assyrian and Babylonian scattering and gathering back to Israel which happened during the Persian rule, but if you read through their prophecies, they’re talking about a scattering further than Babylon and they’re talking about the gathering happening at the end of the age.
Israel’s scattering and gathering is a consistent thread in Scripture. It’s also something that has happened right before our eyes. The ultimate scattering took place in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Romans and the Jewish people remained scattered until just recently. Israel’s scattering and gathering is a consistent thread in Scripture. Share on X
Following World War I, the Balfour Declaration allowed Jewish people to begin to resettle in what is modern day Israel. The fall of the Ottoman Empire allowed this to happen. The resettling was accelerated following World War II and the Holocaust. Then in 1948 Israel became a nation and since then resettling has continued.
In 1967, Israel gained control of Jerusalem through the Six Days War.
Shockingly, it wasn’t until 2005 that there were more Jewish people in the land of Israel than in the United States. In 2007, there were more Jews in the land of Israel than any other one place in the world. Then as recently as 2018 the United States moved their embassy to Jerusalem, and since then, there are more and more nations “normalizing” relations with Israel. This is still an ongoing event with only 40% of the Jewish population of the world in the land of Israel. We’re not given the “measure” of number of Jews that must return to the land, but we must recognize that this has happened, and it’s a major sign of our proximity to the end of the age. Israel’s scattering and gathering is a major piece of God’s continual promise keeping, as God made clear through Jeremiah,
“So then, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land” (Jeremiah 23:7-8).
This article first appeared in Jake’s syndicated column Stand Firm & Live Epic as published in The Baptist Trumpet and other publications. After three months the articles are adapted and published here. To read the articles at release subscribe here.
Executive Director of Stand Firm and lead pastor of Epic Church NWA in Springdale, AR and multiple award-winning author, Jake has a B.A. in Bible and Pastoral Studies from Central Baptist College, and an Advanced Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Former regular contributor to the Baptist Press and WND News with popular conservative voices such as Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Ben Carson, Chuck Norris, Greg Laurie, Ben Schapiro, Joel Richardson, and others. He now is a weekly contributor for Israel, Islam, and the End Times and Armageddon News. He has authored books such as the, award-winning Spiritual Prepper from WND Books. Award-winning devotional books, Invincibleand For Uncertain Times, he authored the ground-breaking children’s book, Jesus and His White Horse from CrossLink Publishing. He is also a regular guest on national and international radio and streaming web shows, along with hosting his weekly live streaming program Talking Stand Firm and weekly podcast Stand Firm Parents.
