Much of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is prophetic. A large percentage of the prophecies in Scripture have not been completely fulfilled yet. Because Scripture is 100% reliable and accurate, we should expect all of the Bible’s prophecies to be fulfilled completely. This blog is the first in a 6-part series about prophecies that must be fulfilled before the Second Coming of Christ.
What do I mean by “the Second Coming”?
Now I know that someone will point out that the coming of Christ is imminent – He can show up at any moment. Rather than debate about that, I’d like to simplify and get us all on the same page. First, pre-millennialists believe that Jesus will physically return to Earth one day to set up His Kingdom. Revelation 20:11-21 describes this event as a visible, powerful arrival of Jesus on planet Earth. This event is known as The Second Coming. If you believe in a rapture that occurs before that event, try to focus to the final return of Jesus. This series of blogs is referring to the Revelation 20 return of Christ – The Second Coming. Do you want a more in-depth delineation between the two events? Take a look at this article on Belief Net.
What the Bible Really Says About Jesus’ Second Coming
Now that we are focusing on the return of Christ at the end of The Great Tribulation, we will see there are lots of things that must occur first. In fact, Scripture clearly lays out at least 25 things that will occur before the return of Jesus. The focus of this series of blogs will be to identify what the Bible declares must happen before the Second Coming. I will be dividing the prophecies into categories: 1) Related to Israel 2) Geological/Astronomical 3) Political 4) Social/Cultural 5) Spiritual. Each of the five categories will have 4-6 specific things to watch for, along with several supporting Scriptures.
The Rebirth of Israel
The rebirth of Israel as a nation is the most significant sign of the end times. Isaiah 11:11-12 is one of many prophecies that describes this.
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
This prophecy, of course, was already fulfilled on May 14, 1948. Many of the other unfulfilled prophecies hinge on Israel being a nation. Many eschatologists believe this one event propelled us into the end times. We will explore that more in the next blog in this series, in which we will dive into 6 specific prophecies about Israel that indicate we are already in the end times.
Lisa Gallington has been studying the Word since she was 12 years old, with a special interest in end times prophecy. She has a passion for preparing the Church and everyone she comes in contact with for the return of Christ. She leads women’s ministry at her church and teaches a Bible study, often connecting the studies to end times prophecies and prophetic headlines. She has authored several books including End Times Preppers Devotionals and the accompanying End Times Preppers Bible Study and Foundation of Faith: Hebrews 11.
Amen & Amen, thank you Lisa!
Lisa did an awesome job!