| ^ |
The Seeing Generation:
The Second Coming
Made Plain
|
|||||||
|
Shorter Preaching Version |
 |
|||||||
| ~ |
|
| |
||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
Check the year on the
Epistle of Barnabas 15
“And God made in six days the works of His
hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and
rested
on it, and sanctified it.” Attend, my children, to the meaning of this
expression, “He finished in six days.” This implieth that Yahweh will finish
all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And
He Himself testifieth, saying, “Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years.”
Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things
will be finished. “And He rested on the seventh day.” This meaneth: when His
Son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man, and judge the
ungodly, and change the-sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall He truly
rest on the seventh day.
Regarding the seven-thousand (7000)
years of salvation history, check these links, provided by
Torstein
in
Matthew
24: 36-39,42-44. “But of
that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but
the Father only. 37. As were the days of Noah, so will be the
coming of the Son of man. 38. For as in those days before the flood they
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when
Noah entered the ark, 39. and they did
not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of
the Son of man. 42. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what
day your Master is coming. 43. But know this, that if the householder had
known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and
would not have let his house be broken into.
44. Therefore you also must be
ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
I read an
op-ed article in a Canadian
publication this week. The writer
was having a hard time getting a handgun permit. He was thwarted time after time by various
interpretations of the law explained by numerous people over the phone. Finally he got down to the real problem. The expert at the Canadian Firearms Centre
told him his handgun permit was denied because the registration expired after
the gun owner died. The writer insisted,
“But I am the gun owner. Just
when did I die?” In a very
matter-of-fact tone, the expert replied, “Well, you died in May of 2007.” The writer went on to ask, “You’re
based in Of course, the title of the article is
“Where Were You Next Thursday.” Getting simple answers to Bible prophecy
questions is similar to the ordeal this writer endured in learning his gun
rights. Interpretations aren’t far off,
but the timing is. In this series of
messages, we’ll point out some common sense signs pinpointing our time
in salvation history. And in this
particular message, we’ll learn when and how the Messiah will return to redeem
creation. Previously, The Signs Were Missing
Believers of all ages since the first
have understood their generation to be the last before the return
of Yahweh to rule over a united earth.
Consider the words of 1 John 2:18. Children, it is
the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many
antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour.
We wonder: if John’s time back then was the
last hour, what’s our time? Actually,
it’s been the last hour all this time, through countless generations,
even unto today. And every generation
has had its signs of the times. It
hasn’t been until this generation that the primary signs of the
last hour could even be possible, but now they’ve come to pass as a thief in
the night. Believers intent upon
being among the little flock of Messiah’s elect are just beginning to
wake up to the fact that “the thief in the night” may really be “at the
gate” right now.[1] To see the signs of the last hour doesn’t
require great Bible scholarship, only the willingness to break free of the
world’s attachments for a moment and open up instead to the obvious signs, which
abound around us. For this next few
minutes, reflect on just a couple of the many convincing signs of
Messiah’s presence. What is the Millennium?
Consider first the prophetic significance of
creation. We know that for six
days, Elohim gave birth to the world from nothingness, and on the seventh day
he rested. That’s why we remember the
seventh day, Exodus 20:11. For in six days
Elohim created heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day: therefore Elohim blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. Think of the seven days of
creation as a long-range prophecy, with the admonition of St. Peter in mind; he
wrote, “you must never forget: that with Yahweh, a
day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day”
(2 Peter
3:8).
Seven days of creation represent seven thousand years of salvation
history, from the beginning of the creation, through the gauntlet we call time,
unto today. The Holy Spirit has recorded
the seven thousand-year history of salvation in the Bible. The Bible tells us nothing of what happened
before the first prophetic day and very little of what will happen after the
seventh. It does tell us that the last
thousand-year day of salvation history is a Millennium of peace
and justice. In fact, we call the
seventh prophetic day The Millennium.
The Millennium is recorded primarily in
Revelation 20:4. Then I saw
thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I
saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Yahshua and
for the word of Yahweh, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and
had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to
life, and reigned with Messiah a thousand years (cilia
eth).
In that last thousand-year
span of the seven thousand years of salvation history, in The Millennium,
the Bible tells us that
By the end of this thousand-year time span,
the Messiah will present a perfected world to his Father Yahweh, and he’ll
reign forever over all who remain. When is the Millennium?
I mentioned that The Millennium is the
seventh thousand-year “day,” but when will it begin? ¿When are the Messiah and his Millennium of
peace, resurrection and justice to arrive?
If you don’t know already, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to find
out WHEN. The Jews have almost always kept meticulous
track of time. If you check The
Jerusalem Post today, you’ll find the
date to be the 15th of Kislev
(November 28) of the year 5765
(2005). The year
5765 means five thousand, seven hundred sixty-five years from Adam. That’s five prophetic days of a thousand
years each, plus 765 more years. I said the Jews kept track meticulously almost
always. They made one big boo-boo. In the three thousandth, eight hundredth and
ninety-fifth year from Adam
(our year 135 AD), the Jewish
rulers decided that their military general was
the
Messiah[2],
for he had good success in fighting the Romans.
But their
Messiah didn’t fit the timetable of Daniel’s prophecy, so the Jewish rulers set
their calendar back 240 years to conform their new Messiah’s advent to
the prophecies of Daniel.[3]
When their Messiah failed, they stubbornly
refused to set the calendar back to its correct date. And now, in our year 5765 from Adam, the Jewish
calendar is still 240 years short. When
we correct it by adding back the 240 years to the 5765 in today’s Jerusalem
Post, we learn that we’re actually living in the 6005th year
from Adam[4];
that is, six prophetic days of a thousand years each, plus
five more years, give or take, from Adam.
This reckoning has us living at the start of
the seventh prophetic day – the seventh thousand-year time period. As we mentioned before, the Bible tells us
that the seventh prophetic day is the Millennium – the
period in which Messiah takes the reigns of government and begins the
judgment. Do you understand that the calendar shows
the Millennium to be JUST ABOUT RIGHT NOW? All things take time to grow. The Christian Calendar Concurs
The Christian calendar also bears this
out. On the Christian Calendar, 2005
begins today
(November 28, 2004)
in
the Hebraic year 6005. We understand
that our Messiah Yahshua first came as a babe at the end of the 4th
prophetic day – after 4000 years had passed from Adam. Over two prophetic days, two thousand years,
have since passed. One great significance is in recalling what
Elohim created on the fourth day – the sun, moon, stars and light
(Genesis
1:14-19). From these, the calendar was
formulated. On the fifth day, he created
[zoological] life. The Beloved Disciple knew the significance
of Messiah being born at the end of the fourth prophetic day – the day of
light, and at the beginning of the fifth prophetic day – the day of life. The Beloved wrote: In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:4,5 KJV) Get
it? The wise of all generations proclaim
with the first wise men, “We have seen his star
in the East, and have come to worship him”
(Matthew
2:2 RSV).
When Messiah left the world a generation later, he
promised to return. The Beloved Disciple
also tells us WHEN: At the seventh trumpet, sometime around the end of the 6000th
year
(Revelation 11:15). That would be JUST ABOUT RIGHT NOW. Pretty simple, huh? And for some, pretty scary. Since the prophets and the calendar agree
that Messiah’s time is at hand, let’s learn how he’s to appear. Like a Thief
Let me remind you of your Savior’s words, Matthew 24:42-44. Watch, for you do
not know on what day your Master is coming. If the householder had known when in the
night the thief was coming, he would have watched. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son
of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Nobody knows the exact
day, but we’ve learned that we’re really close. He commands the little flock to WATCH. Pay attention! There’s something secret about his
return if he insists you WATCH for him, then tells you he’s coming “like a
thief in the night.” Messiah reiterates
this warning of a secret return in Revelation
16:15 I
shall come like a thief. Blessed is
anyone who has kept WATCH, and has clothes on, so that he does not go
out naked and expose his shame (NJB). And doesn’t Peter, Paul and John record the
same simile – he’s coming as a thief in the
night – on the seventh prophetic day – the day of the seventh
trumpet
(1 Thessalonians 5:2,4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3,
16:15)? Listen to the warning of
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 excerpts:
1. About times and dates, there is no need to write to
you 2. for the Day of Yahweh is going to come like a thief in the night.
3. It is when people are saying, “How quiet and peaceful it is” that sudden
destruction falls on them ... 4. But you do not live in the dark, that the Day
should take you unawares like a thief. 5. No, you are all children of light
and children of the day: 6. so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else
does. Notice Prior to the public appearance of the
Messiah, he comes in secret to prepare the world for his reign. A few will recognize his presence and help
him out – but only a few will be awake and watching for the thief. The rest will say, “How quiet it is!” Or they’ll listen to my tape and say, “We’re not to know the dates or times...” Or they’ll say, “We
needn’t be concerned because we’ll learn everything in the rapture...” Or they’ll say, “We
don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that.”
Or they’ll say, “If G-D wanted us to know
that, he’d tell us.” Or
they’ll say, “But John Hagee says so and so...” Then they’ll go back to sleep and dream
they’re shopping naked at the Piggly Wiggly.
And their Jesus will say,
Blessed are you
who watch and have your clothes on, so that you don’t go out naked and expose
your shame.
Amen. When Yahshua ascended to heaven, his
white-robed messengers promised he’d return the same way – i.e.
in secret – and only to a small number of disciples.
Acts 1:10. [The disciples] were
still staring into the sky as [Yahshua] went, when suddenly two men in white
were standing beside them, 11. and they said, “Why are you Galileans
standing here looking into the sky? This
[Yahshua] who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the
same way as you have seen him go.” When the messengers said “the same way” they
meant the same way: that Messiah’s return would be secret witnessed by
few, and would remain secret until those few made the news public. Only then will “the Son
of man be as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven,
and shineth unto the other part under heaven in his day.”
(Luke
17:24). In the meantime, he’s preparing his little
flock to reign with him in his earthly Kingdom that’s coming from
the sky like lightning JUST ABOUT RIGHT NOW.
But “Fear not, little flock,” says Yahshua, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom”
(Luke 12:32). That answers not only the question of how
Yahshua is to return, but to whom. Not to the world at first, but to those
disciples who’re awake and eagerly preparing.
The Sign is Jerusalem
(Turn to Luke 21:23.)
So “that
every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses”
(Matthew
18:16), I’ll share one more sign from
the Messiah’s own words.
Luke 21:23. “For great
distress shall be upon the land (thV ghV) and wrath upon this people (law); 24. they will fall by the sword and be led captive among all
nations.” He’s speaking of the Luke 21:24b “ Yahshua says that the great sign he calls
“the end of the times of the Gentiles” will have come when Gentiles no longer
control
(i.e. tread down) But finally, on June 28th, 1967,
as a result of the
Six Day War,
the
entirety of Jerusalem was surrendered and annexed by Israel – this happened
at the end of the sixth day of the week – at the very end of the sixth
prophetic day, in the Hebraic year 5967 – or 1967 in our
understanding. Our lifetime is
the only time since Yahshua was on earth that Israelis have controlled Remember again that the disciples originally
asked Yahshua,
Luke 21:7. “Master, when will this happen, then, and what sign will
there be that it is about to take place?” Yahshua shows them and
us that the sign is the liberation of the city of When Again?
When
Luke 21: 32. “In truth I tell you, before this generation has
passed all will have taken place.”
A similar prophecy is in
Matthew 24:33b,34 “When you see all these things, you know that
[MESSIAH] is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to
you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take
place.” The generation he’s speaking of, the one that
will live to see it all, is the one living in 1967. I call it the seeing generation. We’ve lived to see the Sign of the Son of
Man: the liberation of the Is the Generation a
Span of Time?
“Before this generation has passed all will
have taken place.” Generally, a
generation means a life span – from birth to death. Some understand a prophetic generation as
seventy years – and that’s a possibility
(Psalms 90:10). But maybe,
just as a prophetic day may be a thousand years, a prophetic generation may be
forty
years. Look:
Indeed, for the
thirty-seven and a half years since the SIGN of
Matthew 24:33. “When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at
the very gates.”
For one prophetic generation beyond 1967 ends
in 2007 – that’s just two years away!
I said, TWO YEARS AWAY. Just
suppose 2007 is the year Messiah steals back as a thief in the night. Are you ready for him? Are you secure in him? Are you justified before him? Are you in the little flock? The inner circle? Are you watching and waiting? Or do you still have loose ends to tie
up? He may be arriving JUST ABOUT RIGHT
NOW, you know; will you catch him and live?[6] Sermon Checkoff
[ ] 1 John 2:18. Children, it is the last hour; and as you
have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come;
therefore we know that it is the last hour.
[ ] Exodus
20:11. For in six days Yahweh created
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
[ ] 2 Peter 3:8 You
must never forget: that with Yahweh, a day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as a day.
[ ] Revelation 20:4
They came to life, and reigned with Messiah a thousand years.
[ ] Genesis 1:14,15
14. And God said, “Let there be lights
in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let
them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be
lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”
[ ] John 1:4,5 What
has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men; and light
shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.
[ ] Matthew 2:2
“For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”
[ ] Matthew
24:42-44. “Watch, for you do not know on what day your Master is coming. If the householder had known when in the
night the thief was coming, he would have watched. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son
of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
[ ] Revelation
16:15 “I shall come like a thief. Blessed is anyone who has kept WATCH, and has
clothes on, so that he does not go out naked and expose his shame.”
[ ] 1 Thessalonians
5:1. About times and dates, there is no need to write to you for the Day of Yahweh
is going to come like a thief in the night.
[ ] Acts 1:10,11.
[The disciples] were still staring into the sky as [Yahshua] went, when
suddenly two men in white were standing beside them, and they said, “Why are
you Galileans standing here looking into the sky? This [Yahshua] who has been taken up from you
into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him go.”
[ ] Luke 17:42 “The Son of man [will] be as the lightning
flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other in his day.”
[
] Luke 12:32. “Fear not, little
flock,” says Yahshua, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.”
[ ] Matthew 18:16. “Every word may be confirmed
by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”
[ ] Luke
21:23,24a. “For great distress shall be
upon the land and wrath upon this people; they will fall by the sword and be
led captive among all nations.”
[ ] Luke 21:24b “
[ ] Gentile – a person
who is not of one of the tribes of
[ ] Luke 21:29-31
“Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they come out in leaf, you
see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that the kingdom is near.”
[ ] Matthew
24:33b,34 “When you see all these things, you know that [MESSIAH] is near, at
the very gates. Truly, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.”
[ ] Luke 21: 32. “In truth I tell you, before
this generation has passed all will have taken place.”
[ ] Matthew 16: 3
“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret
the signs of the times.”
[ ]
Romans
13:13-14 We should live properly, like people do during the daytime, not with
orgies or by getting drunk, not committing sexual sin or having parties, not
with fighting or jealousy. Instead, put on the Sovereign Yahshua Messiah rather
than thinking about how to satisfy your carnal desires.
[1]
Millions
have been terrorized by the Left Behind series of fictions. Whether the prophetic interpretation is
correct or not is secondary to the fact that these books have convicted
thousands of their lack of preparation.
And now the whole world has been reminded of Messiah through the Jesus
Movie and The Passion of the Christ, and yet relatively few have
repented and prepared. But for the
prepared, we’re rejoicing in prophetic signs of Messiah– and we can readily see
them – for in them we know that our redemption
draweth nigh (Luke 21:18 KJV).
[2]
Simon
bar Kokhba aka Cosiba.
[3]
Seder Olam Rabbah.
Click here
for an alternate explanation, and
here for a fascinating
article of Feast of Trumpets, 1 Tishri.
What Everyone Should Know About the
Roman and Hebrew Calendars ,
We Are In
the Millennium Now and
Why
I Believe that Yahshua has Secretly Returned refer to this. [4] I call this “added back” calendar “the Hebraic Calendar.”
Luke 21:29-31 “Look at the fig tree [and all the trees]; as soon as they
come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already
near. So also, when you see these
things taking place, you know that the kingdom is near.”
Some here have whopping fig trees. When you know the sign of the fig, you no
longer need a calendar to tell when summer is approaching – just look at the
tree. Likewise, when you see the things
Yahshua describes in regards to Israel, which is the prophetic fig tree,
then you know that Yahshua is presently setting up the nations accordingly (i.e.
the other trees) for his return, and that he’ll soon appear to his little
flock, then to the world. Now look.
Four plus years have passed since the turn of the century –
according to the Hebraic Calendar, we have just begun THE MILLENNIUM. Historical signs abound now, but the greatest
is that thirty-seven and a half years have passed since the ending of
the times of the Gentiles in
[6]
Predicting
Dates: The fact is,
every “believer” wants to know when “Jesus” is coming back. But when a common sense approach is provided
to place us in salvation history, some religious hobbyist will always chide, “You’re setting
dates. Jesus said, ‘No one knows the
days or times not even the Son’
(Matthew 24:36).” And that’s true. But I’m not afraid of a lightening bolt. Messiah never said, “Nobody can possibly
know,” nor did he say, “Nobody should try to know...” nor did he say, “It’s
a sin to know...”
What he does say
to the religious hobbyist is, “You know how to
interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the
times” (Matthew 16: 3). We’ll
cover several more signs of the times before we’re through, and what we should
do in the meantime, unless he comes before we finish. But it seems likely he will come along before
we finish – JUST ABOUT RIGHT NOW. And
you, little flock, need to be completely open to that possibility; indeed, you
should be imploring him to help you get ready night and day.
The greatest
expert of prophecy interpretation who ever lived, Romans 13:11-12 (SI) You know this is the right time for you to wake up from sleeping. It’s late! The time for our deliverance is now nearer than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; daytime is near! So, put away deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. . .
|
