Two Most Significant Signs
of Jesus Soon Return

The nineteen nineties has certainly become a decade full of current events and surprises! We have seen wars and rumors of wars. We have seen the birth of the aids epidemic, the Ebola Virus, the bombing of the World Trade Center, the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, bombings in Israel, the "Peace Process" in the Middle East, major earthquake devastation's, serious famine, mass poisonings in subways, logarithmic increase of crime, etc., etc. Most people have become desensitized to the awful horrors that we have seen in just these first six years of the decade. This is mainly due to the redundancy of seeing things happening back to back and over and over. Jesus Christ predicted this would be the condition of the world in the end time when He said, "all these things are the beginning of birth pangs" Matt. 24:8.

Every woman that has ever given birth to a child has an advantage in understanding what Jesus meant by this statement. In childbirth, contractions or birth pangs start gently and not so frequent. As the time comes closer for birth to actually take place, those birth pangs increase in both frequency and intensity. In many cases these birth pangs get so intense, the woman has to be sedated to enable her to tolerate the pain.

This is exactly the scenario that Jesus was illustrating for us when talking about the "signs of the end of the age" Matthew 24:3. Jesus was indicating to us that there would be certain events and conditions that would indicate that His return was very near.

Paul, the apostle, echoed this fact when he stated, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another: and so much the more as you see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25). Notice that he uses the phrase, "as you see the day approaching." This means that there are certain things we can observe to mark for us that "the day" is approaching.

There are those who do not believe that there are any signs to be observed concerning the coming of the Lord, but this is in direct contradiction to the above quoted Scriptures. There are others who believe that there are "signs" to look for, but are not certain what they are. The Bible is full of answers concerning this question that everybody should be asking in light of the above mentioned current events: What are the signs that indicate the coming of the Lord is near? In the remainder of this article, I want to focus on the most major signs.

First, I must say that Lion of Judah Ministry's position is that there are no signs to be observed to mark the appearing of the Lord for His Church. We believe that the Lord will appear in the clouds to remove His Church from the earth before the seven year Tribulation begins. We believe this event can take place at any moment. The following signs are indications that the seven year tribulation is drawing near. If we see the tribulation drawing near, we know the coming of the Lord for His church is that much closer.

Sign #1:

Israel: The modern state of Israel is the most important of all the signs! All the others are dwarfed in significance to this one! Overemphasis of this reality is impossible.

In 70 A.D. in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 4:27, the Romans came into Jerusalem and devastated the people and their city and the Jews were scattered from that point in time all over the world. They have remained scattered until the turn of our century. Many prophecies in the Bible predict that the Jews would not remain scattered, but would return to their land in the end times. There are some theological skeptics who believe that the prophecies that call for Israel to return to their land was fulfilled when the Jews returned from Babylon. While there were some prophecies fulfilled at that time, it cannot be said that all of the prophecies concerning their return to the land were fulfilled. For example: Isaiah 11:11 states, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea". Notice that it says "the second time"! The return from Babylon was the first time the Jews were returned to the land. Notice also all the different places this scripture says they will return from, not just from Babylon!

The Jewish return to the land of Israel that we are seeing today is the second time they are being restored to the land, just as Isaiah 11:11 says. This is of major prophetic significance! It is estimated that there are 15 million Jews in the world, one third of which have returned to the land of Israel. They are literally returning from all over the world. God has promised that only a remnant will be saved as the Scripture says, "And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved" (Rom 9:27). A remnant is already gathered there. What time do you think it is?

Sign #2:

New World Order - The Bible predicts at Revelation 13 that there will be a world government in the end times headed by one individual. He will cause everybody to receive a mark on their forehead or on their right hand so that they might buy or sell. In discussion of this world leader, Daniel tells us this one will come from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and her temple. There can be no mistake made here. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. so, there must be a restoration of the declined Roman Empire in the last days.

Many scholars today feel that the European Economic Community is the revived Roman Empire. This is logical since the countries that now make up the Community involve much of the same real estate that the Roman Empire controlled. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom are the countries that currently make up "the Community". There are expansion plans to grow from these fifteen to twenty five by the end of the decade. A common army has already been started. There are 370 million people with a $6 billion gross national product, 10% higher than the USA.

In Daniel chapter 7, it is predicted that the last gentile power that would be in power when Jesus Christ would come to earth to establish peace forever, would be the Romans. Since Jesus has not returned and His return is yet future, it is logical that there would be a revival of this Roman power. We are seeing this Roman power being reshaped in this century. This writer believes that it is the expanding gentile power that will produce the world leader that God calls "the Antichrist" and the power that Jesus Christ will put down when He arrives. This gentile power is shaping up just as Scripture predicted in the end days. What time do you think it is?