End Time Insights

In his ‘Olivet Discourse,’ Jesus describes key events that will occur in the future, especially the destruction of the Temple and the “ coming of the Son of Man .” In doing so, he provides geographic details related to each event that alternate between the local and the universal, depending on which event he is under discussion.

Fifty years ago, I was influenced greatly by the bestseller, ‘The Late Great Planet Earth.’ In it, I read how last-day prophecies were being fulfilled before our eyes in the daily news headlines. All the “signs” indicated that I was a member of the “last generation” that would live before the return of Jesus. The Antichrist, Armageddon, and the Millennium were just around the corner.

Revelation is a message to the Church concerned with its real-life situation as it bears witness in a hostile world  – Revelation 4:1-3. After Jesus dictated his letters to the “ Seven Assemblies of Asia ,” John saw an “ open door in Heaven ,” and he heard the voice from his first vision summoning him to “ come up here .” Next, he was standing before the “ Throne sitting in Heaven .” Does this image symbolize the physical removal of the Church from the Earth before the subsequent visions of the Book, the so-called ‘Rapture of the Saints’?

SYNOPSIS  –  The commencement of the “seventy weeks” is linked to the prophecy of Jeremiah about the Babylonian Captivity  –  Daniel 9:1-2 .  The prophecy of the “ seventy weeks ” in  Daniel  is one of the most perplexing and disputed passages in the Hebrew Bible. One of the few aspects on which there is a general agreement is the length of the prophetic period – That the “ seventy-sevens ” equates to a period of 490 years. Beyond this, interpretations diverge on every aspect of the prophecy - ( Daniel 9:24-27 ). - [ Photo by Eliza Diamond on Unsplash ].

The relevance of Revelation for today is lost if we ignore its historical context and read it with incorrect presuppositions .  The book of  Revelation  presents a sweeping picture of the church age that highlights the real “wars” being waged behind the scenes of history, “battles” that manifest in the daily struggles of the church. Its visions show God working through the “ Lamb ” to implement His kingdom, and it begins in the first century with the “ seven churches of Asia .”