One Reliable Sign of the End

It’s the decade of 2010. Calendar watching or date setting has proven unreliable. Except as a way to make people scared. But there is no reason for fear. There is a reliable way to know the end is not yet and when it is near. Learn what to watch for from the Book of Revelation.

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We have entered a new decade. (OK, technically not until 2011, but I'm a child of the '70s not the '71s. =) Do you believe we made it to 2010? It seems strange to me due to all the popularized years of expectation that have now been passed. Many popular songs, literature and films have affixed specific years for visions of the future. It feels strange when all of the future years from my youth are in the past now.

I am referring to works like 1984 by George Orwell. We passed that when I was in high school, soon after reading it. Apple made their famous Mac advertisement based off that dystopian vision of a totalitarian mind-controlling government.

Who does not remember Prince's hit song 1999?

'Cuz they say two thousand zero zero party over,
oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999

Like the Y2K bug, the song suggested the world would end in 2000. We passed that--thankfully--without a hitch despite some real concerns over the computer bug. Of course, some of us back then understood that Jan 1, 2000 12:00AM had no signficance to God. His calendar described in the Bible does not start a year in the Winter, nor on any old day at midnight. Nor is there any prophetic holy day that falls on the first day of the year.

Then we quickly passed 2001, the year of the science fiction film masterpiece 2001:A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. And now we have reached the year of the (merely) good sequel to that classic, called 2010.

The Historic Folly of Calendar Watching

But since that film was made, speculation of the future has not ceased to fascinate artists or prophecy teachers. You have without a doubt heard of 2012. You might have seen the thrilling movie as well (reviewed in my last newsletter). Hopefully you do not fear the date any longer. There is no need to since it is based on pure speculation and not on any “sure word of prophecy”.

People ask me all the time, "what does the future hold?" and "when will it happen?" If we contemplate all of these failed dates, we can have the best answer. History proves that man is unable to foretell what will happen and when. At least regarding anything out of his control (and often even with things in his control). Jesus said a mouthful when he stated "no man knows the day or hour," even himself.

Therefore, the best predictor of the future we have is the past. This works in two ways. We have failed in the past to predict anything better than you would expect from random chance. This means by the sheer number of predictions, undeniably some have hit, but it is the same amount you would expect to hit if you randomly generated the predictions. It also means that short of some prophetic marker happening, we can expect things to go on the same as they have been up until now. The 2010's will not be much different than the 2000's. We can buy and sell, build, marry and give in marriage until something truly different and prophetic happens. We should take comfort in this.

This may seem obvious to most, but historically common sense is not common enough. It seems that people with the prophecy bug lack it the most of all. This is why most of my peers set dates, or speculate about “the next 18 months” or otherwise place limits on how long we have until the end of the age begins.

For example, a couple of current prophetic prognosticators have 2010-2017 as the last seven years of the age, known in the Bible as the 70th Week of Daniel (Dan 9:27). If looking at your calendar makes you think it is now too late for that one to come true, then you maybe have not learned yet that “one week of years is not seven years”. Read this explanation if you want to know the new argument one teacher gives for why it is too early here in 2010 to call off 2010-2017.

Despite such contrived arguments, this timeline and all such fixed date timelines will fail. They always have. We simply do not and cannot know today how much time we have left.

Don't Watch a Calendar, Watch For The Right Event

But this will change one day. When? Oops, let me rephrase that... How will we know? Well, for sure when the Abomination of Desolation happens we will know we have exactly 1290 days left (Dan 12:11). Unfortunately, that is past the point of no return and is not so useful to us today. Is there an earlier and more useful indicator?

Thankfully, there's an earlier sign to expect and be aware of. Unfortunately, you probably will not learn about it from prophecy teachers who are busy setting and defending dates. Before any of the global disasters of prophecy can happen, there must come another, more local event that will make world news:

Revelation 18:4 (HCSB) — 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues. 8 For this reason her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

This prophecy refers to the coming destruction of the United States of America. In Revelation 14, the fall of Babylon the Great is tied to the rise of the Beast. The fall is the second angel message (Rev 14:8). The Beast rising and enforcing his mark is the third angel message (Rev 14:9). Therefore if we watch for the Fall of America we will know that the Great Tribulation is coming next. When the Policeman of the World is gone, the lawless ones can do as they wish.

Of course, we need to be out of America to watch her fall and not take part in it! What assurance do we have we will? Well, we know from the passage above that God clearly wants to save his people, his righteous servants out of Babylon the Great before she falls. Yet, the way he will do it is not with a pretrib rapture (Mt 24:29-31). His plan is to call them to move out America. The parallel in Jeremiah confirms this with its description of “depart from the land” of Babylon (Jer 50:8).

But when do we obey the command to depart? When we read it?

No. Revelation was written around 17 centuries before America ever became a nation. We must ask what did it mean to people who read it before America even existed when they read it as present tense command? It makes no sense of course. They cannot leave a nation that does not exist yet.

To solve that problem, I realize that some people allegorize this passage to mean “coming out of false religion”. There has been false religion in Jesus' name to come out of since before Revelation was written. However, that interpretation does not work for other reasons. The plain literal meaning of the passage indicates a physical place that both wicked and righteous people live in and physically move out of. The consequence of not coming out is to be burned with fire along with the wicked left in that place. Of course, you cannot burn a religion with fire. Nor is a religion responsible for making merchants rich with goods (Rev 18:3). Only affluent industrial nations like America make traders rich. (If you are not convinced, read the 60 Reasons against any other interpretation but America).

“Come Out of Her My People”...Right Now?

So back to leaving America in the present tense. Again, how can you be told to come out of a nation before it even exists? Obviously, you cannot.

However, we should step back and ask, “whose present is it?” Is it the reader's or is it the time of the vision John saw of America's future? If we correct the perspective to America's future then we solve the problem. Remember, when John heard the voice come from heaven with the message, John was viewing a vision of wicked America in her last days. In other words, this message about going out at the right time is part of the prophecy implied by the vision. John saw America right before she fell. And he heard the voice in that time frame.

This means that Revelation 18 is telling us that one day before America falls, the message will go out for God's people to leave America. If this were not to happen, none of us would know when America will be destroyed. Again, as history has proven, we have no way of knowing the timing of events in the future. One thing is for sure, the enemy of America who will bring this about is not going to announce the attack ahead of time. No doubt it will be a surprise attack, a first strike of nuclear weapons. (Although Revelation 18 does not finger an enemy nation, Jeremiah 50-51 indicates that it will be a nation coming from the direct north. No not Canada, the nation after that along that line... the nuclear power called the Soviet Union)

So how will we know? Will all the world hear this same voice from heaven John heard? That is highly doubtful. Only on rare and special occasions do people hear voices from heaven. The only time heaven has spoken to the masses was when the nation of Israel was called into a covenant with God. Apart from that only the righteous and perhaps a few with them (Paul or Job with his friends) have heard from heaven.

Instead, the standard method God uses is to send a prophet with his words in his mouth. When God wanted Israel to prepare to leave Egypt, he did not yet opt to speak to them from heaven. He instead made Moses his prophet, speaking to him from the burning bush, and sent him with his word to Israel. And he did not send him empty-handed. He equipped him with supernatural signs of his authority. These included the staff that could turn into a serpent and his temporary-leprous-hand-from-inside-the-cloak trick.

The Prophesied End Time Prophet

Again, the past is the best indicator of the future, especially with God who says he does not change. The precedents of his dealings and operations in the past tell us how he will operate again in the future under similar circumstances. The Book of Revelation gives us a great outline of future events but leaves many details unclear. This is one way the book has been sealed. It is up to us to fill in the details through understanding the lessons and precedents of the preceding 65 books in the Bible.

If God is going to get his people to know that they have to move, he will send a prophet to do so. We have not seen a prophet like this since the New Testament canon closed. Yet there is a prophecy of such a prophet coming in the end time. It is the prophecy of Elijah coming before the Day of the Lord (Mal 4:5).

Before Jesus' First Coming, John the Baptist came and fulfilled this prophecy once. But this was very long before the Day of the LORD. 2000 years off, in fact. Also, John did not “restore all things”. Could it be there is another fulfillment coming that better fits “before the Day of the LORD” who will “restore all things”? If Jesus comes twice then it would make sense that his forerunner who prepares people for repentance would come twice, too. Each generation needs the repentance message.

John even denied being Elijah when asked. Either he lied or he was interpreting the question asked as indicating the Elijah who comes before the Messiah comes to reign, which is exactly what the Jews were expecting then. But John was the Elijah who comes 2000 years before at the First Coming. Perhaps for this reason he said he was the "voice of one calling in the wilderness" instead of Elijah as the angel Gabriel pronounced to his parents.

Conclusion

No one knows for sure if 2010 is the decade of the end. Neverthess, people are scared from all the date setting (and also all the conspiracy theories they hear on the Web). There is no need to let these rumors trouble us. The end will not come at any date set by a person nor can it come at just any time or “imminently”. There are prerequisite events in prophecy that must be fulfilled before the global time of trouble is upon us. America's fall is one of those events.

Given that God wants to save his people out, he must send a prophet to lead them out just as he has done in the past. This prophet will not be like the Christian prophets we are used to. He will come with power and authority like Elijah or Moses.

If you have the heart to serve God, you do not have to fear missing this prophet's appearance. Nor do you have to fear being able to follow his instructions. When God lead Israel out of Egypt, there were poor slaves who he made sure to enrich on the way out. He also performed miracles on their behalf. The Red Sea parted to let them escape and destroy their enemies. Their shoes never wore out. Bread fell from heaven and water came from the rock. He will do similar helps again for us modern slaves living paycheck to paycheck or limited in our travel by passports, papers and financial costs.

There is no doubt that all God's servants will get a chance to hear the call and have the ability to go. The real question is will you have the faith it takes to move from your comfortable home, possibly without your unbelieving family? That is the only real concern I have for my readers.

Do not leave it up to chance. Increase your faith now. Read the Bible and walk according to it. When you see God working in your life as you follow him and make the sacrifices he requires, you will build a relationship of trust with him like Abraham demonstrated in his commanded sojourns. With this faith, you will be ready when the day to move comes.

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