What are the signs of Jesus’ return, and are we experiencing any right now?
On the April 16th edition of the radio program Prophecy Update, I was interviewed by Bill Salus, author of the popular Psalm 83-themed book Isralestine and evangelist on the end times website Prophecy Depot. Bill and I spent much of the interview discussing how social media has made a huge shift in how we do online evangelism. We also touched on prophecies that mention the increase of knowledge in the last days and that connection with today’s electronics savvy generation.
Signs Abound
Bill Salus: Let’s look at the second Bible Prophecy Insights video that you made dealing titled the “Signs of Jesus’ Return” (below). We know that Jesus is coming back in what’s called the Second Coming. Jesus will then establish His Messianic Kingdom and He will reign here for 1,000 years as we are told in Revelation 20:4. What then are some of the signs of His Second Coming, and are we experiencing any of them right now?
Nathan Jones: Some of them? My goodness! You can’t look out the window or read the news without running across some signs. There are so many that Dr. Reagan had to put them into categories in one of his articles. People can go to our Article section of our website and choose any of a number of articles concerning signs of the end times.
1. Signs of Nature: Jesus said in Luke 21:11 that great earthquakes, plagues, famines, and terrible signs from the heavens will precede His Second Coming. Certainly, the number and the frequency of natural disasters happening across this planet are astronomically increasing. Surely we’ve always had natural disasters, but statistics and destroyed lives and property proves they’re increasing in frequency and intensity fulfilling what are the signs of nature.
2. Signs of Society: The signs related to society are based on Jesus’ Matthew 24:37-38 prophecy which tells us that society will return to like during the days of Noah. In those days everyone was as evil as possible, and we know what happened in the days of Noah. God wiped out the entire population other than Noah’s family because they were just so evil. In this day we are getting and some would argue have gotten to be as bad of a world society as was in the days of Noah.
3. Spiritual Signs: In the end times the Church will not endure sound doctrine. In Matthew 24, Jesus began with what may be the most frequently occurring sign, and that is the amount of false teachers and false messiahs claiming to be Jesus near the end times. We certainly are seeing that today with 1,500 different religious groups and nearly 500 cults operating just in the United States. A sign of the time particularly in the news now is having a Mormonism in the presidential race. Cults and false teachings comprise so many of the end times signs that we are witnessing.
4. World Politics: Also in Matthew 24, Jesus warns that we will hear of wars and rumors of wars and nations will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. We have had more wars in the last century than in the nineteen centuries before it combined. With two world wars and all the many other wars, more people have died in the last century than ever in history, with some figures between 165-185 million. The Bible said wars would proliferate before Jesus returned, to the point of billions dying in the seven Tribulation-related wars to come.
5. Technology: Daniel 12:4 prophesied in the end times an increase in knowledge and travel would occur, as well as a growing understanding of God’s prophetic word.
Speaking of the sign of technology as it conflicts with the signs of nature, this past year there’s been severe flooding in Thailand. Did you know that Thailand makes 65% of the hard drive and hard drive components that are manufactured in the world? When we buy a hard drive many of the pieces come from Thailand. Thailand has had so much flooding that they haven’t been able to produce and ship the drives, creating a huge deficit of hard drive equipment which has really impacted the technological world. People are scrambling for hard drives. The prices of them are going up as a result. Technology and weather when they clash do not clash well together.
6. Israel a Nation Again: The biggest end times sign, and one I would say which many Christians call the “super sign,” is that Israel has become a nation once again. The nation was resurrected in May of 1948. Prophetically, Zechariah foretold that Jerusalem would be a heavy stone for all the people. The whole world would focus on Jerusalem as Zechariah 12:1-3 tells us, and that very scenario is happening today. The whole world is focused on Jerusalem.
So, those are the six main categories of signs. There are many other signs as well, but those if you wish to put them into categories are the six main ones.
Bill Salus: It’s important that you brought out that broader overview and perspective of the signs, covering a number of categories from nature to society, to spiritual signs, to the political signs, and of course the super sign which is the elephant in the room — Israel.
The world and Americans specifically get so wrapped up in our own problems and own economic woes. We wonder if we will have an economic recovery? Will things ever get back to normal? Will we get good leadership in the upcoming elections? All these sort of things concern us. Turn on any news channel now and it is dominated by politics and the political debates and so on and so forth. When we see all of this it’s a good reminder that there are more than just the political end times signs, but they also indicate that the return of Jesus Christ is very near.
I agree that Israel would be the super sign. Israel was restored as a nation in 1948, almost 64 years ago now. It is facing some of the most threatening times in its short history since becoming a nation in 1948, especially now as the result of the Iranians pushing to get a nuclear weapon. Israel faces even more hostility due to the Arab Spring, causing uncertainties with the regime changes that are going on like in Egypt and Syria on Israel’ northeastern border.
So much prophetically is tied to Israel that we must watch that nation closely.
In the next part of this interview on advancing the Gospel through social media, Bill and I will look at a special Web video we use to teach the soon return of Jesus Christ in the Rapture.
Thank you L/L ministries for all the great teachings and scripture verifications within each segment. You don't know how much this means to me, but I assure you it is my #1 reference to all things concerning our great God and the Holy trinity. Thank you from the center of my heart.
Love in Christ,
Robert Widby, Knoxville, Tn.
Thank you for those encouraging words, Robert! So glad to hear the ministry's been a blessing to you. Go Vols!